Australian musicians have made a big impact at the American Music Awards.

Rapper Iggy Azalea and teen band Five Seconds of Summer, both from NSW, have won major awards at the US music awards show.

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Five Seconds of Summer, who originally found fame on YouTube before being asked to tour with UK boy band One Direction, won new artist of the year.

Five Seconds of Summer won New Artist Of The Year at the American Music Awards. Photo: Getty

Azalea, 24, won rap/hip-hop artist of the year and best rap/hip-hop album for her record The New Classic. 

She used her award acceptance speech to slam singers Eminem and Drake, who both had bad offensive comments about the artist in the past year.

“This award is the first award I’ve won in my entire life,” she told the audience when accepting her award.

“It means so much to me that it is the best hip-hop, because that’s what inspired me to move to America and pursue my dreams, and it’s what helped me when I was a teenager to escape and to get through my life and to better times.

“It means that I can stand here against Eminem and Drake, and come out with this, it’s amazing.”

Azalea, who has had a phenomenal rise to fame in the past two years, has become the ‘It girl’ female rapper in the US, thanks to collaborations with Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande and Rita Ora.

She performed two of her songs at the awards, Fancy and Beg For It.

Five Seconds of Summer (Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin) beat out Azalea, British singer Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and Bastille for their award.

Azalea is also nominated for Artist Of The Year, which has yet to be announced, and Female Artist Of The Year, which went to Katy Perry.