Kylie Minogue has become the first female artist to have a number one album in the UK across five decades.
Mostly recorded at home during lockdown, Disco – her 15th studio album in which she revisits her dance music roots – notched up the best opening week for any UK release so far in 2020 with 55,000 chart sales.
It is the eighth time the singer has topped the Official Charts Company album rankings, surpassing Sir Elton John, Sir Cliff Richard and George Michael.
“That sounds crazy to me. I’m 52 years old,” Minogue said of the five-decade record – an accolade she now shares with Bruce Springsteen.
Speaking about the power of pop, Minogue said it can be a marker for people’s lives.
“A lot of the best pop songs that seem so simple are the trickiest ones to do. There’s no distraction. There’s no tricks. It’s just an amazing song,” she said.
After making her name in hit soap opera “Neighbours”, Minogue burst onto the music scene in the late 1980s working with producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Mike Stock recalled their first meeting in 1987.
“When Kylie first came into the studio, she sat in the corner in the back crocheting and Matt Aitken and I both thought, well, ‘God, I hope she’s got some kind of sparkle’… But we got her behind the mic… the switch flicked and she was
a star,” he said.
Together they made four albums, with the first two – Kylie (1988) and Enjoy Yourself (1989) – also reaching number one.
“The first album we did was one of the best-selling albums of the whole decade,” Stock said.
“… I’m obviously very proud of that. Proud to have worked with Kylie who has lasted in the business – just to survive is
an achievement. But she’s doing brilliant.”