The Best of Kylie Minogue is a greatest hits album by Kylie Minogue. It was released on 28 May 2012 by EMI to celebrate Kylie's twenty-fifth year in the music industry, as part of her K25 celebrations. This was Kylie's fourth major compilation album, following the previous major compilation albums Greatest Hits (1992), Hits+ (2002) and Ultimate Kylie (2004). It is also Kylie's only major compilation not to include any new material or to include unreleased and rare material. The album consists of Kylie's major hits, spanning from her 1988 debut to her 2010 album project Aphrodite.
Upon its release, the compilation was well received by most music critics, many praising the later releases of Kylie's catalog, while it was criticized for not including most of her hit songs from the start of her career. It peaked at number eleven in the United Kingdom, while charting inside the top forty in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland and Spain.
Background[]
The Best of Kylie Minogue is the first major greatest hits album by Kylie since her 2004 Ultimate Kylie album. During 2012, Kylie had celebrated her twenty-fifth anniversary of her record career, which was dubbed "K25 Celebration". On the 25th of each month, Kylie would present a special gift to her fans to thank them for their support during her 25-year recording career. She would ask fans every month to "tweet to unlock" the special gift, and she would regularly receive more than 25,000 tweets. To celebeate the first month of K25, Kylie released an orchestral version of her single "Finer Feelings" and embarked on the Anti Tour, which featured b-sides, demos and rarities from her music catalogue.
According to a press release, the songs selected for The Best of Kylie Minogue were chosen by "fans through extensive market research conducted by EMI late last year." The cover art of The Best of Kylie Minogue contains badges of the singles. It also has pictures from two music videos; "Spinning Around" and "Confide in Me". The back cover featured logos of the hits. In the booklet, the cover of the singles are included. An alternate cover was made for a deluxe edition for iTunes. The same picture with a pink border and text.
The Best of Kylie Minogue was one of four musical releases within her K25 celebration. The first being her Single release of "Timebomb", the second being this release, the third being her orchestral compilation album The Abbey Road Sessions and her final being her K25 Time Capsule box set.
Material and release[]
Unlike Ultimate Kylie, this compilation does not feature a bonus disc of more songs to commemorate her back catalog. The album only consists of randomly ordered tracks from Kylie's twenty-five years in the music industry. Two songs from her debut album were featured on the album; "I Should Be So Lucky" and "The Loco-Motion". Two songs from Enjoy Yourself were featured, these being "Tears on My Pillow" and "Never Too Late". One song from her third studio album was "Better the Devil You Know", one song from her fourth album was "Give Me Just a Little More Time" and one from her fifth studio album was "Confide in Me".
In her 2000's era, three songs from Light Years were featured, these being "Spinning Around", "On a Night Like This" and "Kids". All singles from her eighth studio album were featured, except for "Come into My World", her ninth album had all singles but "Chocolate", her tenth studio album had both "Wow" and "In My Arms" included, and the two songs from her eleventh album were "All the Lovers" and "Get Outta My Way". It is worth noting that tracks from her sixth studio album, Impossible Princess were not featured on the compilation album. It was intended that "Timebomb", a K25 surprise and released a few days apart from the album, was supposed to be released on the compilation. However, this idea was scrapped. It did, however featured on her K25 Time Capsule set released in October.
The album was released on June 4 in Europe and the United Kingdom, while it was released in the United States on June 19. To promote the album and single "Timebomb", Kylie traveled to the United States appearing on Good Morning America. After the promotion in North America, "Timebomb" debuted at number thirty-one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs. In its fourth week, it rose to number four, becoming Kylie's ninth top ten single on that chart. It was also labeled that week's "Greatest Gainer". The week of 4 August 2012, "Timebomb" became Kylie's ninth overall number one on the dance chart and her sixth consecutive number one.
On June 27, 2014, two years after its annual release, The Best of Kylie Minogue was released in Australia and New Zealand digitally and physically.
