National press ABCs: i reports smallest annual decline in March

Prince Harry front pages from the i and Daily Express in January 2023. Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The i reported the smallest annual print circulation decline among the UK’s national newspapers in March, according to the latest ABC figures.

The i’s circulation was down 7% in March compared to a year before, reaching 131,825. It was the only annual decrease under 10%.

The biggest decline was at the Evening Standard, where its free distribution was down by 31% year-on-year to 310,236.

The biggest paid-for drop was at the Sunday People, down by 21% to 72,091 – the only newspaper with an annual decline of more than a fifth in March.

Related

Every newspaper publicly audited by ABC saw their circulation between February and March change by a narrow margin of between -2% (Daily Star Sunday, Sunday People, Sunday Post) and 1% (Financial Times, Daily Star).

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The highest circulation paid-for print newspaper remains the Daily Mail, on 777,586 (down 11% year-on-year and 1% month-on-month). Metro, distributed for free in 50 UK cities, was on 952,424 (down 11% and 0.4% respectively).

Scroll down or click here for new graphs charting the ups and downs of the UK national press in the past 20 years.

National newspaper circulations in March 2023 (ABC) with monthly and yearly changes – this page will be updated monthly:

The column for bulks refers to copies which are circulated for free at venues such as airports and hotels.

The above figures do not include the Sun, Times and Telegraph titles which have all chosen to keep their ABC circulations private since the start of 2020. The Guardian and Observer joined them in September 2021.

The last ABC figures we have for these titles are as follows:

• The Sun: 1,210,915 (March 2020)
• The Sun on Sunday: 1,013,777 (March 2020)
• The Sunday Times: 647,622 (March 2020)
• The Times: 365,880 (March 2020)
• Daily Telegraph: 317,817 (December 2019)
• Sunday Telegraph: 248,288 (December 2019)
• The Observer: 136,656 (July 2021)
• The Guardian: 105,134 (July 2021)

2022 in focus

These charts show UK national newspaper circulation over the past 12 months.

2000-present

We have also charted the longer-term change in ABC circulation over the past 20 years across the UK press.

These charts show the extent of the print decline from The Sun reaching 3.76m in 2000 and the Sun on Sunday’s launch in February 2012 with a short-lived 3.21m before dropping to just above 2m.

Meanwhile, though the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail once were competitive in print reach at around 2.3m-2.4m in 2000, the Mail now has a circulation three times the size of its former rival.

The Sunday tabloids all saw a spike in 2011 after the closure of the News of the World but few retained the readers – the Sunday People and Sunday Mirror did best at doing so, but largely lost them when the Sun on Sunday launched.

These charts will be updated each month to include the latest figures.

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Continue reading for previous months’ coverage of the UK’s most popular newspapers:

February 2023

The Evening Standard has dropped its distribution by almost a third in a year.

The newspaper reported an average distribution of 311,485 for February, meaning it is nearing its circulation from before it went free – its final ABC report as a paid-for newspaper was 256,229 in September 2009.

December was the only month since then that it has been lower, on 310,933, than February’s total. Pre-Covid in February 2020 it was distributing an average of 787,447 copies per day.

The biggest print circulation decline of the UK’s paid-for national newspapers in February was Reach tabloid the Sunday People, which fell by 23% to 73,875. Reach told staff in January the People would begin to share most content with the Sunday Mirror, which itself was down 18% to sales of 209,197.

Fellow Reach title the Daily Express was the only other title aside from the People to fall by more than a fifth, going down by 21% to 173,372.

The smallest annual declines were at the i, which was down 8% to 132,222, and the Financial Times, down 9% to 108,562.

However the FT reported the biggest month-on-month drop of 5%.

Metro and City AM both kept their free distributions steady compared to January, and while the Daily Star Sunday was the only paid-for newspaper to see no month-on-month decline the Daily Star and Sunday Mail each fell by less than 1%.

January 2023

The Daily Mail’s print circulation fell below 800,000 for the first time in January, according to the latest ABC data.

The newspaper reported an average circulation of 797,704, a dip of 12% year-on-year or 2% month-on-month. The Sun, traditionally its rival for the top of the table, is among the newspapers that no longer make their print circulations public.

In March 2020, the last time it published its ABC total, The Sun was on a circulation of 1,210,915 versus 1,132,908 for the Mail. The Mail then overtook The Sun for the first time in 42 years in May that year with a circulation of 980,000 and continues to be the UK’s best selling daily.

