It's a Padamic! Kylie Minogue's Padam Padam becomes her highest-charting UK single in nearly a decade

A strange electro-pop tune, Padam Padam proved you can never keep a good Big Pop Girl down.
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It's never been wise to count Kylie Minogue out. 

The undisputed Princess of Pop for now nearly five decades, Kylie has worn many hats and explored many facets of the pop machine throughout her career, but this just might be her most intriguing form yet; elastic, Eastern Europe inspired electro pop with a bite.

Why? Well, she's only gone and Padam (Padam) it, landing the UK’s best-selling single of the week, smashing back into the Official Chart Top 40 with Padam Padam, her highest-charting single in nearly a decade. 

This would be a cause for celebration for any artist at any point in their career, but it feels particularly salient for Kylie given that Padam Padam is the most weird (but wonderful!) left-of-centre turn for an artist five decades in, who has never been afraid to experiment. 

Today (May 26) Padam Padam's entry at Number 26 delivers Kylie her 52nd Top 40 entry, and her highest-charting song in the UK since Into The Blue hit Number 12 in 2014. The track is the UK’s most-downloaded song of the week, scooping a Number 1 on the Official Singles Sales Chart and Download Chart. 

 

MORE: See where every Kylie Minogue song and album has charted in the UK here

But how did it get there? Well, ever since it dropped, Padam Padam (which was written by producer Lostboy and Ina Wroldsen, best known for writing Clean Bandit's Rockabye and the early hits of The Saturdays) ignited a fire across social media. It is, literally, a Padamic (sorry). 

It proves to be Kylie's best performing single on the Official Chart in nearly a decade; she last entered the UK Top 40 with the country-pop ditty Dancing, taken from her 2018 album Golden. 

Dancing - and Golden - represented something of a step back from Kylie from aiming at a commercial market. And although her 2020 record-breaking lockdown album DISCO celebrated every angle of the dancefloor, it didn't have much of a presence on the Official Singles Chart, with none of its singles breaking the Top 40. 

Why has Padam Padam succeeded now where a more stereotypically palatable single like Say Something or Real Groove with Dua Lipa failed? The answer is, of course, luck and mercurial timing. It also helps that Padam Padam - with its kitschy production and almost Xenomania-leaning levels of lyricism - is the most out there Kylie has been in a while. It's a confident, left-of-centre turn, and people have been responding to it because of how confident it sounds, and how much it feels like a Kylie single. No-one else could have probably pulled this song off.

Altogether, Padam Padam also slots in well with some of the other brave punts Kylie has made sonically throughout her career; the mystical and Bond theme-esque Confide In Me, all of Impossible Princess, even gold-plated hits like Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Slow didn't sound like anything else that was being released at the time. In a way, they still sound like the future. 

WATCH: Remember Kylie Minogue's iconic reaction to DISCO reaching Number 1?

MORE: Kylie Minogue's most-streamed songs in the UK ever

Padam Padam's chart debut proves several things; that five decades into her pop career, Kylie is still ahead of the curve and that people are still responding to the material she's putting out, especially if it's as bold and bright as this.

Of course, the Australian superstar is no stranger to chart success with seven Number 1 singles under her belt and eight Number 1 albums. In 2020 she set a new record with the release of DISCO, Kylie became the first female artist to score a UK Number 1 album in five consecutive decades.  

And with Padam Padam starting a new, decidedly weirder and more singular movement in Kylie's career, we're perched for more left turns as the Tension album campaign unfolds.

It's really, really good to have her back. 

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jack korn-hole

1

WOW what a song!!
Watch this one enter and move up the Billboard 100.
Tomorrow should land top 10 on UK official charts.

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Jack fitsy

2

The fact is its not resonated with the younger crowd no matter how much her whiney older camp core followers bemoan! Its a repetitive noise with good marketing. Madonna also continues to sell many singles well when it comes to download and physical sales but it is what it is, streaming just isn't the way forward for older stars. Calling this a hit is a reach tbh! It barely scraped the top 40 in Australia. I personally loathe this track. Its soulless, mind numbing music aimed squarely at the queer community, and how did she thank them??? By playing private gigs in Dubai like Beyonce where homosexuality is illegal. Lovely! At least Gaga & Madonna played to actual paying fans out there. But i digress. This is just more of the same from her. Far from being diverse, she is just churning out the same camp fluff shes been throwing up for years

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ruffian2205

3

Well sales are more profitable than streams so that's one positive.

