Pea Princess pops up and powers on

Kylie Minogue has the kind of brand recognition usually reserved for saints or corporations, but here she's likely to be confused or compared with Madonna.

After all the two singers have the same bottle-blonde looks and similar records of career longevity, beginning in the 1980s with teenybop pop that morphed over time into something more substantial, including cutting-edge dance remixes.

They have both had successful movie careers and their share of flops. As two of the world's top-earning female artists their images have graced the covers of glossy magazines for decades. Importantly, their love lives have been a source of delight for gossip columnists and schadenfreude for the public.