The only newspaper to report growth in January compared to the same month last year was the Financial Times, up by 1% to 114,685, although it also saw the biggest month-on-month decline of 11% due to a decrease in non-UK circulation, bulk copies distributed in locations such as airports and hotels, and newsstand sales.

The biggest year-on-year decline was at the free Evening Standard, which reduced its distribution by 30% to 314,285, followed by the paid-for Reach tabloid Sunday People, down 23% to 75,521.

The Daily Star Sunday, Daily Express, Sunday Post, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Mail and Sunday Express all saw their circulations decline year-on-year by 20%. However all except the Daily Star Sunday and Daily Express stayed steady or grew month-on-month. All are owned by Reach, except the Sunday Post which is owned by DC Thomson.

The biggest month-on-month growth was at City AM, which stopped putting out newspapers on Fridays in January due to low commuter numbers on that day. Editor Andy Silvester said at the time that distribution on Mondays to Thursdays had almost reached pre-pandemic levels.

December 2022

Free newspapers Evening Standard and City AM suffered the biggest drops in their print distribution in December compared to the previous year.

The titles appeared to be distributing fewer copies as publishers suffer rising paper and energy costs amid continued changes to working patterns that see fewer commuters on Mondays and Fridays in particular. Subsequent to these figures, in January City AM has dropped its Friday print edition – but its editor Andy Silvester said the paper was “thriving” on the other four days of the working week.

The Evening Standard’s distribution in December was down by 30% year-on-year to 310,933 – its lowest since before it went free in October 2009.

Meanwhile City AM was down 25% to 58,664 and also saw the biggest month-on-month decline, down 14% from November.

Fellow free newspaper Metro also dropped its print distribution, but by a much lesser margin: in December it was down 6% year-on-year and 1% month-on-month to 965,960.

Among the paid-for newspapers whose circulations are published by ABC, several Sunday titles published by Reach all lost more than a fifth of their circulations year-on-year: the Sunday People was down 24% to 74,601, the Daily Star Sunday was down 23% to 88,434, the Sunday Mirror was down 21% to 208,794 and the Sunday Express was also down 21% to 153,377. DC Thomson’s Sunday Post in Scotland was also down 22% to 44,038.

These five titles, plus the Sunday Mail in Scotland, also posted the largest paid-for circulation declines month-on-month ranging between 6% and 3% down from November.

The smallest annual decline was at the i (down 5% to 137,039) followed by the Financial Times (down 8% to 128,794).

Two newspapers posted month-on-month growth: the Financial Times (up 17%) and the Daily Mail (up 2% to 812,106 – stopping it from dropping below 800,000 for the first time).

November 2022

Print decline across the board continued among the UK’s national newspapers in November.

The smallest drop was at the i, which saw its print circulation decline by 3% year-on-year to 138,782.

The biggest was at the free Evening Standard, which dropped its distribution by 27% to 319,485. Among paid newspapers, it was Reach tabloid the Sunday People, down to to 77,300 – a 23% drop compared to November 2021.

The only newspaper not to report decline month-on-month was the Sunday Post in Scotland, which grew by 88 copies, or 0.2%, on average.

The Daily Mail remains the biggest paid-for print newspaper of those that publicly release their ABC circulations, staying just above 800,000. The free title Metro had an average distribution of 977,077 in November.

October 2022

No UK national newspapers saw print circulation growth, whether year-on-year or month-on-month, in October.

The latest ABC figures show the smallest declines among paid-for newspapers were at the i (down 3% year-on-year to 140,196 – the only single-figure annual decline) and the Financial Times (down 1% month-on-month to 112,478).

Many national newspapers saw month-on-month growth in September, likely down to appetite for souvenir editions following the death of the Queen.

The biggest drops between September and October, possibly indicating the newspapers with the biggest boost from the national mourning period, were at the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Daily Express, which all fell by 8% month-on-month.

The biggest annual declines were at DC Thomson’s Sunday Post in Scotland and Reach tabloid the Sunday People, down 22% and 21% respectively.

The Daily Express, FT, Sunday Mail and Daily Star Sunday all saw year-on-year falls of 19%.

September 2022

A strong appetite for print newspapers and souvenir editions following the death of the Queen appears to have led to month-on-month circulation growth almost across the board at the UK’s national newspapers.

But the uplift was not high enough for most to report annual growth.

Of the eight publicly audited paid-for titles that saw month-on-month growth – the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Express, Sunday Express, i and Financial Times – there was an average uplift of 4%. This growth was the same when factoring in the free distributions of Metro and the Evening Standard.

