Free newspaper Metro has overtaken its sister title the Daily Mail to become the second highest circulation UK national newspaper.
The title, which is only available in certain areas around the UK during the week, had an average daily circulation of 1,476,115 in February according to ABC. The Daily Mail slipped behind it with an average sale of 1,454,129 (down 7 per cent year on year).
During the week, Metro is more than 200,000 copies ahead of the Daily Mail and less than 30,000 copies behind The Sun.
Metro today marked the 18th anniversary of its first edition.
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Elsewhere, The Observer and The Times were the only paid-for national newspapers to increase sales year on year. They both grew marginally by 0.01 per cent (when bulks are taken out of the equation in the case of The Times).
Trinity Mirror’s two Sunday titles were the fastest fallers in February. The Sunday Mirror fell 16..4 per cent to 612,172 and the Sunday People fell 16 per cent to 237,394.
According to the National Readership Survey, Metro now has the highest monthly reach in print of any UK newspaper with an average readership of 10.4m.
| Product | Feb-17 | MoM% | YoY% | Multiple Sales |
| The Sun | 1,591,997 | -4.48 | -8.6 | 97,835 |
| Metro (free) | 1,476,115 | -0.06 | 9.54 | |
| Daily Mail | 1,454,129 | -3.79 | -6.93 | 63,256 |
| The Sun on Sunday | 1,370,746 | -0.35 | -2.95 | 97,783 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 1,246,226 | -0.93 | -9.76 | 54,692 |
| London Evening Standard (free) | 897,000 | 1.1 | -0.55 | |
| The Sunday Times | 789,145 | -0.4 | 3.02 | 83,882 |
| Daily Mirror | 700,879 | -3.31 | -11.49 | 34,000 |
| Sunday Mirror | 612,172 | -2.72 | -16.41 | 34,000 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 457,331 | -3.16 | -3.3 | 39,496 |
| The Times | 441,059 | -2.26 | 9.51 | 80,492 |
| Daily Star | 440,048 | -0.77 | -6.94 | |
| Daily Express | 389,028 | -0.89 | -5.84 | |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 356,743 | -0.74 | -0.06 | 33,147 |
| Sunday Express | 334,181 | -0.47 | -8.97 | |
| i | 265,815 | -0.36 | -1.41 | 56,608 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 258,690 | 0.74 | -13.37 | |
| Sunday People | 237,394 | -1.43 | -15.97 | 7,000 |
| Financial Times | 184,279 | -2.46 | -5.75 | 20,981 |
| The Observer | 183,617 | -1.15 | 0.01 | |
| Sunday Mail | 166,195 | -1.17 | -11.87 | |
| The Guardian | 154,544 | -1.41 | -4.1 | |
| Daily Record | 153,579 | -1.41 | -12 | |
| Sunday Post | 142,377 | -0.55 | -12.27 | 538 |
| City AM (free) | 90,743 | 0.47 | -7.38 |
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