I'm still waiting for a decent remix, don't know why artists don't release mixes in the first week any more, like proper single releases any more.

I'm sick to death of streaming it's forcing most artists keep tracks short - most new releases are under 3 minutes long (so you'll stream them again), whereas if it's 4+ minutes long you'll probably only stream once. That's why albums are hardly worth BUYING any more, (they're only about 30 minutes long - worst value for money in years).

I'll be waiting for Kylie's 3rd version of the new album with the extended mixes (like she did with DISCO), not going to be fooled into buying the first release again!

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Rob Parkinson

-1

Sales may get you a quick income but streams are far more profitable for any artist as they continue to generate income, whenever a person streams them and if you have a great enough audience that stream regularly, doesn't matter if you're not riding high in the charts, you'll be earning an income

NN

Nu No

1

Only if they are from PAID STREAM ACCOUNTS.

On average a sale unit from free streams generates £0.01 only...

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Rob Parkinson

0

It doesn't matter as it will still generate income, no matter how small it will constantly continue to pay even if it is next to nothing it will still mount up

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julesin09

-3

Some of you need to be realistic, She was NEVER going to get top 10 let alone number 1. This will drop like a lead balloon now. Legacy acts just dont get streamed enough.

NN

Nu No

1

Actually she is #18 on midweeks.

The song still #01 on iTunes and is climbing on Spotify and Apple Music (where is already TOP 20).

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Damián

1

Oops...Maybe I see some Madge fans bleeding for Kylie's successful comeback???...mmmm

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Jack fitsy

1

Only because of clever marketing. She released a CD single Monday and an extended remix the day before. The song isnt gaining new listeners, her management are milking her small core fan base by drip feeding them new versions and formats, most likely whats helped her past couple of albums top the charts, Disco had an incredible 21 different formats if you factor in the signed variations. Thats not an achievement tbh

O

Oliverx

0

21 different formats? and here I was thinking it was around 10. lol

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Jack fitsy

1

When you factor in all the signed copies plus delux versions

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Vaajynna wannalot

6

Absolutely gutted she didn't get her 8th uk no 1 single since 2003 her song Slow. She was robbed. music channels like radio 1 and capital and many more who think artist like Kylie are not relevant in the charts and so are ageist towards them. Fans and non fans please help @kylieminogue #kylieminogue #kylie to get her 8th uk 1 single in the UK charts ASAP. Love Kylie forever x

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Dneaeade

0

I bought the single version and the extended mix as seperate downloads. Then I bought the CD single. As a fan I've done all I can. If this doesn't get her another U.K. single number one, I don't know what else I can do. But that would be really proof that the UK charts are a joke since streaming came.

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Dneaeade

0

I stand by what I wrote. These charts are a joke.

R

RyanT

3

Best news ever! UK Folks pls pls stream and get her to #1! We all need Kylie back at top of the charts.

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Damián

1

So happy to see all these comments of long time Kylie fans like me!!! She's definitely the queen of pop in UK and Oz! And having the best selling single of the week....why doesn't she reached higher???

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Alfred Lock

3

A triumph of sorts over streaming and a victory blow for all veteran acts against ageist commercial radiom never underestimate the Princess of Pop

G

George

10

So what would have got her a number 1 in 2014 (before streaming was an Official Chart metric), she now has to settle for number 26 with streaming coming into play. I swear the streaming portion charts are just broken. Kylie has been robbed of a number one single.

D

downtherabbithole

5

This will climb for sure.

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Norb Peti

3

Give it time. She WILL climb ;)

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zedgar Infiniti

4

it’s thinks catching on and will climb up the chart! It’s definitely getting more buzz than Into The Blue!

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Hana

0

that's not how it works. she probably wouldn't have no.1 selling single if majority of people were buying singles instead of streaming them.

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Zoltán Oskovits

5

Yesss!!! She deserves it!!! 😍😍✨👏🏻

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Jason Lindley

6

Well done Kylie, I am so happy for you. Never underestimate this woman as she will always show how it is done. 52nd top 40 hit 😀😀😀😀😀