Including every newspaper in our ABC table, excluding City AM which appears to be an anomaly with its free distribution boosted by 37% following a severe slump, there was average month-on-month change of 2%.

The biggest month-on-month change was at the Financial Times, up by 8% to 113,992, followed by the Mail on Sunday (749,960) and i (147,609) which both grew by 5%.

However, annual decline continued at every newspaper except the Financial Times and the i. Although both are the only newspapers that still put bulk copies into locations like airports and hotels, making up 27% of the FT’s circulation and 4% at the i, more of their annual growth was down to newsstand sales than this strategy.

The i was in fact at its highest level since December 2020, when it had a circulation of 148,927.

The biggest annual declines were at the Sunday People (down 20% to 82,275) and Sunday Post (down 19% to 48,938).

Scroll down or click here for new graphs charting the ups and downs of the UK national press in the past 20 years.

August 2022

The Financial Times saw marginal year-on-year growth in circulation in August, with every other newspaper continuing to decline.

The FT had a circulation of 105,748 in August compared to 105,213 the year before. Its newsstand sales and non-UK circulation grew although paid subscriptions and bulks (copies distributed for free at locations such as airports and hotels) were down.

Month-on-month, the only newspapers to see growth were the Daily Star Sunday, up 2% to 103,200 and the Scottish title Daily Record which was up by 1% to 69,316. Both are owned by Reach.

The Evening Standard also upped its free distribution, although by less than 1%. Its print readership in July was its lowest since before it went free in October 2009, with August the second lowest. Its year-on-year decline of 19% was one of the biggest in our table.

Fellow London free title City AM is also at its lowest distribution (36,640) since its 2005 launch. Its print edition was paused for 18 months during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Reach-owned Sunday People’s circulation was down the most, by 22% to 82,597, with DC Thomson’s Sunday Post down by 20% to 48,943.

July 2022

Every publicly audited UK national newspaper recorded a year-on-year decline in circulation in July.

Even the Financial Times, which has seen year-on-year growth every month since July 2021, was down by a few hundred copies compared to the year before. This was the smallest annual decline among the audited newspapers.

The Metro distributed less than one million copies for the first time since May 2021, when it trumpeted making it back over that milestone following the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The biggest year-on-year decline was a drop of 22% at the Sunday People.

Month-on-month, however, there was growth of 2% at the i largely down to an increase in paid subscriptions.

The biggest decline from June to July was at City AM, where free distribution more than halved to 37,369.

June 2022

Every publicly ABC audited UK national newspaper saw circulation decline from May to June with the exception of the i which saw growth of 0.2%.

Compared to June 2021, the Financial Times was the only paid-for newspaper to report growth, of 8% to 116,498.

Since the Covid-19 lockdowns ended the FT’s circulation increases have largely been put down to the return of the distribution of free bulk copies at locations like airports and hotels. But in June a 17% year-on-year increase in bulk copies to 35,094 was also accompanied by 9% growth in paid newsstand sales to 15,612 (alongside a 4% decline in subscriptions to 9,076).

The smallest (4%) annual decline was at the i, which had a circulation of 137,964 and is the only other paid-for newspaper to still be shored up with free bulk copies – although they only account for 4% of its current total.

The biggest month-on-month decline was at the Sunday Mail in Scotland (down 5% to 66,469) while the biggest annual drop was at the Sunday People (down 23% to 85,212). Both are owned by Reach.

The free Metro was the only national newspaper other than the FT to grow year-on-year (by 3%) as it has upped its distribution this year compared to the Covid-hit 2020 and 2021.

May 2022

The Metro and Financial Times were the only national newspapers to grow their print readerships from last May to this year.

Metro had an average free distribution of 1,074,594 in May, staying steady month-on-month but growing by 17% since last year due to putting out more copies as people have returned to offices and public transport since the final Covid-19 lockdown.

The only paid-for newspapers to grow their circulations month-on-month in May were the Financial Times, up 4% to 116,747 as growth in subscriptions, non-UK sales and bulk copies distributed in locations like airports and hotels offset a drop in newsstand sales, and the Sunday Mail in Scotland, up 0.2% to 69,923. The Sunday Mail did, however, fall by 17% year-on-year.

The FT was the only paid-for paper to grow its circulation compared to May 2021, in large part because it has increased its distribution of bulk copies post-Covid from 25,361 last year to 34,661.

London’s free business newspaper City AM has also continued its post-Covid growth, reaching its highest distribution level since returning in September from an 18-month hiatus.

