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The Observer once again saw the smallest paid-for circulation drop among UK national newspapers in December, according to the latest ABC figures.
The Sunday newspaper and sister title to the Guardian reported sales down two per cent year-on-year to 163,449 copies.
The biggest declines were at the Scotland’s Sunday Post and UK tabloid thte Daily Star on Sunday.
The Sun remained the UK’s top-selling newspaper with a circulation of 1.2m with the Daily Mail still close at its heels, just over 7,800 copies behind it when the Sun’s bulk copies are removed.
National newspaper circulations for December 2019 (ABC):
| Publication | Total average circ. Dec 2019 | Year-on-year % change | Bulks |
| Metro FREE | 1,422,283 | -2% | |
| The Sun | 1,215,852 | -13% | 66,860 |
| Daily Mail | 1,141,178 | -7% | |
| The Sun on Sunday | 1,026,341 | -12% | 66,861 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 954,497 | -6% | |
| Evening Standard FREE | 796,640 | -6% | |
| The Sunday Times | 648,812 | -9% | 50,808 |
| Daily Mirror | 451,386 | -12% | |
| The Times | 370,005 | -11% | 53,284 |
| Sunday Mirror | 366,420 | -14% | |
| The Daily Telegraph | 317,817 | -12% | |
| Daily Express | 295,079 | -8% | 11 |
| Daily Star | 282,723 | -15% | 46 |
| Sunday Express | 255,087 | -8% | 15 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 248,288 | -12% | |
| i | 217,760 | -8% | 47,241 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 167,601 | -18% | |
| The Observer | 163,449 | -2% | |
| Financial Times | 162,429 | -10% | 29,783 |
| Sunday People | 142,563 | -13% | |
| The Guardian | 133,412 | -5% | |
| Daily Record | 104,906 | -12% | |
| Sunday Mail | 103,940 | -15% | |
| Sunday Post | 87,335 | -19% | 538 |
| City AM FREE | 85,406 | 0% |
Chief Comment Writer, LBC Digital
Senior Investigator, Global Witness
Financial Journalist, BusinessCann
This just shows the dire state the UK national papers are in. Massive falls in circulations, no papers making ground.
This is an industry dying.
Why?
Because we dont want preaching at all the time
and many important stories are not reported. Like the Gilet Jeunes protests in France.
And this was a month with a General Election in it.
And now only 3 papers selling over 1m copies, and the Sun on Sunday must drop out of that club very soon.
It’s not the readers dying. It’s the newspapers.