Miley Cyrus has been named the best artist of the year by MTV for 2013 - which is ridiculous, but we can at least understand where they're coming from. The former child star has undoubtedly been the most talked about pop act of the year - and one of the biggest selling - and she essentially nailed down the prize at MTV's Video Music Awards.

Miley CyrusMiley Cyrus is MTV's Artist of the Year

On that occasion, Miley 'twerked' on Robin Thicke during a rendition of Blurred Lines. After that, she debuted her Terry Richardson directed video for Wrecking Ball in which she licked a hammer, cried and straddled a giant wrecking ball - naked. She made it into the Oxford English Dictionary and spawned tons of parody videos.

MTV said on Monday that her VMA duet was the year's most watched video on its website and that Miley's artist page had more visits than any other act.

As well as shifting boatloads of her singles We Can't Stop and Wrecking Ball, she also scored a No.1 with album Bangerz and made a notable appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Each year, MTV executives pick their top artist. One Direction won last year, with Katy Perry taking the crown the year before.

Amy Doyle, head of MTV's music and talent programming strategy, said Cyrus was an easy choice. "She dominated the music charts and critics' best-of lists while creating some of the year's most memorable moments."

Watch Miley Cyrus going punk for the Met Gala 2013.

2013 has been an incredible year for Miley, easily the most talked about singer of the moment despite the recent return of Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. It was also the year that saw her split from fiance Liam Hemsworth - star of the Hunger Games movies.