Editor Andy Silvester told Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast this month that the paper’s return to pre-pandemic levels “probably proves a lot of sceptics wrong”. In May City AM’s average free distribution was 82,455, down 4% on February 2020 but up 1% month-on-month.

The biggest month-on-month declines were at the Daily Mirror and Daily Star, both down 4%, while the biggest annual drop was at the Sunday People, down 24%. All three are Reach titles.

April 2022

The Daily Mail and Daily Mirror both marginally grew their print circulations in April compared to March, bucking the industry’s usual downward trend.

The Daily Mail was up 1% month-on-month to 879,102 while the Daily Mirror also grew by 1% to 327,341.

However both fell by 11% compared to April 2021 and both figures were still their second-lowest respectively since ABC auditing began.

The Daily Mail’s digital edition had a readership of 76,315 in April.

Free newspapers Metro, Evening Standard and City AM all also saw month-on-month growth, increasing their print distributions.

After an 18-month Covid-enforced hiatus, free business newspaper City AM returned to print in September and has now upped its distribution for three months in a row. It is now at 81,713, its highest since February 2020 when it was on 85,738.

Metro remains the most-distributed newspaper in the UK, putting out 1,074,889 copies for free in April.

The Sun, Times, Telegraph and Guardian titles no longer publish their ABC print circulations, having opted to take them private and focus on other metrics – for example, online subscriptions for The Telegraph and Times.

The Financial Times saw an 8% decline month-on-month to 112,344 but grew by 12% on April last year, making it the only paid-for newspaper to grow year-on-year. This is largely because it is putting out more bulks – free copies in locations such as airports and hotels – than it did for much of the Covid-19 pandemic (now 33,849 compared to 22,487 last year) while it has also roughly tripled subscriptions in a year (to 9,776).

March 2022

The Mail on Sunday under editor David Dillon had a circulation of 748,965 in March.

Similar to its competitors, the newspaper’s circulation has been in steady decline over several years. In March, it fell by 14% year-on-year and 2% compared to the month before. It is down a fifth from 952,914 two years earlier in March 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The Mail on Sunday is currently in the centre of a sexism row around a story reporting that Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner had been accused of crossing and uncrossing in the House of Commons to distract Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Dillon refused to meet Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, saying journalists should “not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be”.

The Mail on Sunday’s circulation remains behind the Daily Mail on 875,125 but a long way ahead of its next ABC-audited paid competitor, the Daily Mirror on 325,271.

The Sun, Times, Telegraph and Guardian titles all no longer publish their ABC-audited circulations.

The Financial Times was once again the only paid-for newspaper to see year-on-year growth, due to putting out more bulk copies in locations like airports and hotels than in March 2021. It was up 21% on the same time last year, to 121,490 – of which a third (40,958) were bulks.

However its circulation was higher in October to December last year, and its last pre-pandemic figure was 146,373 in March 2020. At that time about a fifth were bulk copies.

City AM’s free distribution rose above 80,000 for the first time since it resumed printing in September after an 18-month Covid-enforced hiatus. It distributed an average of 80,440 copies in March compared to 85,738 in February 2020.

The Metro remains the most-distributed newspaper in the UK, putting out 1,073,993 copies for free in March.

February 2022

The Daily Mail’s print circulation has fallen below 900,000 for the first time in more than 100 years.

In February the newspaper sold an average of 896,455 copies each day – or 767,021 on weekdays and 1,449,049 on Saturdays – following a month-on-month drop of 1% and year-on-year decline of 7%.

The Daily Mail launched in 1896 with sales of 397,215. Within its first few years it surpassed one million and, despite a brief drop in 1915 in a row with the Government over troops’ munition supplies, remained above that mark until the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sister title Mail on Sunday had an average circulation of 767,756 in February, down 2% month-on-month and 10% year-on-year.

The Sun, for many years the Daily Mail’s closest ABC rival, no longer publishes its circulation – but the Mail overtook the red-top for the first time in 42 years in 2020.

The most-circulated national newspaper remains the free Metro, with a distribution of 1,066,327 that was up compared to both the month and year prior.

By contrast, fellow free newspaper the Evening Standard was down 9% year-on-year to 448,043.

The biggest annual declines were at Reach’s Sunday People (95,637, down 20%) and Daily Star Sunday (107,478, down 19%).

January 2022

The Daily Mail was the only paid-for national newspaper to grow its circulation from December to January.

It reported 1% growth month-on-month, while its year-on-year decline of 5% to 909,201 was the smallest among the paid-for newspapers that don’t use bulk copies.

