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SingStar: The Stats

The SKUs, the sales and the online stats from Sony's singing franchise

Concluding our raft of SingStar features to coincide with the franchise's fifth birthday, here's a collection of interesting statistics which will give you an interesting idea of just how much impact the game has had in that time - particularly fascinating are the online-related numbers later on.

The SKUs (in the UK)

  • The original SingStar was launched in May/June 2004 exclusively on PlayStation 2 to public and critical acclaim, entering the charts at number one in most of Europe's biggest countries.
  • SingStar Party, the follow-up, was launched pre-Christmas 2004, and included not only another line-up of international artists, but also further 'party' and multi-player features, such as duets.
  • SingStar Pop followed in the Spring of 2005 introducing more original features and options including rap scoring and medleys, plus 30 of the biggest hits of the last three years.
  • SingStar '80s launched at Christmas 2005 and featured a track list dedicated to the best music of the '80s, with licensed tracks and videos from artists such as Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham, Blondie, The Cure.
  • SingStar Rocks! launched in April/May 2006 and captured a balance between exciting new rock acts such as The Killers, Razorlight, and Kasabian plus a few alternative rock gems and a good sprinkling of 'dad rock'.
  • SingStar Legends released in November 2006 and featured an impressive line-up of past and present music icons, including John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, U2, Madonna and the Jackson 5.
  • SingStar Pop Hits launched in April 2007 with a track list dedicated to the biggest names in pop, including thirty tracks from award-winning artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Scissor Sisters, Nelly Furtado and Fall Out Boy.
  • SingStar R&B launched in October 2007 with a line-up of the best of R&B music introducing a mixture of modern day superstars and much revered Soul and Motown icons from the past. It featured Rihanna, Pussycat Dolls, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and Salt-N-Pepa.
  • SingStar Volume One for the PlayStation 3 saw the franchise make its debut on the next-gen platform in December 2007. It featured 30 brand new tracks by artists such as The Killers, Pussycat Dolls, Gwen Stefani and Gorillaz. It also heralded the arrival of SingStore and MySingStar - SingStore allowed players to download additional tracks from an ever increasing library of both classic and modern songs, while online music community My SingStar Online allowed players to upload their videos and audio performances for comments from other players and allowed listening and commenting on other's performances.
  • SingStar Summer Party launched in May 2007 with a track list celebrating the best of summer smash hits. The 'feel good' track list contained classic hits from pop icons such as Elton John, Blur, and Blondie, which were mixed-in with current pop acts such as Rihanna, Amy Winehouse and Mika, rounded off with a good helping of cheesy pop from Lou Bega, Chesney Hawkes and Yazz.
  • SingStar Volume Two arrived on PS3 in the Summer of 2008. As well as another 30 exclusive tracks, the second Blu-ray SingStar disc offered an all new Harmony mode, allowing players to sing different parts of the same song at the same time. It also offers all-new customisation options for MySingStar and improved the look of the famous SingStar carousel.
  • SingStar Volume Three followed on PS3 in the winter of 2008 and added another 30 tracks, including all-time classics from Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson and Barry Manillow as well as current hits from chart toppers Dizzy Rascal, The Ting Tings and Fergie.
  • SingStar ABBA launched in November 2008 on both PS2 and PS3, building on the success of (unrelated) film Mamma Mia! The pack contained favourites such as 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)', 'Dancing Queen', 'Take a Chance on Me', 'Waterloo' and many others.
  • SingStar Queen was released in 2009, and aimed to give gamers the same comprehensive compilation for Queen as the previous edition had for ABBA.
  • SingStar Pop Edition is the latest title in the franchise's catalogue for the PS3 only, and was set to sell alongside the release of the game's first wireless microphones.

In total the SingStar franchise has sold over 16 million units across the PAL region alone, making it a key brand in 67 different countries. Localisation within Europe has been crucial in hitting those numbers, with the game now available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Croatian and Russian.

Most interesting, however, are some of the statistics coming out of the online space since the PlayStation 3's added functionality made downloadable tracks and uploadable videos possible.

Online Snapshot

  • The most popular download times are between 8pm-11pm on Friday and Saturday nights.
  • The total number of tracks downloaded from SingStore to-date is over 4 million.
  • The total number of videos uploaded to My SingStar Online video uploads so far is over 100,000.
  • There are now over 1000 songs available on the SingStore.
  • More than 6000 SingStar players sign up to the online components of SingStar each week.
  • SongPacks have now sold 57,000 copies since launching in October 2008.
  • My SingStar Online has nearly 400,000 registered users.
  • Over 9.3 million My SingStar Online videos have been viewed so far.
  • SingStar has won three Guinness World Records, including Most Successful Singing Game, First Customisable Track in a Singing Game and First Music Game to Let Players Record Their Performances and Share Them Online...