Britney and Ricky get top honour at MTV Asia awards

Britney Spears and Ricky Martin have been named favourite female and male artists at the MTV Asia awards.

Westlife were crowned favourite pop act at the awards in Singapore.

Many artists at the ceremony expressed hope the hype would raise the profile of Asian music.

The awards were broken down into the favourite acts from each Asian country and six awards went to international artists.

About 7,000 fans watched the show live, which kicked off with a string quartet from London-based band Bond. The event was also broadcast to 130 million homes across Asia.

Kamol Sukosol Clapp, whose boy bank Pru received best artist honours for Thailand, said "for the first time in my life I felt like a rock star."

Unlike other Asian bands at the show, Pru dressed in their nation's traditional clothing. Kamol urged Asian musicians to stick to their own styles.

"The problem is Asian artists try to emulate Western artists," he said. "If you want to try to go international, you have to have something that the Westerners don't have."

Over 13 million people cast votes on MTV Asia's website to choose the winners, said the event's host, US pop star Mandy Moore. There was no overall award for favourite Asian artist.

In the international category, Bon Jovi was the favourite rock act and Linkin Park was the favourite breakthrough artist.