The Financial Times grew by 17% year-on-year to 113,817 while the i grew by 1% to 142,598. Excluding bulk copies given away for free at locations such as airports and hotels, the FT grew by 3% to 79,446 and the i stayed steady on 137,483.

The biggest year-on-year decline was at Reach’s Daily Star Sunday, which fell by 19% to 110,133. Month-on-month, the biggest decline was at the FT, which dropped by 18%.

Metro stayed steady between December and January but reported a 72% year-on-year jump. It built back its free distribution, which was massively scaled back in the early pandemic, and crossed the 1m mark once again in May last year.

December 2021

The Daily Star’s circulation has fallen below 200,000 for the first time in its 43-year history.

The tabloid had an average daily readership of 197,998 in December, according to the latest ABC figures, following a 2% month-on-month drop and a 14% decline since a year earlier.

The figures show continuing print readership decline as the lowest the Star’s circulation had gone during the first Covid-19 lockdown was 219,275 in April 2020.

It follows Reach stablemate Sunday People’s circulation falling below 100,000 in November.

In December the Daily Star Sunday and Sunday People saw the biggest annual circulation drops of 20% and 19% respectively.

The only paid-for newspaper to grow year-on-year was the Financial Times, which has upped the number of bulk copies given away for free since last year. However it still fell 2% month-on-month with bulk copies, newsstand sales and subscriptions all down in December.

The only newspaper to see month-on-month growth was City AM, which returned to print in September and in December was distributing an average of 78,418 copies each day compared to 85,738 in February 2020.

November 2021

The first ABC figures for London freesheet City AM since it returned to print in September show distribution is down 9% since February 2020.

Meanwhile, in November the Sunday People’s circulation dropped by 21% to 99,915 – the first time since ABC records began in 2000 that its average circulation was below 100,000, even during the earlier Covid-19 lockdowns.

City AM distributed an average of 77,959 copies each weekday between 8 and 28 November, compared to 85,738 in February 2020.

Chief executive Jens Torpe told Press Gazette in September he hoped to reach pre-pandemic levels of distribution within about a month of relaunching.

According to the newspaper’s ABC certificate it has hugely boosted its number of distribution points from 913 in February 2020 to 3,632. The business paper struck a deal to be found in all WeWork’s London locations and new offices, and went further out into the commuter belt to compensate for changing travel patterns as many City workers stuck with flexible working.

Average pagination has gone from 28 in February 2020 to 26, with editorial content up from 70% to 72%.

Nationally-published free newspaper Metro, which continued distributing throughout the pandemic for groups like key workers who kept travelling, remains 25% down on its February 2020 distribution level with 1.05m. It re-crossed the 1m mark in May and is the most-read newspaper in the UK.

The Evening Standard, which like City AM is only distributed in London, is 44% down on its February 2020 level with a distribution of 439,445 – but chief executive Charles Yardley told Press Gazette this was a “comfortable number that’s working well”. It also kept publishing throughout the pandemic, but experimented with free home delivery for the first time.

The only newspapers to record year-on-year growth in November were Metro and the Financial Times, which both grew by 37%. The FT’s newsstand sales were down by a quarter but subscriptions and bulk copies distributed for free were both up.

October 2021

The FT has grown its circulation by a third in the past year, and by a quarter between September and October, largely by putting out more free bulk copies.

The newspaper reported a circulation of 138,446 in October, which includes 55,222 bulk copies distributed for free in places like airports and hotels which have more than doubled since October 2020.

The FT’s newsstand sales have decreased by 29% from 20,357 to 14,490 in a year although paid subscriptions grew 191% from 3,697 to 10,764. The FT also reports sales in other countries of 57,970 within its total.

It is the FT’s highest circulation since the first three weeks of March 2020, when it was on 146,373, while the trend at most paid-for newspapers has been decline throughout 2021. (The i, which is up since January, is the only other national to put out bulks).

Meanwhile Metro has settled its free distribution on 1.05m which is up 35% compared to October 2020 when some workers had begun to return to work but at a slower pace than expected.

Its free rival in London, the Evening Standard, is down 10% compared to last year on 457,542.

The Saturday edition of the Daily Mail remains the most-read newspaper with a weekly circulation of 1.47m. The weekday edition sells 784,439. Both the daily and Sunday editions saw a 9% year-on-year decline.

The biggest year-on-year decline was once again at The Sunday People, which fell by 19% to 101,597. The Daily Star Sunday was down 18% to 118,260.

September 2021

Reach’s Sunday People and Sunday Post newspapers recorded the biggest year-on-year declines in circulation in September of the publicly-audited national newspapers.

