Kylie Minogue’s comeback single defies pop’s ageism to be Most Added Track on radio

KYLIE Minogue has broken the mould of women over 40 being snubbed on the radio, with the pop princess making an airwaves comeback with an unusual new sound.

KYLIE Minogue has broken the curse of pop ageism on our airwaves with Australian radio stations championing her country club banger Dancing.

The Music Network reports her comeback single was the Most Added Song to commercial network playlists with Nova, Hit and KIIS stations rallying behind Australia’s dancing queen.

The radio play will have a significant impact on pushing Dancing into the upper echelons on the ARIA top 40 in the next couple of weeks.

It has been up and down in the iTunes charts before the radio support kicked in, with the single reaching a peak of No. 2 when it was released last Friday.

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Minogue’s reaction when she heard Dancing was being played on radio. Picture: @kylieminogue/Twitter

But fans haven’t waited for radio airplay, sampling the song via streaming services with Kylie celebrating Dancing reaching one million Spotify plays on Twitter today.

Dancing, which marks a dramatic sonic departure for the dancefloor queen, was recorded in Nashville.

Its countrified guitar feel, matched with electronic beats, fits neatly into the sound of now, with radio airwaves flooded with country pop crossover songs in recent years from Avicii’s Wake Me Up to Sam Hunt’s Body Like A Back Road.

Her new groove finds favour with radio stations a week after they backed another of their favourite Australian artists.

Kylie goes a little bit country on Dancing. Picture: Supplied: BMG

Minogue’s Mushroom label mate Vance Joy won the most added track to playlists with his latest single We’re Going Home.

No Australian songs featured in the top 20 most played tracks on commercial radio in 2017 with Jess Mauboy’s Fallin’ the closest at No. 25.

Minogue’s good mate Tina Arena addressed the lack of support for homegrown music at her keynote speech at the annual Bigsound conference last September, reiterating her complaints that female artists over 40 in particular were discriminated against by programmers.

“I believe the formats should be based on the music, not the age of the artist,” Arena said at the conference.

“There are women over 40 making pop music, but you wont hear them on commercial radio … even if they are selling out arenas like Madonna or Jennifer Lopez.”

While Minogue’s previous studio album Kiss Me Once, released in 2014, reached No. 1 on the ARIA charts, her last No. 1 hit in Australia was 2 Hearts in 2007.

Dancing is the first taste of Minogue’s upcoming record Golden, her 14th studio album, which is out on April 6.

“I can hardly talk, I’m so excited that the song’s been played on radio!” she told British radio jock Chris Evans after the UK station gave it a spin last week.

Minogue releases her new album Golden on April 6. Picture: @kylieminogue/Twitter

She recently revealed the track listing for the record, which includes titles such as Stop Me From Falling, A Lifetime To Repair, Live A Little and Music’s Too Sad Without You.

The much loved performer and actor has flagged the album would address the tough times she has faced in her life in recent years, including the breakdown of her relationship with Joshua Sasse.

Minogue got her groove on at Paris Fashion Week this week. Picture: by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images.

“I was a little bit fragile when I started working on this album,” she told the BBC.

“I kind of processed that, and I just thought it was a really good time to be honest and to work through everything, and give a snapshot of where I am in my life. It was very rewarding.”

Now she has completed promotion for her return to the film world with Swinging Safari, Minogue will be turning her attention to a world tour.

“Well it won’t be me a hay bale, I can assure you that much!” she laughed. “I’m really, really excited about bringing this song (Dancing), and other songs on the album to life,” she said.

Originally published as Kylie Minogue’s comeback single defies pop’s ageism to be Most Added Track on radio