Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Data
  2. Audience Data
January 11, 2013

UK national newspaper sales: Guardian, FT and Daily Telegraph end 2012 on high note

By Dominic Ponsford

The Guardian, FT and Daily Telegraph all ended 2012 on a high note, with small month-on-month circulation increases.

But sales of every other national newspaper were down year on year.

Sales of the UK’s top-selling daily The Sun fell by 10 per cent year on year as it competed with cut-price sales from the previous year, while the Daily Mirror kept its rate of decline to half that figure.

Most of the biggest year on year falls in the Sunday market were due to the distorting effect of the closure of the News of the World in July 2011.

Looking at the sales averages for 2012 as a whole, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror were among the best-performing titles in relative terms, keeping their print sales declines to 6 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively.

UK national newspaper sales for December 2012 (source ABC)

National dailies

Ave sale

Month/Month

Year/year

bulks

Daily Mirror

1,034,641

-0.99

-5.27

Daily Record

250,096

-1.39

-8.89

1,822

Daily Star

540,548

-3.47

-12.32

The Sun

2,277,809

-3.55

-10.00

Daily Express

529,096

-1.52

-11.29

Daily Mail

1,844,569

-1.44

-7.54

91,361

The Daily Telegraph

547,465

0.19

-6.74

Financial Times

286,401

1.60

-14.19

29,815

The Guardian

204,222

0.31

-11.25

i

291,311

-3.66

31.39

65,239

The Independent

78,082

-1.25

-34.69

18,371

The Scotsman

32,463

-0.83

-16.00

2,368

The Times

396,041

-0.82

-3.18

17,100

Racing Post

45,372

-1.70

-9.34

63

National Sundays

Daily Star Sunday

360,747

-2.04

-43.67

The Sun (Sunday)

1,886,739

-6.10

Sunday Mail

285,028

-2.69

-21.96

684

Sunday Mirror

1,024,543

-1.15

-39.80

Sunday People

428,406

-3.86

-45.09

Sunday Express

473,336

-1.60

-24.49

Sunday Post

245,727

-0.37

-18.59

The Mail on Sunday

1,687,301

-2.60

-11.62

79,054

Independent on Sunday

116,513

-1.58

-9.25

55,216

The Observer

230,833

-2.26

-13.44

Scotland on Sunday

37,252

-5.44

-18.40

The Sunday Telegraph

428,092

-0.98

-5.47

The Sunday Times

877,482

-1.96

-6.20

9,258

UK national newspapers: Average sale for 2012

National dailies

2012 average

2011 average

% change

Daily Mirror

1,077,683

1,153,776

-6.60

Daily Record

273,688

301,501

-9.22

Daily Star

596,108

688,719

-13.45

The Sun

2,519,911

2,770,405

-9.04

Daily Express

561,273

621,075

-9.63

Daily Mail

1,920,801

2,044,347

-6.04

The Daily Telegraph

570,817

620,946

-8.07

Financial Times

298,070

354,926

-16.02

The Herald

45,493

48,569

-6.33

The Guardian

210,660

248,958

-15.38

i

279,309

183,978

51.82

The Independent

90,258

167,271

-46.04

The Scotsman

35,330

40,536

-12.84

The Times

400,238

436,729

-8.36

Racing Post

49,091

53,236

-7.78

National Sundays

Daily Star Sunday

460,720

495,184

-6.96

The Sun (Sunday)

2,167,218

N/A

Sunday Mail

319,393

379,454

-15.83

Sunday Mirror

1,173,269

1,436,403

-18.32

Sunday People

499,048

649,671

-23.18

Sunday Express

513,305

606,000

-15.30

Sunday Post

272,245

314,152

-13.34

The Mail on Sunday

1,798,205

1,981,357

-9.24

Independent on Sunday

121,794

150,105

-18.86

The Observer

245,430

285,757

-14.11

Scotland on Sunday

43,635

51,971

-16.04

Sunday Herald

28,735

31,568

-8.97

The Sunday Telegraph

449,882

483,490

-6.95

The Sunday Times

918,563

1,005,017

-8.60

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Websites in our network