Kylie Minogue ‘bursts with joy’ as new single Padam Padam climbs the charts | Kylie Minogue

It was hailed as Kylie Minogue’s “comeback” single and generated countless memes and dance videos on social media.

Yet when first released earlier this month, Padam Padam was not played on youth stations such as BBC Radio 1 and Capital FM, as it was originally aimed at older audiences.

Now, thanks in part to the song’s popularity on platforms such as TikTok and Twitter, Minogue has found a new generation of fans.

The track topped the UK Big Top 40 and reached No. 26 on the Official Singles Chart, becoming the biggest-selling single of the week and Minogue’s highest-charting single since Into the Blue in 2014.

The song also earned Minogue her first Top 40 hit in Australia in over a decade, and is set to hit the US pop charts for the first time in over 20 years.

“My heart is bursting with joy,” the singer said in an Instagram post on her 55th birthday this past weekend. “I just wanted to say thank you, thank you so much for all the birthday messages and the reaction from Padam and the love.

“It’s been an amazing week capped off by my birthday today and I can’t thank you enough.”

Inspired by Edith Piaf’s 1951 song of the same name, Padam Padam is a reference to the sound of the human heartbeat and has spread like wildfire thanks to its contagious nature and brevity (it triggers at 2 minutes and 46 seconds).

Fans posted videos about getting addicted to the track, debated the meaning of the title, and choreographed dance routines for it. Reactions which, according to Minogue, “made me crack”.

In another video with her new Big Top 40 award, based on data from Apple Music and playing on global radio stations including Capital and Heart, Minogue said, “I can’t believe I’m holding this… A another wild turn in my life and career.”

Minogue performed Padam Padam last week at the American Idol TV talent show finale. It’s the first single from his new album, Tension, which is slated for release in September. Minogue will embark on their biggest tour in five years in 2024, with concerts in arenas across the UK.

The former Neighbors actress, who has 2.5million Instagram followers, said she was grateful for the impact the web had on revitalizing her music career – which had seven No. UK, including I Should Be So Lucky, Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.

“It’s been a bit difficult trying to navigate and figure it out,” she said. “Now I think that’s amazing and I wonder what it would have been like if it had started with my career.

“I feel like I have one foot in the old world and one foot in the new. I marvel at people who are really good at it. I try my best, but I protected my privacy so you don’t see me posting anything on Instagram.

Chart analyst and historian James Masterton said: “What makes Padam Padam’s success significant is that it is truly Kylie’s first hit single of the streaming era, her first since paid purchases ceased to be a mass product seven or eight years ago. She’s bridged a generational gap with a hit record that touches both her loyal (and aging) bandmates but also a new generation of music fans.

According to Masterton, a career revival in the age of Minogue is not unheard of – with Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield having career revivals in the 1980s and 90s. latest focused on her “second” career – she was in her 40s when she recorded What’s Love Got to Do With It, while Cher was 52 when she recorded Believe.

“What helped Kylie’s single explode was TikTok,” Masterton said. “Over the past three years, it has become one of the most important platforms for breaking and discovering hit singles. And it bypasses all traditional media channels.

“You can no longer rely on the radio to make a hit; he must have an online call. It’s not something easy to design either, but the producers do their best to allow hooks or even song fragments to be broken down into 20-second sound clips.

He pointed to the “fascinating shift” in how pop music is being embraced by a new generation. “No one calls themselves a TikTok ‘consumer’. Everyone is a “creator” and can use pop songs as part of this personal expression. We now judge the success of pop songs by how many people actively engage with them rather than just passively sit back and listen,” he said.