Cupertino (California), Nov 19 (IANS):  Hip-hop singer Lil Baby won the top award of global Artist of the Year in the second annual Apple Music Awards, the tech giant announced on Thursday.

Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift and Roddy Ricch were also honoured during the awards, recognizing the best and boldest musicians of 2020 and their enormous impact on global culture. 

"The Apple Music Awards is our opportunity to recognize and honour the incredible artists who we feel have deeply impacted and inspired the world and our customers, and helped us feel connected through music this year," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Beats. 

"We have an exciting week of music planned in December and are very much looking forward to celebrating together with these artists and their fans."

The celebration will kick off from December 14, with a week of special performances, fan events, interviews, and more, streaming worldwide on Apple Music, Apple Music TV, and the Apple TV app, the company said.

"This year has changed me a lot. Now that I'm an artist, I feel like my voice can get heard through my music and I needed to say something. And my fans listened. So thank you to my fans and thank you to Apple Music for giving me a special way to connect to my fans," said Baby.

Megan Thee Stallion added: "I am so excited to be the Breakthrough Artist of the Year. This is a really big accomplishment for me. Apple Music has been rocking with me for so long, even before making me an Up Next artist".

Apple has designed a series of physical awards that represent the extraordinary craftsmanship integral to creating music. 

Each award features Apple's custom silicon wafer suspended between a polished sheet of glass and a machined and anodized aluminum body. 

"Winning Songwriter of the Year in any capacity in any year would be so exciting, but I think it's really special this particular year because songwriting was the one thing that kept me connected to my fans," said Swift.