Both saw their circulations decline by 19% while the Sunday Mirror, Daily Star Sunday and Sunday Mail all fell by 14%. All are owned by Reach.

The Financial Times was the only paid-for newspaper to grow its circulation year-on-year, by 7% to a total of 111,898. However its free bulk copies, distributed in locations such as airports and hotels, increased by 41% to 32,351. Although paid subscriptions grew by 130% to 9,102, newsstand copies were down by a quarter to 15,154. Some 55,291 copies are sold in other countries.

Aside from the free Metro and the FT, every other newspaper remained steady between August and September changing by between 0% and -2%.

August 2021

The i was the only national newspaper to grow its paid circulation from July to August as subscriptions growth offset declining newsstand sales.

The i’s print subscriptions grew from 23,199 in July to 25,223 in August. At the same time it put out more paid multiple copies, known as bulks, in locations such as airports and hotels (rising from 4,006 to 4,620).

Its average circulation therefore grew from 143,486 to 144,570. However this was still 5% down on last August.

The August ABC figures are the first in which the Guardian and Observer are absent, having chosen to keep their circulations private as News UK and the Telegraph did last year.

The Guardian’s departure from the grid comes after its circulation was overtaken by the Financial Times in June for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Previously the audited circulation of the FT had been above that of the Guardian since 2000, the earliest available online ABC records.

The FT was again the only paid-for title to have grown year-on-year as it distributes bulk copies that were missing during the pandemic. It grew 12% year-on-year to 105,213 in August but fell by 2% from July.

The free Metro more than doubled its August 2020 figure following the end of the winter lockdown and the ramping up of its distribution to reach people increasingly venturing out again. It has now distributed an average of more than 1m copies per day for three months in a row.

July 2021

Putting on bulk copies has helped the FT to grow its circulation by nearly a quarter (24%) year-on-year while sales of The i paper have fallen by just 1% over the same period, new ABC figures for July show.

The FT sells more than 107,000 copies, of which more than 32,000 are bulks. The i, which is now part of the Daily Mail group, has a circulation of more than 143,000 copies, with some 4,000 bulks.

The free Metro’s distribution was in excess of 1m in July 2021, nearly tripling its print output during the height of the pandemic.

All other newspapers audited by ABC reported a fall in year-on-year circulation. The Telegraph, Sun and Times titles are not included.

The Daily Mail has the largest paid-for circulation among the titles audited by ABC at more than 933,000. Its sister title the Mail on Sunday is behind on a little over 813,000 copies.

June 2021

Reach’s national Sunday titles continued to experienced the biggest year-on-year circulation drops in the industry in June.

The Sunday Post dropped by 16%, Daily Star Sunday was down 15%, Scottish tabloid Sunday Mail was down 14%, the Sunday People was down 13% and the Sunday Mirror by 11%. The Sunday Express was Reach’s best faring Sunday title, falling by 7%.

The best performance among paid-for newspapers was at the Financial Times which grew by 38% year-on-year and 5% month-on-month to 108,014.

As lockdown restrictions have eased the FT has put the number of bulk copies which go to locations like airports and hotels back up by 751% – from 3,534 to 30,093 – putting it on a similar level to June 2019 when 31, 057 bulk copies were distributed. The number of copies it sold in other countries was also up, although this was half 2019 levels.

No other paid-for newspapers grew month-on-month, and the i was the only other to grow year-on-year, although this could mainly be attributed to an increase in bulk distribution similar to the FT.

However the i’s bulks remain, by contrast, far below 2019 levels – 50,250 in June 2019 versus 3,699 this year.

The Metro has continued putting its free distribution back up as lockdown restrictions continued to ease. It went up by 10% between May and June and 224% compared to last June, topping 1m on average.

By comparison its rival in London, the free Evening Standard, has decided to maintain its distribution at Covid levels and concentrate on online growth. It was distributing 492,406 copies on average in June.

Scroll down or click here for new graphs charting the ups and downs of the UK national press in the past 20 years – with a spotlight on how Covid-19 affected circulations in the past year.

May 2021

The Financial Times and the i were the only paid UK national newspapers to grow their circulations in May compared to last year – despite the first Covid-19 lockdown’s severe impact on spring 2020 newsstand sales.

Both newspapers reported growth even when their bulk copies (those distributed for free at locations such as airports and hotels) are taken into account.

The i grew its circulation by 3% year-on-year excluding bulks to 140,721 or by 5% to 144,192 when bulks are included.

Meanwhile the FT grew by 2% to 77,218, excluding bulks, in May. Including bulks it was up 30% to 102,579.

