Cher was honored with the Icon Award in celebration of her contributions to music and pop culture over her six-decade-long career at Monday night's iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The singer-actress is the only artist ever to top a Billboard chart in seven consecutive decades and has sold more than 100 million records to date.
Meryl Streep presented the award to Cher, saying, "You know that Cher has had a No. 1 record in every one of the last seven decades She's the only woman in U.S. history to have done that. What does it take to have those kinds of legs, right? We all want to know. It's not 15 minutes of fame anymore. You're lucky to get seven seconds of somebody's fractured attention -- never mind seven decades."
Cher peformed for the crowd with Jennifer Hudson prior to receiving the honor, giving a rendition of her hit "Believe."
"I don't usually talk about it, but I have been down and out so many times you could not believe it," Cher said, when recieving the award. "Dropped by record companies, couldn't get a job."
"They said, 'Oh, she's so over,'" she adeed. "But I never gave up my dream."
Bon Jovi, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez and Pink have previously received the Icon Award.
The honor for Cher comes as she is also in the running for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She's currently in fifth place in the fan vote with about 272,000 votes, following Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton and Ozzy Osbourne, but she's ahead of such notables as Lenny Kravitz, Kool & the Gang, Mariah Carey and others.
If Cher does get voted into the Rock Hall -- which is determined by a panel of expert voters combined with the fan vote -- it's unclear if she'll accept the honor. "You know what, I wouldn't be in it now if they gave me a million dollars ... I'm never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves," Cher told Kelly Clarkson late last year.
In her first major TV appearance since the release of Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé was also honored at Monday night's show with the Innovator Award.
The honor comes as the former Destiny Child's singer has received widespread critical acclaim for her new 27-song, genre-bending opus, Cowboy Carter, which was released on Friday (March 29).
Ludacris hosted the show broadcast on FOX from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Along with the awards, the show also featured performances by Ludacris, Justin Timberlake, Green Day, TLC, Jelly Roll and others.
