Kylie Minogue

The candy-coated gloss of Kylie Minogue's early days smash "I Should Be So Lucky" may seem a far cry from the slinky electronic pulse of the 21st-century groove engine "Slow," but when it comes to the Aussie sensation's decades of against-all-odds success, that's the point. Relentlessly determined to push her own artistic boundaries, yet equally dedicated to perfecting a certain stripe of pure and direct dance-pop (witness the perk and quirk of "2 Hearts"), Minogue has grown from female figurehead of the '80s Stock, Aitken & Waterman songwriting/production powerhouse to the kind of international superstar whose unofficial theme song, "Can't Get You Out of My Head," just about says it all.

More Minogue greatness awaits, in Next Steps.

Kylie Minogue's U.S. success may have been an on-and-off proposal, but don't think the dance-floor diva spent all her time away pining. For decades, Minogue's overseas superstardom has played out on a magnitude matched only by a certain other blonde pocket Venus (hint: one name, begins with "M"). Like that monumental musical force, Minogue stays fresh by trying on images and sounds only long enough to claim them as her own before moving on to the next defining moment, from caramel-coated updates of '50s golden oldies ("Tears On My Pillow"), to atmospheric people movers ("Confide In Me"), to Bollywood-scented beats and beyond ("Chiggy Wiggy" with Suzanne, A.R. Rahman, and Sonu Nigam).

More Minogue? You got it, in Deep Cuts.

"I'm a girl who likes her fun," whispers Kylie Minogue on the full confession "Secret (Take You Home)," and one listen to our Deep Cuts playlist proves it. Minogue's all about making you move, whether she's wielding a wispy hint of hip-hop bounce ("Heart Beat Rock"), seizing the dance-floor moment ("On a Night Like This"), or offering up a blast from the past on the delirious New Order mash-up "Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head." Even the moody techno of "Breathe" gets a hit of fresh air from Minogue's bright and breezy presence.

When Australian soap star Kylie Minogue hit the U.S. charts with an '80s dance-pop remake of "The Loco-Motion," the song — as tasty and substantial as a fluff of cotton candy — had one-hit wonder written all over it. Yet, if Minogue took her time to match that initial success in the States, in Europe and beyond her star rose to stratospheric heights. Riding trends and reinventions like they were roads paved in gold, Minogue evolved steadily from the team-produced product behind '80s sparkle-pop like "Got to Be Certain," to the mistress of her own dancetastic domain — a place where fellow icons rush to rub elbows ("Kids," live with Bono), where tongue-in-cheek anthems ("Your Disco Needs You") stand gloriously side-by-side with state-of-the-art body-freakers (an LA Riots Remix of "Boombox"), and where an Essential artist finally gets her Stateside due.