Mail Online leapfrogged Guardian.co.uk and Telegraph.co.uk to become the most visited national newspaper website in June as coverage given to the untimely demise of Michael Jackson late in the month contributed to all but one site increasing traffic.
The website network of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday jumped from third to first as it recorded 29,373,379 unique users last month – the second highest ever monthly figure for a UK newspaper website, behind only guardian.co.uk which posted just under half-a-million more in January.
Mail Online put on nearly five million additional users as it recorded a month-on-month increase of 19.22 per cent, up 83.41 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic published today.
Along with the mid-market Mail Online, tabloid newspaper websites saw the biggest increases last month, pipping the higher ranking websites of the quality papers.
Sun Online, which includes page3.com, held its position as the fourth most popular newspaper website, increasing 9.22 per cent from May as it recorded 25,062,845 unique users. It was also up 61.59 per cent on June, 2008.
The Mirror Group network, which includes the websites of the Daily Mirror, Daily Record and the People newspapers, clawed itself into sixth from last place to overtake Independent.co.uk as it recorded a sixth consecutive month of traffic growth.
It climbed 8.62 per cent on traffic in May to record 9,442,900 unique users last month. Year-on-year it was up 74.02 per cent.
Guardian.co.uk was pushed into second place by Mail Online, however it still increased its traffic by recording 28,966,942 unique users in June, a month-on-month rise of 6.52 per cent and an increase of 41.30 per cent on the same period last year
Telegraph.co.uk was the third highest national newspaper website with 27,175,233 – an increase of 7.64 per cent on May and up 37.86 per cent on the same period last year.
Times Online, which includes content from the Sunday Times, held its fifth position as it drew 21,216,767 unique users last month, an increase of 3.97 per cent on May and 29.61 per cent year-on-year.
Independent.co.uk drew up the rear as it was the only site to see traffic fall last month, dropping 2.31% to 9,352,369 unique users. However, this was a climb of 29.61 per cent year-on-year.
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