April 19, 2018

National newspaper ABCs: Sun regains top spot as City AM, Times and Observer fare best amid industry-wide circulation decline

The Sun has overtaken the Metro’s print circulation, after the free daily pushed the UK’s best-selling newspaper off the top spot for the first time last month, new ABC figures reveal.

The Sun had a total print circulation of 1,481,876 in March, down 7.52 per cent year-on-year, against the Metro’s distribution of 1,473,956, a -0.36 per cent year-on-year drop.

Every national newsbrand saw circulation fall year-on-year in March, with the smallest decline at City AM (distribution of 90,964, down 0.11 per cent).

The smallest paid-for circulation falls were at The Times, down 1.29 per cent year-on-year with a circulation of 435,061, and The Observer, down 1.85 per cent year-on-year at 175,904.

ABC national newspaper print circulation figures for March 2018 (see also online figures below):

Publication	Total print circulation (March 2018)	Year-on-year % change	Bulks
The Sun	1,481,876	-7.52	117,640
Metro (FREE)	1,473,956	-0.36
Daily Mail	1,310,796	-9.16
The Sun on Sunday	1,224,261	-10.08	118,256
The Mail on Sunday	1,065,529	-14.63
London Evening Standard (FREE)	873,982	-3.04
The Sunday Times	739,444	-6.35	85,044
Daily Mirror	565,074	-18.38
Sunday Mirror	472,291	-21.79
The Times	435,061	-1.29	90,281
Daily Star	395,362	-9.52
The Daily Telegraph	382,204	-17.02
Daily Express	357,183	-7.64
Sunday Express	307,634	-7.96
The Sunday Telegraph	293,360	-17.63
i	252,814	-4.7	59,278
Daily Star – Sunday	236,275	-5.23
Sunday People	186,346	-19.81
Financial Times	185,747	-2.26	28,993
The Observer	175,904	-1.85
The Guardian	148,169	-3.43
Sunday Mail	136,951	-15.01
Daily Record	131,255	-13.95
Sunday Post	119,755	-15.51	538
City AM (FREE)	90,964	-0.11

Website	Daily average unique browsers (March 2018)	Year-on-year % change
Mail Online	13,021,571	-15.82
Trinity Mirror Group – Digital	8,268,971	-6.75
The Sun	4,962,187	8.42
Metro	2,389,977	38.11