Track listing[]
| Standard edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Album | Length |
| 1. | "Can't Get You Out of My Head" | Cathy Dennis · Rob Davis | Fever | 3:49 |
| 2. | "Spinning Around" | Ira Shickman · Osborne Bingham · Kara DioGuardi · Paula Abdul | Light Years | 3:27 |
| 3. | "I Should Be So Lucky" | Mike Stock · Matt Aitken · Pete Waterman | Kylie | 3:24 |
| 4. | "Love at First Sight" | Kylie Minogue · Richard Stannard · Julian Gallagher · Ash Howes · Martin Harrington | Fever | 3:57 |
| 5. | "In Your Eyes" | Minogue · Stannard · Gallagher · Howes | Fever | 3:18 |
| 6. | "Kids" (with Robbie Williams) | Williams · Guy Chambers | Light Years | 4:18 |
| 7. | "Better the Devil You Know" | Stock · Aitken · Waterman | Rhythm of Love | 3:54 |
| 8. | "All the Lovers" | Jim Eliot · Mima Stilwell | Aphrodite | 3:20 |
| 9. | "Give Me Just a Little More Time" | Edythe Wayne · Ron Dunbar | Let's Get to It | 3:06 |
| 10. | "Celebration" | Ronald Bell · George Brown · Robert Bell · Robert Mickens · James Taylo · Dennis Thomas · Claydes Smith · Earl Toon · Eumir Deodato | Greatest Hits | 3:58 |
| 11. | "Slow" | Minogue · Dan Carey · Emilíana Torrini | Body Language | 3:13 |
| 12. | "Red Blooded Woman" | Johnny Douglas · Karen Poole | Body Language | 4:22 |
| 13. | "I Believe in You" | Minogue · Jake Shears · Babydaddy | Ultimate Kylie | 3:19 |
| 14. | "On a Night Like This" | Mark Taylor · Graham Stack · Brian Rawling | Light Years | 3:31 |
| 15. | "Confide in Me" (Radio Mix) | Steve Anderson · Dave Seaman · Owain Barton | Kylie Minogue | 4:26 |
| 16. | "Get Outta My Way" | Lucas Secon · Damon Sharpe · Peter Wallevik · Daniel Davidsen · Mich Hansen | Aphrodite | 3:39 |
| 17. | "The Loco-Motion" (7" Mix) | Gerry Goffin · Carole King | Kylie | 3:13 |
| 18. | "Tears on My Pillow" | Sylvester Bradford · Al Lewis | Enjoy Yourself | 2:30 |
| 19. | "Wow" | Minogue · Poole · Greg Kurstin | X | 3:12 |
| 20. | "In My Arms" | Minogue · Calvin Harris · Stannard · Paul Harris · Julian Peake | X | 3:31 |
| 21. | "Never Too Late" | Stock · Aitken · Waterman | Enjoy Yourself | 3:22 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21. | "Better Than Today" | Nerina Pallot · Andy Chatterley | Aphrodite | 3:25 |
| 22. | "Never Too Late" | Stock · Aitken · Waterman | Enjoy Yourself | 3:22 |
| No. | Title | Director | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Can't Get You Out of My Head" | Dawn Shadforth | 3:47 |
| 2. | "Spinning Around" | Shadforth | 3:27 |
| 3. | "I Should Be So Lucky" | Chris Langman | 3:24 |
| 4. | "Love at First Sight" | Johan Renck | 3:56 |
| 5. | "In Your Eyes" | Shadforth | 3:17 |
| 6. | "Kids" (with Robbie Williams) | Simon Hilton | 4:46 |
| 7. | "Better the Devil You Know" | Paul Goldman | 3:57 |
| 8. | "All the Lovers" | Joseph Kahn | 3:19 |
| 9. | "Give Me Just a Little More Time" | Greg Masuak | 3:04 |
| 10. | "Celebration" | Masuak | 4:01 |
| 11. | "Slow" | Baillie Walsh | 3:55 |
| 12. | "Red Blooded Woman" | Jake Nava | 4:08 |
| 13. | "I Believe in You" | Vernie Yeung | 3:24 |
| 14. | "On a Night Like This" | Douglas Avery | 4:06 |
| 15. | "Confide in Me" | Paul Boyd | 5:56 |
| 16. | "Get Outta My Way" | AlexandLiane | 3:41 |
| 17. | "The Loco-Motion" | Langman | 3:16 |
| 18. | "Tears on My Pillow" | Pete Cornish | 2:28 |
| 19. | "Wow" | Melina Matsoukas | 3:09 |
| 20. | "In My Arms" | Matsoukas | 3:30 |
| 21. | "Never Too Late" | Cornish | 3:22 |
| No. | Title | Director | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21. | "Better than Today" | William Baker | 3:26 |
| 22. | "Never Too Late" | Cornish | 3:22 |
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