Front page exclusives on the Queen's Nazi salute and Lord Sewel helped The Sun newspapers record the best month-on-month circulation performances in July's national newspaper ABCs.
The Sunday title, which broke the Lord Coke story on 26 July, was up 5.4 per cent on June's average. And the daily was up 2.1 per cent month-on-month in July.
As well as the Queen and Sewel stories, The Sun also performed well with stories on Ashya King, Louis Tomlinson, Lily Allen and George Michael.
The News UK titles were also helped by bulk copies, with The Sun distributing a daily average of 11,720 and the Sunday edition 13,549. It did not distribute any bulk copies in June. Without these, The Sun would have been up 1.4 per cent and The Sun on Sunday 4.4 per cent.
The Sun and Sun on Sunday are the biggest newspapers in their respective markets, but were down 9.8 per cent to 1,856,790 and 7.7 per cent 1,545,244.
Editor David Dinsmore said: “The Sun and The Sun on Sunday have had an exceptional month for stories and coverage of major events. This is reflected in the ABC figures.
"I am immensely proud of our scoops – from the historic royal footage, to the Lord Sewel revelations –confirming that The Sun and The Sun on Sunday remain ahead of our competitors both in sales and rattling out great stories."
Sister title The Times was again the best performing newspaper year-on-year, down 0.9 per cent to 394,910.
The worst performing national newspaper, year on year, was the Sunday People, down 17.9 per cent to 311,437.
Average daily newspaper circulations, July 2015
| Newspaper | Average circulation, July 2015 | M/M % change | Y/Y % change | Bulks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Mirror | 856,499 | 0.06 | -10.49 | 45,000 |
| Daily Record | 187,037 | -2.10 | -10.82 | 4,971 |
| Daily Star | 411,725 | -1.12 | -11.69 | – |
| The Sun | 1,856,790 | 2.08 | -9.75 | 11,720 |
| Daily Express | 429,810 | -0.64 | -10.58 | – |
| Daily Mail | 1,627,706 | 0.05 | -2.82 | 75,846 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 489,459 | -0.06 | -4.75 | – |
| Financial Times | 207,179 | -3.30 | -2.90 | 21,864 |
| The Guardian | 168,369 | -1.66 | -7.07 | – |
| i | 276,137 | 0.58 | -3.43 | 68,816 |
| The Independent | 57,883 | -0.08 | -8.24 | 15,966 |
| The Times | 394,910 | 1.41 | -0.93 | 21,093 |
Average Sunday newspaper circulations, July 2015
| Newspaper | Average circulation, July 2015 | M/M % change | Y/Y % change | Bulks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Star – Sunday | 262,372 | 1.75 | -11.15 | – |
| The Sun on Sunday | 1,545,244 | 5.37 | -7.73 | 13,549 |
| Sunday Mail | 205,769 | -0.92 | -10.89 | 3,834 |
| Sunday Mirror | 813,023 | -0.34 | -12.86 | 45,000 |
| Sunday People | 311,437 | -1.54 | -17.93 | – |
| The Mail on Sunday | 1,425,840 | -0.57 | -6.30 | 69,612 |
| Sunday Express | 380,185 | 0.98 | -10.45 | – |
| Sunday Post | 190,596 | -0.28 | -10.92 | – |
| Independent on Sunday | 97,834 | 0.63 | -4.15 | 52,565 |
| The Observer | 188,312 | -0.51 | -6.49 | – |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 372,346 | -0.61 | -7.23 | – |
| The Sunday Times | 763,521 | -0.14 | -4.54 | 11,365 |
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