Tom Petty will receive the Century Award, Billboard's highest accolade for creative achievement, at The 2005 Billboard Music Awards, airing live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Tuesday, Dec. 6 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Now in its 14th year, the Century Award salutes the creative achievement of an artist's still-developing body of work. Petty has been a fixture on Billboard charts for almost 30 years, seeing his first chart ink in 1977. Since then, he¹s achieved 16 top 40 hits on The Billboard Hot 100, including "Free Fallin'" (1990), "Don't Do Me Like That" (1980) and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers¹ duet with Stevie Nicks 1981). Additionally, 10 songs in his career -- including "You Got Lucky," "I Won¹t Back Down," "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "You Don't Know How It Feels" -- have also reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Ten of his albums -- as a solo act or with the Heartbreakers or the Traveling Wilburys supergroup -- reached the top 10 on The Billboard 200. Those include 1979¹s "Damn The Torpedoes," which spent seven weeks at No. 2; the five-times platinum "Full Moon Fever," which rose to No. 3 during its 71 chart weeks; and the 10-times-platinum "Greatest Hits," which crested at No. 5 during its 154-week run.

"This award comes at a particularly nice time as the Heartbreakers and I go into the thirtieth year of our career," says Petty. "I'm very honored that Billboard has acknowledged me with this award."

"Tom Petty is one of the true great singer/songwriters," Billboard co-executive editor Tamara Conniff says. "Petty's songs and lyrics go to the root of the American dream. For over 30 years, Petty has been a rock icon who continues to inspire new generations of artists. We are honored to present him with the 2005 Century Award."

Previous recipients of the Century Award include George Harrison, Buddy Guy, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Chet Atkins, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, John Mellencamp, Annie Lennox, Sting and Stevie Wonder. Petty introduced first Century Award recipient George Harrison at the 1992 Billboard Music Awards.

Next year, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut album. Over the past thirty years, Petty & the Heartbreakers have sold more than 50-million records, been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, the first year the band was eligible. They have just completed a major North American concert tour which proved to be one of the most successful of their long career, playing to sell-out crowds of more than 750,000 fans. This season, Petty returns to the long-running Fox animated TV series "King Of The Hill," voicing the character of "Lucky." In addition, Petty has four songs featured in the new Cameron Crowe feature "Elizabethtown," and will shortly kick off his second season of his XM Satellite Radio show, "Tom Petty's Buried Treasure." He is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on a new CD which is expected in 2006.