When her recent viral hit Padam Padam entered the UK Singles Chart this past June at #26, it became Kylie Minogue’s 52nd UK Top 40 hit. But even more astonishing is that when it later jumped up to the #9 position, she became one of the few female artists that have managed to score a UK Top 10 single in 5 consecutive decades – and the ONLY female artist to do this in the present era (1980s-2020s).
From 1987’s I Should Be So Lucky to 2023’s Padam Padam, Ms. Minogue has notched an impressive 35 UK Top 10 hits. And there seems to be no better time than now to take a celebratory look at some of the highlights on Kylie’s UK Top 10 timeline.
1980s
Total UK Top 10s: 8
Kylie first appeared on the UK charts at the tail end of 1987 with the aforementioned I Should Be So Lucky charging right in at # 1. Her debut album, Kylie would spawn 3 more hits, all peaking at #2: Got To Be Certain, Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi, and The Loco-Motion, which also became a smash hit in the US and Canada, reaching #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
1990s
Total UK Top 10s: 8
That Kylie only managed to score the same amount of Top 10 hits for the whole decade of the 90s as she did in just over 3 years of the 80s is telling of the struggles she went through as an artist. Eventually, in the latter half of the decade, she would turn away from the more chart-friendly “manufactured pop” sound her music was known for in favour of something with a little more substance. Still, the Top 10 hits she had were sublime, from the upbeat-sounding (but lyrically, kinda depressing) Better The Devil You Know (#2) and retro disco of Step Back in Time (#4), to a tongue-rolls-and-all cover of Give Me Just A Little More Time (#2) and her first true departure from “Pop Kylie”, Confide In Me (#2).
2000s
Total UK Top 10s: 16
Peak Kylie. After the poor sales of her underrated album Impossible Princess, Minogue headed back to the disco and found an audience ready, waiting, and thrilled to have her back. So many notable singles came out of this era, including comeback single Spinning Around (#1), Slow (#1), I Believe In You (#2) and worldwide smash Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (#1), which, in 2001, marked her return to the Top 10 of the US Billboard charts—14 years after her previous appearance (with The Loco-Motion). 2002’s Come Into My World (#8) also managed to nab Kylie her first Grammy award (for Best Dance Recording).
2010s
Total UK Top 10 hits: 2
Times change and tastes change, and music careers ebb and flow. And while Kylie remained prolific throughout this decade, her visits to the upper tier of the singles charts became less frequent. A solitary solo entry, All The Lovers (#3) and featured vocals on Taio Cruz’s Higher (#8) were her only Top 10 appearances, with both occurring right at the start of the decade*.
2020s
Total UK Top 10 hits: 1 (so far)
The heartbeat heard ‘round the world. The success of Padam Padam (#8) pretty much proves what many of us have known for years: Kylie Minogue is eternal.
*Of special note: While Kylie’s performance on the UK Singles Chart may have lessened in recent years, the exact opposite is true for her album sales. Each of her last three albums (2015’s Kylie Christmas, 2018’s Golden and 2020’s Disco) bested the one that came before it in sales. And when Disco charted at #1, Kylie became the first female artist to top the UK Albums Chart in 5 consecutive decades (are we noticing a trend here?)
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