Starpulse.com was an entertainment news and content provider ranked among the top 100 entertainment properties by Comscore, the American analytics and media measurement firm.
The site described itself: “Starpulse is your connection to everything entertainment…” It added, “On average, 7-8 million people a month visit Starpulse for its breaking news, red carpet photos, music content, exclusive contests, and celebrity archives.”
Notwithstanding the impressive statistics that Starpulse.com boasted of during its heyday, any attempt to access the website today returns the message, “www.starpulse.com’s server IP address could not be found.”
What could have happened to a website that once claimed to have “500,000+ pictures …”? We took some time to find out by following the site’s history. In our quest, we also found the ten most important articles published on the site.
About Starpulse.com
Starpulse.com was established in 1999. The site was launched by Paul Cartier, Steve Armenia, and Dave Armenia. An archived page of the website reports that it started “as a link directory and evolved from 12 pages to hundreds of thousands of pages.”
From its online databases, visitors to Starpulse.com had access to a host of content in different categories, including pictures of celebrities, video news, box office information, TV shows, albums, films, and biographies. It also contained a music artist database with millions of songs.
A few years after it was established, Starpulse.com was already boasting some impressive statistics:
- 5 million pages of content.
- Between seven and eight million unique users.
- 40 million page views per month.
- Over half a million pictures.
With such remarkable numbers, it’s easy to understand why Starpulse.com told visitors, “You’ve arrived at one of the largest entertainment sites on the web!”
The Most Prominent Articles
We spent some time sampling some of the top articles published by Starpulse.com.
But how do we select the pieces we eventually feature? We look at the interest that each article generated among editors and administrators of authoritative websites.
We believe that when more editors and writers link to an article, they see value in it. Therefore, the piece with the highest number of backlinks is first on our list.
Here are the ten articles that caught our attention:
1. Kate and Pippa Middleton Top Poll of 2011 Beauty Icons
This 2011 article written by Gina DiFalco reports, “A poll performed of 3,000 women has revealed that Kate Middleton is 2011’s Top Beauty Icon.”
DiFalco adds that Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton took the second spot.
The other celebrities making it into the top ten include:
- British beauty Cheryl Cole
- Barbados-born singer Rihanna
- Morning television presenter Holly Willoughby
- U.K. X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos
- American singer Beyoncé
- The English actress and activist Emma Watson
- American singer Katy Perry
- The English fashion designer Victoria Beckham
2. Celebrity-Inspired New Year’s Eve Hair Ideas
New Year’s day is always a symbolic time to start over or make fundamental life changes. In this piece, Jessica McCafferty attempts to assist those who found themselves in a bind and needed a quick hairstyle for the 2012 New Year’s eve.
The writer suggests some pretty practical solutions, “Begin by applying Couture Colour Pequi Oil to dry hair and create a quick up-do by combing hair back into a low or upper nape ponytail and fasten.”
McCafferty adds, “Take various size strands, looping, twisting or braiding them into and around the base like David did for Nicole Kidman. Secure with bobby pins.”
She suggests that you can keep things together by spraying with a flexible hold hair spray and adding a decorative pin so that it’s clear to anyone looking at you that you are ready for the party.
3. Top 10 Artists Who An Aging Music Snob Can Start Admitting He/She Likes
In his 2009 article, Matthew Swanson writes, “When you’re a music snob, you have a reputation to uphold.” He suggests that this means “… you can’t afford to be caught with God awful crappy discs in your collection, or can you?”
Swanson’s article suggests that even if you consider yourself a music snob, there are certain artists that may not quite fit the bill but still make you admit they are outstanding.
He names a few artists, including Neil Diamond, the guy he says produces songs that “are so great too, even if they’re really corny.”
4. Adam Lambert’s ‘Trespassing’ Is First Album from an Openly Gay Male Artist to Top the Billboard Charts
In 2012, a story such as this one was exciting news. Today, it’s not. Thanks to the openly gay Lil Nas X, who came crushing into the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019 with his song “Old Town Road.” It remained there for a record-breaking 19 weeks.
Reading this piece shows how much things can change in just ten years.
In this article, Kevin Blair writes, “This marks Lambert’s first #1 debut and makes history for another reason – Lambert is the first ever openly gay male with an album at the top of the charts.”
