TMZ.com has come out of nowhere to become the leading celebrity gossip site online. Their blog was launched just 16 months ago but today they reach an astounding nine million unique visitors a month. The site is the brainchild of Harvey Levin.

To rise so quickly to these heights of popularity, it's been helpful to have big money parents. TMZ.com is owned by Time Warner. Just a couple of months after their launch, they were already attracting over three million readers each month. How did they do it? Aside from the juicy, gritty and addictive celebrity content, it helps they were getting heavy promotion from their parent-owned AOL, which attracts a readership of over one hundred and ten million people each month.

It didn't take TMZ long to leapfrog over People.com, the site which now ranks as number two in the celebrity news arena. People has a unique audience of 4.3 million people per month and E!Online, which has been growing much more slowly, has about 3.3 million unique visitors per month.

TMZ has recently signed a major TV deal. We'll be seeing their celebrity gawking show seven days a week beginning in September. And it ain't going to be anything like the blockbuster ET format.

TMZ employs only 28 people. But they are breaking the news on many of the top stories. (A recent example was their breaking updates on the tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith, pictured above.) Get the full scoop on how they catch celebrities on video and have become the leader in the celebrity news world.