Every other national newspaper saw an annual decline, with the smallest at the Daily Express, owned by Reach, which fell by 1% to 239,024.

May continued the trend of Reach’s Sunday titles experiencing the biggest year-on-year drops, however (scroll down or click here to see April’s report).

Scotland’s Sunday Post and Sunday Mail were down 14% and 11% respectively. Nationally the Daily Star Sunday was down 12% and the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People were both down 7%.

In May last year most national newspapers began to recover after their circulations had been hit hard by the first five weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Month-on-month, the FT (2%), i (1%) and the Guardian (0%) were the only paid-for titles not to see a dip. The biggest decline from April was at the Mail on Sunday (5%).

The ABC figures also demonstrated the impact of loosening Covid-19 restrictions on free newspapers as Metro and the Evening Standard increased their distributions by 190% and 9% respectively compared to May last year.

April 2021

Reach’s four Sunday titles – the Daily Star Sunday, Sunday Express, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were the only national titles to have a lower circulation in April than they did during the UK’s strictest Covid-19 lockdown one year earlier.

The rest of the UK’s national newspapers are back above the circulations of their worst Covid slump, which took place amid uncertainties about the future for the industry as the UK was told to stay at home at the start of the pandemic.

Despite its 7% annual decline, the Daily Star Sunday had the biggest month-on-month growth of 3%. Most paid-for titles were able to keep their April circulations similar to March, with a drop of -1% the largest nationally and of -2% at the Sunday Mail the biggest overall.

The Scottish title, which is also owned by Reach, was down year-on-year by 6% to 85,450.

Despite the declines at Reach’s Sunday titles, its national dailies the Mirror and Express were up by 2% and 3% respectively compared to April last year.

The Financial Times grew by 13% year-on-year to 100,215 in April. However it has upped its number of free copies distributed at locations such as airports and hotels from 7,042 last April to 22,487 – excluding these, its circulation has decreased 5% to 77,728.

By contrast the i, the only other paper to include bulk free copies in its ABC audited circulation, was up by 7% if they are included (143,380) and 9% if they are not (140,013).

This equals the Observer, which was also up 9% compared to last April to reach 140,894 copies each week.

The i’s DMGT stablemates the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday were also both up by 4% and 5% respectively on last year. DMGT’s free title Metro has been “building back” its distribution, as editor Ted Young told Press Gazette last week, to reach an average of 805,471 per day in April. It then topped 1m on 17 May as lockdown restrictions eased.

The Evening Standard also increased its free distribution compared to last April, by 16% to 492,575. Chief executive Charles Yardley has told Press Gazette he is planning to keep numbers at around half a million going forward.

March 2021

Paid-for national newspaper circulations have fallen by almost a fifth (18%) on average since just before the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The final year-on-year comparison with pre-Covid ABC newspaper circulations shows the biggest declines have been at the i and Financial Times, which are both down by about a third to 143,204 and 100,781 respectively.

They are the only two paid-for ABC-audited titles continuing to distribute bulk copies to public locations such as airports. Excluding bulks, the FT’s circulation fell by 35% year-on-year and the i’s fell by 18%.

The smallest, and only single-digit, declines were at the Mail on Sunday and Observer which both saw their circulation fall by 9% in the past year to 867,077 and 142,277 respectively in March 2021.

ABC’s March 2020 report spanned 2 to 22 March, stopping before the first lockdown came into place – although many people began working from home and curtailing social gatherings from about a week earlier.

The Evening Standard’s free circulation is down by 29% to 494,364 compared to March last year. The newspaper’s chief executive Charles Yardley told Press Gazette this month he remains committed to print but will not raise the distribution back to pre-pandemic levels.

Free rival Metro has dropped its distribution by half to 695,444. It initially dropped by 70% in April last year and rose to a

The biggest-selling issue of a UK national newspaper remains the Daily Mail’s Saturday issue, which sold an average 1,588,164 copies each week last month compared to 1,699,891 in March last year.

February 2021

The Observer reported the smallest drop in print circulation among UK national newspapers in February – but this was still down by 9% on the year before.

The Observer, which had an average circulation of 140,920, was the only newspaper not to see a double-digit drop. The next smallest decline was the Mail on Sunday, which fell by 12% to 848,526.

Sister title the Daily Mail was the only publication to see month-on-month growth from January, up 1% to 964,825. It was 15% behind the 1,134,184 it had in February 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK.

However, the Daily Mail’s digital edition grew its average circulation by 4% from 94,171 in January to 98,107.

