MTV Plans Tribute to Britney Spears After Amy Winehouse? (Photos)

MTV had chosen Amy Winehouse for a tribute, and now it is giving pop queen Britney Spears a tribute at this year’s VMAs.

Is the pop music icon turning into a VMA icon for TV show ratings or the kids who watch these shows really want to see a Britney tribute?

Britney is credited for 30 videos over the course of more than a decade which is lifetime in the pop entertainment business.

Those video images are so ingrained on a very large chunk of pop culture and the population, points out Billboard's Keith Caulfield. If this were the Grammys, or a lifetime achievement award, that would be different.

If you ask anyone who grew up on MTV from 1998 forward, they would see Britney in the same way that Madonna was seen in the 1980s, Caulfield continues. Britney was the female video-making star of that decade.

MTV knows that it is paying tribute to the star who’s rocked their network all time.

A tribute doesn't mean you're retiring, Producer Sean Garrett points out. A tribute can mean, ‘Hey, you've done a lot for this culture.' You don't have to wait until someone is about to die or has been in the boondocks for 10 years.

She's been through a lot and she's come out stronger, and that definitely warrants a tribute.