Urapopstar
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Urapopstar is a browser game that emulates the popular music industry. It was created by British teenager Robert Black in around February 2001, although the exact date is unknown. It is a lively internet community of which its members create their very own pop star with the goal of bringing them onto a top 40 singles and albums chart. Members usually pick a "model" for their acts, most commonly a famous singer, musical group or actor and actress, then assigning them a name. Then they will usually create artwork, such as promotional banners, compact disc and album covers, posters, and other forms of marketing. Then they will use the Urapopstar forum to promote their act by posting lyrics, pictures, promotional stories, music videos, and other forms of promotion.
After its simple beginnings, the site has grown to be a very complex simulation of the popular music industry, whose users thrive on its purported realism. The website artwork and self-written lyrics that can be compared to professional work.
The first chart was published on the 4 March 2001. It was a top 14, and the first number one was girl group Sparez's Never Get What You Always Want. The chart eventually grew into a top 30, and by early 2002, it became a top 40 chart, which it has remained on ever since.
Within two months of the first chart, the first artist that lasted two weeks as the first on the charts was Ryan Simmonds by producing his single Boys and Girls. He was the biggest male artist on Urapopstar in 2001, as he picked up three number one hits in this year and is still one of the biggest male artists since the site began. Also in 2001, the pop group Ace*Teens arrived at Urapopstar, and received immediate and continued success, bagging six number one hits between 2001-2005. The largest girlgroup in Urapopstar history, Gasp, were very successful in this year, picking up four number one hits. All three bandmembers Ciara, Jessika Berqvist-Simmonds and Kelli J also found solo success.
Despite a change in management in 2002, Urapopstar grew even more popular, witnessing the first country star when Andrea Twain produced her debut "When". Since that single Andrea continued to be successful by producing seven number one singles. It was also the year Tasha released her first single "Feel Good" that started her string of 16 Top 10 hits.
During 2003, the undisputed Queen Of Pop, Lucreacia tallyed seven number one singles from "Where The Wild Roses Grow", a duet with Tom Owen, to Christmas. The year also saw the arrival of new acts Mars/Venus and Miss Drips whilst other acts such as ex.one and Mark B produced some of the biggest hits of their career.
In 2004, girlASKboy and Androgyny led "The Rock Revolution" whilst the success of acts of Lucreacia, Mars/Venus and Miss Drips continued. In addition, Androgyny's Roadkill surprised the community by being the first single to spend three weeks at the top of the Urapopstar charts.
Some of the most successful artists of 2005 included Claire Kitten, Emblaze, Melissa Moore, Alesha and Emma Brown. Large successes from newcomers included Russ Hooch and Kantar.
In 2006, Envy scored the first number one of the year. Kandi has already appeared successful with her two-week number one, while Delta Nu has currently fared well with her first number one "Lovers And Players", and following it up with another one in April of this year in the form of "You!", and again in July with "Monte Carlo Guys" written and produced by Tasha Stanley. Claire Kitten's final single, a cover of Tegan and Sara's "Superstar", did extremely well. Recently, Emblaze recently scored the first ever four-week #1 with "Easy Target" which is now among the top 10 sellers of all time selling over 600,000 copies to date, and Christine Tyler and Arwyn Knight won the inaugural Tango Challenge with their duet "Race Against The Clock" which sort just short of 300,000 copies.
2006 also marked the 5th anniversary of Urapopstar. This was celebrated with the forums having a Five Year Anniversary party where the acts could perform. There was even an unofficial single, in the shape of Dr. C and the Predicates' single "Five Years", which was a number one earlier in the year and commemorated how much Urapopstar has changed over the years and everything that it has given to its members.
There has also been a massive surge in underdogs reaching the top ends of the charts, most notably newcomers such as Ami Yuki and Dalisay have proven successful with their debut singles both reaching #1. Artists such as Christine Tyler, Hélène Schneider, Lemon Cosmos and Alex Washington did well reaching Top 5 with their debuts, most of them going on to have more successful hits, with only Lemon Cosmos not reaching the Top 5 again.
Artists were also reaching their peaks this year, with Emblaze snatching up two huge singles and currently holding the top two slots on the year-to-date charts and one of the fastest selling albums of all-time, Jon Farley getting his first number one, Dr. C and the Predicates having their best selling single ever, Nikki churning out successful consecutive hits and her album going Diamond, and Russ Hooch getting another huge selling album which spawned two massive singles.
And finally, and most recently, 2006 has also been the year of big comebacks. Delta Nu came back to score four successful top three singles from her comeback album "Technicolour", Miss Drips came back with a vengeance and got herself to the top end of the charts, and rock queen Buffi coming back after over a year's absence.
And still, the charts are looking as healthy as ever, which the chart turning itself upside down nearly every week, and with more releases each week than ever before.
There has also been drama on Urapopstar though. One member, Michael, was banned for his rather morbid topics and another, Simon, tried to ban the administrators after cheating. Ex-player Britney was also banned for constant bickering on the forums, and for trying to cheat at the game.
Truly, 2006 has been one of the biggest years in Urapopstar, giving us plenty controversy and excitement, and with more members joining from around the world every day, Urapopstar will run for years and years to come.
Presently Urapopstar continues to receive a large amount of web traffic and activity while being administered by Mike and Sean. The game attracts visitors from around the world but are primarily from Great Britain.