[Read more: See latest online audience data published by Pamco here]

In February free titles Metro and Evening Standard distributed 58% and 38% fewer copies respectively compared to the year before. Both are continuing to publish for key worker commuters although most people remain under a “stay at home” order, with the Standard also delivering to doorsteps in certain parts of London.

The biggest paid-for circulation drops in February were at the Financial Times (down 36%) and i (35%), the only two ABC-audited titles continuing to distribute bulk copies to public locations such as airports.

Excluding bulks, the FT was down 40% and the i was down 18% – taking it below the Daily Star’s 20% decline.

January 2021

The UK’s current coronavirus lockdown has not hit national newspaper circulations as hard as last year’s strict April restrictions did, according to new figures from ABC.

However, most titles are now again below the circulation levels to which they had begun to recover in May last year.

The Daily Mail’s print circulation has fallen to its lowest since the peak of the Covid-19 crisis in April.

The UK’s top-selling newspaper sold an average of 960,019 copies each day in January, an 18% drop year-on-year. In April it reported a circulation of 944,981, which grew to 979,836 in May.

The Mail overtook The Sun in May 2020 and Press Gazette understands it has since consolidated its lead.

Digital edition sales add a further 77,736 to the Mail’s daily circulation figure, according to ABC – keeping it above 1m.

In March last year, before the first UK lockdown, the Mail was selling in excess of 1.1m copies per day.

Also below their May 2020 circulations were the Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star, Sunday Express, Daily Star on Sunday, Sunday People, and the Guardian.

Only the Observer, i and Financial Times were above their May figures from last year in January.

Several national newspapers saw bigger year-on-year drops in January than the Mail: the FT’s circulation fell by 39%, the i by 35%, the Sunday Post by 22%, the Daily Star by 21%, the Daily Express by 19% and the Daily Mirror by 19%.

The smallest year-on-year drop was at the Observer, which saw a decline of 8% to a circulation of 143,764.

The biggest month-on-month fall from December was also at the FT (down by 8% to 97,067) followed by the Daily Star Sunday, i and Guardian which were all down by 5%.

The only title to report any growth was Scottish tabloid the Sunday Mail, which was up 1% month-on-month to 88,819.

Metro and the Evening Standard, which had their free commuter distribution models hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, were down 58% and 39% respectively year on year in January.

December 2020

The Mail on Sunday reported the smallest drop in print circulation in December – but this was still down by 9% on the year before.

It had an average circulation of 954,497 in December 2019, down to 865,439 last month. It was the only newspaper not to see a double-digit year-on-year decline, with the Observer the second smallest drop (by 10% to 147,296).

The Financial Times saw its print circulation fall by more than a third (35%) year-on-year to 105,358 – the biggest fall among the UK’s paid-for national newspapers.

However, the FT did grow by 1% month-on-month as it continues to recover from the initial Covid-19 lockdown slump common to each of the titles.

The Guardian saw the biggest month-on-month growth of 2% in December.

The biggest fall from November 2020 was at the Sunday People, down 5% to 120,429.

Wales went into lockdown on 20 December while Scotland and Northern Ireland were placed under tight restrictions from Boxing Day and much of London and the south east of England entered strict Tier 4 restrictions days before Christmas.

Metro and the Evening Standard, which had their free commuter distribution models hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, were still 45% and 38% down respectively on the previous year’s print readership.

November 2020

Several national newsbrands managed a month on month increase in print circulation in November, with The Observer seeing the biggest rise at 4%.

The Observer’s print circulation rose from 145,680 to 152,129 having remained steady in the previous month.

The Sunday Express, the Sunday People and the Guardian also saw print sales rise 1%, after seeing declines between September and October

The Observer saw the smallest year-on-year decline at 5%. It was the only title not to report a double-digit year-on-year fall.

The Financial Times had the biggest paid-for decline (36% to 104,024) followed by the i (31% to 151,888).

Metro and the Evening Standard, which had their free commuter distribution models hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, were still 46% and 40% down on the previous year’s print readership.

October 2020

The Observer was the only national print newspaper brand not to see a year on year print circulation decline in October.

The Observer’s print readership remained steady on 145,680 as every other title except the Mail on Sunday, which fell by 9%, reported a double-digit year-on-year decline.

The Financial Times had the biggest paid-for decline (39% to 105,592) followed by the i (31% to 151,888).

Metro and the Evening Standard, which had their free commuter distribution models hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, were still 45% and 39% down on the previous year’s print readership – although Metro managed to add a fifth back onto its output in October.

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