Popstars

Popstars is an Australian elimination-style singing contest based on a British TV show of the same name that predated Australian Idol. It ran from 2001-2003 inclusive, the final year being run at the same time as the more popular Australian Idol.

In 2001, Popstars aimed to have an all-female singing group, the final stages of the competition being them preparing to tour, to write their first album and release their first single. The band was reasonably popular, with 3 hit singles and has released a total of 3 hit albums, and are still together.

In 2002, Popstars tried to expand on this to have a mixed gender singing group. This was thought to be an abysmal failure, with the winning group not even having any major hit singles.

In 2003, Popstars aimed to have 1 female and 1 male as solo performers. This may have worked, however, in comparison to Australian Idol, it was seen as a failure, and the show was then cancelled.

The British variation of Popstars is still running, and competes in World Idol contest, where winners of American Idol-style TV shows compete to see who is the best.