Blair also uses the article to paint a picture of Lambert’s success, reporting that since his debut album in 2009, he had sold almost 2 million copies. Add this to the fact that the artist was the “first American Idol to ever tour the world in support of their debut album in the year following their IDOL season,” and it’s clear why he’s a big deal.
5. Cheryl Cole: ‘I Am Obsessed With Beyoncé’
If you ever feel embarrassed that you’re obsessed with Beyoncé or any other celebrity, this article should make you feel better. It reports how the English television personality, Cheryl Cole, says she turned into a complete “gabbling (chatting) fool” when she met Beyoncé at the 2008 X Factor finale.
The piece quotes Cole, who told Hallo! Magazine “She [Beyoncé] didn’t have a scrap of make-up on, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, she wore a plain white t-shirt and skinny jeans with heels, and she was unguarded and encouraging.”
Cole adds that if things had gone as she had planned, she would have just walked up to Beyoncé and said, “Hi B, how’s it going?”
6. Kohl’s Unveils Six Celebrity-Inspired Clothing Lines;
In this piece, Starpulse.com reports about Kohl’s 2008 Back-to-School Campaign. Kohl’s is an online supplier of clothes, beauty and hair products, electronics, and furniture.
Starpulse.com reports that the campaign unveiled “six brand new celebrity-inspired clothing lines – celebrating music, life…and really great jeans.”
The campaign connected musical artists to leading brands, including Lenny Kravitz and Levi’s, Avril Lavigne designing Abbey Dawn, Hayden Panettierre and Candie’s, Plain White T’s and Urban Pipelinem, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Tony Hawk.
7. Betty White Draws Line With Nudity & Marijuana But Hopes For Beer Pong Rematch On ‘SNL’
Being asked to be a presenter on Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a gig many people would not think twice about taking if they had been invited.
But Betty White is certainly not most people. This article reports that when invited to host SNL, she initially asked her agents “… to please say thank you, I appreciate it, but no thank you.” White was an American comedian and actress, well known for her role in the sitcom Golden Girls.
Maybe many of us want to read this article because of the words “nudity & Marijuana” in the title. However, anyone coming for just this will be disappointed because the word nudity is only mentioned in one sentence where White says she took the SNL job because “… they promised me I wouldn’t have to do any nudity.”
The only place where the word Marijuana appears in the article is in the title.
8. Kanye West Disses Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé In Concert Rant
In this piece, Casey Johnson reports how “During his tune Clique, Kanye [West] stopped his show at the Hammersmith Apollo to slam some of his fellow musicians – and the whole thing was caught on tape.”
In the rant, West seems to have a problem with some of the most famous people in the US music industry, accusing them of selling their souls to get sponsorship.
Aiming at Beyoncé for her collaboration with Pepsi, Kanye says, “Please corporations? Can you please support me, Please?” He adds, “I swear I’m a nice n—a now.”
9. Jenny McCarthy To Pose For Playboy Again
After debuting on Playboy in 1993, the American actress and model Jenny McCarthy returned to the men’s magazine in 2012. This article reports that it had been her wish to get “one more chance to pose naked for the publication before she turned 40.”
The piece reports that the offer came after McCarthy had expressed her interest: “I would absolutely pose for Playboy. I would be so flattered if they asked me. It’s probably not going to happen, but I think I want to do it again.”
10. Rihanna & Kate Moss Strip Down For Racy New V Magazine Photo Shoot
According to this piece, written by Blair, Kate Moss asked Rihanna if she would take a picture with her for her daughter, who is a huge fan. “I was, like, Are you f***ing kidding me?” Blair quotes Rihanna, who felt honored by the request.
For Rihanna, this was a dream come true. She said, “I was dying on the inside. All my fantasies were coming true all at once: Mario, V, Kate Moss. I was like, this is an amazing threesome!”
What Happened to Starpulse.com?
Starpulse.com continued publishing until sometime in 2018 when it just disappeared from the internet without warning. After a two-year absence, the site seemed to be back, but it was now owned by a company called CaturQQ.
Starpulse.com, under CaturQQ, was only online for two months in 2020 before it disappeared. CaturQQ runs an online gambling business. It’s not clear what eventually happened to Starpulse.com.