Since 1987, Kylie Minogue has gifted the gays – yes, her music is tailor-made for us!!! – with some of the best pop anthems in history, a few of which we’re about name right now so buckle up: I Should Be So Lucky, Better the Devil You Know, Confide In Me, Spinning Around, Love at First Sight, All the Lovers and Say Something. Although she’s never had as much success stateside – with zero chart-toppers on the Billboard Hot 100, literally barbaric – she’s still one of the most iconic female entertainers in the music industry with seven UK number one singles (as well as 34 top 10 hits), 80 million records sold and three BRIT Awards. Wait, it doesn’t stop there: Kylie is also the highest-selling artist female artist of all time in Australia. Yep, she’s one to watch! 8 September marks the 20th anniversary of her signature single Can’t Get You Out of My Head – which is still her number one best seller – so we’ve ranked Kylie’s 10 best singles ever. Does the aforementioned neo-disco anthem rank in first place? Scroll a little bit and you’ll find out…
10. Better The Devil You Know
UK Peak: 2
While we tend to lean more towards her late 90s and early 00s hits (which is peak banger Kylie), there’s no denying that Better The Devil You Know is an ultimate Kylie classic. It’s got all the staples of a Stock Aitken Waterman production: pulsing disco-pop beats, synths, and a soaring chorus that’ll be stuck in your head for days.
9. In My Arms
UK Peak: 10
The third single from Kylie’s tenth studio album, X, isn’t one of her most well known hits, but it slaps. Produced by Calvin Harris, In My Arms is a synth-heavy dance number brimming with optimism and romance in which the star tells her lover – who she describes as her “guilty pleasure” – to hurry up, get his “groove” on and come (not like that) into her arms. It’s infectious as hell and remains fresh to this day.
8. Confide In Me
UK Peak: 2
One of her most critically-acclaimed tracks to date, Confide In Me saw Kylie ditch her signature style of dance-pop for a dramatic indie and trip-hop-inspired cut that wouldn’t sound out of place on a James Bond soundtrack. Thanks to its innovative production and soaring vocals, the single has since been hailed by critics as one of the most iconic singles of the 1990s decade. Love that for Kylie.
7. Slow
UK Peak: 1
Has Kylie ever been sexier? Slow boasts the star’s most sensual and seductive vocals as she invites a man to “slow down” and dance with her. Kylie’s fond of it too – in 2012 she named Slow as her favourite song from her entire discography.
6. In Your Eyes
UK Peak: 3
The follow-up to Can’t Get You Out of My Head, this dance-pop banger continued the momentum for Kylie’s eighth studio album, Fever, helping it become her highest selling album in the process with six million copies sold around the world. In Your Eyes’ production is contagious, as are Kylie’s robotic vocals – it’s no surprise why this bop has been included on most of her concert tours since its release 20 years ago.
5. Timebomb
UK Peak: 31
One of the most underrated pop singles of all time, Timebomb represented Kylie at her most fast and furious, delivering processed-to-the-gods vocals over a relentless, gay-club-ready beat. Unfortunately, the world just wasn’t ready for such excellence, and the song only peaked at number 31. Tragic.
4. All the Lovers
UK Peak: 3
Kylie delivered one of her best songs – and music videos – in years with the release of Aphrodite’s lead banger, All the Lovers, an electropop number reminiscent of her 2004 single I Believe In You in which the star invites her lover for a dance. It features all the classic Kylie-isms: sensual vocals, euphoric disco-inspired production and an addictive chorus. Fun fact: it was Kylie’s last top 10 hit in the UK.
3. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
UK Peak: 1
It says a lot about Kylie’s discography that we’ve placed Can’t Get You Out of My Head – one of the catchiest pop songs in history – in third place. Although she was a bonafide superstar before its release, the track – as well as Spinning Around – established Kylie as one of the most commercially relevant pop stars of the millennium as it topped the charts in 40 countries and became her first top 10 hit in the US in 13 years. (Remember when it faced “competition” in the UK from Victoria Beckham’s Not Such an Innocent Girl? Posh didn’t have a chance.) The futuristic music video is just as iconic as the song – Kylie’s white hooded jumpsuit has since become one of the most recognisable ensembles in pop culture.
2. Spinning Around
UK Peak: 1
Following Kylie’s foray into experimental pop and the indie genre with her sixth studio album Impossible Princess (which includes our number eight entry), the Aussie icon made a triumphant comeback on the charts with her disco-inspired jam Spinning Around. Upon release, the song reached the pole position in Australia and the UK while its video created a media storm thanks to Kylie’s legendary gold hotpants, which – along with her white hooded jumpsuit – became one of her trademark looks. It doesn’t really get more iconic than this.
1. Love At First Sight
UK Peak: 2
There’s a reason why Love at First Sight has been included on several ‘Best Of’ lists and earned Kylie her first ever Grammy Award nomination: it’s pop at its finest. Thanks to its slick nu-disco beat and carefree lyrics about – yep! – love, the earworm is guaranteed to instil a sense of euphoria in the most cold-hearted of listeners and still, to this day, sounds fresh. The fact it wasn’t a UK chart-topper and didn’t even land in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 is absolutely criminal because it’s a goddamn classic. It’s peak Kylie.
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