Kylie Minogue sets UK chart records with her new album, Disco

Pop star Kylie Minogue has become the first female artist to have a number one album in the UK in five separate decades.

Her 15th studio album, Disco, topped the charts with 55,000 sales, meaning it has also scored the best opening week of any new release in 2020 so far.

It is her eighth number one, meaning she has overtaken Elton John, Cliff Richard and George Michael in the all-time chart leaderboard.

"I'm lost for words," said the star.

"Thank-you to everyone who has supported this album. I'm so touched that it's made its way to your hearts. I love it."

Only five other acts have topped the Official Chart across five consecutive decades: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Paul Weller, Bruce Springsteen and David Gilmour.

The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan have also landed chart-toppers across five decades, though not consecutively.

Kylie's eight chart-toppers

The pop star has reinvented her image and her sound dozens of times over the last four decades

• Kylie (1988)

• Enjoy Yourself (1989)

• Greatest Hits (1992)

• Fever (2001)

• Aphrodite (2010)

• Golden (2018)

• Step Back In Time: The Definitive Collection (2019)

• Disco (2020)

Kylie's chart-topper was made in the middle of the lockdown, with the star forced to buy recording equipment and learn computer software so she could record her vocals at home.

She told BBC News the project had been a lifeline when quarantine threatened to overwhelm her.

"It's hard to dig deep and stay positive," the 52-year-old said, "and I had a moment like that, during the first lockdown where I had to confess to someone else that I was struggling.

"And actually, if I wasn't able to work on the album, I perhaps would have gone the other way."

Minogue finished ahead of Little Mix, whose album Confetti debuted at number two in the Official Album Chart.

Ariana Grande's Positions, which was top of the pile last week, dropped to third. The album's title track spent a third week at number one in the singles chart.

Elsewhere, Dame Shirley Bassey set another chart record with her latest album, I Owe It All To You - which is billed as "a celebration of 70 years in showbiz".

The record debuted at number five, making Dame Shirley the first female artist to claim a Top 40 album in seven consecutive decades.

The singer scored her first chart entry in 1961 with Fabulous Shirley Bassey. Her latest collection is her first top five record in 42 years, since 1978's 25th Anniversary Album.