Donna Summer earned the title of “The Queen of Disco,” thanks to a string of successful dance singles, beginning with 1975’s somewhat scandalous “Love To Love You Baby.” Her fruitful collaboration with producer Giorgio Moroder continued with “I Feel Love,” “Last Dance,” “MacArthur Park,” “Heaven Knows,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” “Dim All The Lights,” “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough),” “On The Radio,” and finally, “The Wanderer” in 1980. Of these classics, only “I Feel Love” failed to make the Top 5, stalling at #6.

After that phenomenal run, there really was nowhere to go but down. And she did, barely cracking the Top 40 with her next three at bats. Breaking up with Moroder to work with Quincy Jones, “Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)” brought Summer back to the Top 10 in September 1982.

The following year, she would enjoy her biggest hit of the nascent video age, 1983’s “She Works Hard For The Money.” I recall hearing that it was a comeback of sorts for Summer, though it had been less than a year since her last hit. Perhaps it’s because there was no missing her on MTV. The video for “She Works Hard For The Money” enjoyed heavy rotation on the channel, making her the first black woman to achieve that feat.

Then all the lights seemed to go dim, indeed. While I enjoyed her cover of The Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby” (released in the fall of the following year), the pop-buying public didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm. Five years later, Summer shined again, hooking up with UK studio maestros Stock-Aitken-Waterman (SAW) for a new album. Lead single “This Time I Know It’s For Real” hit #7 and went gold (her first single to do so since “The Wanderer”):

(How I love SAW. But that’s a topic for another day.)

Once more, Summer had trouble following up on this success, releasing her last studio album, Mistaken Identity, in 1991. The title proved to be accurate, as the New Jack Swing sound just didn’t fit her style. But she continued to work hard for the money, releasing a couple of greatest hits compilations, debuting a new track or two each time out.

In 1999, VH1 aired a live concert special which garnered big ratings and big sales for the accompanying album, Live And More Encore. The two new studio tracks on the disc, “I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)” and “Love Is The Healer” both hit #1 on the Billboard dance chart. And since then, Summer has continued to knock about, contributing to movie soundtracks and releasing a new dance single here and there. If you’d spent any time in gay clubs during the past 10 years, you’d probably be intimately familiar with the remixed results of these efforts.

That’s why this week’s release of Crayons, Summer’s first studio effort in 17 years, isn’t really a comeback, though it will most certainly be spun as one. The 59-year old singer remains in top form, while tapping into the talents of some of today’s top pop and R&B writers and producers. Though Summer thought she may never record again, she discovered she had something to say.

With “I’m A Fire,” released to DJs in February, “The Queen of Disco” ascended to the top of the Billboard dance chart for the 13th time. Summer’s the first artist to have a #1 hit in every decade since the chart’s inception in 1974. Hear here:

Official lead single, the thumpin’ “Stamp Your Feet” was co-written by Summer, Greg Kurstin (Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen), and Danielle Brisebois (Natasha Bedingfield, New Radicals). Thanks to a well-timed appearance on tonight’s American Idol finale, Summer may once again return to where she’s sounded best for over 30 years — on the radio.

This Queen is back. Nobody tell Aretha.