The Guardian and Observer saw the smallest drops in circulation among paid-for UK national newspapers last month as Reach’s Sunday titles took a hit, according to the latest ABC figures.
The sister titles both saw their circulation fall by five per cent year-on-year in October – the Guardian to a circulation of 128,492 and the Observer to 160,068.
The Guardian today revealed its biggest-selling weekday editions in October included splashes on Boris Johnson revealing his Brexit plan (3 October), the snap election announcement (30 October), and the 20 firms behind a third of global carbon emissions (10 October).
Behind them were the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Financial Times, which all saw a seven per cent year-on-year circulation drop.
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Free newspapers City AM, Metro and the Evening Standard continued to see the smallest readership declines.
The Daily Star on Sunday, Sunday People and Sunday Post were the worst-performing titles, both falling year-on-year by 18 per cent, followed by the Daily Star, Sunday Mirror and Sunday Mail all losing 16 per cent.
All are owned by Reach, except for the DC Thomson-owned Sunday Post.
National newspaper circulations for October 2019 (ABC):
| Publication | Total average circ. Oct 2019 | Year-on-year % change | Bulks |
| Metro FREE | 1,420,796 | -2% | |
| The Sun | 1,223,771 | -13% | 66,859 |
| Daily Mail | 1,136,247 | -7% | |
| The Sun on Sunday | 1,042,909 | -13% | 66,861 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 959,671 | -8% | |
| London Evening Standard FREE | 826,064 | -4% | |
| The Sunday Times | 655,618 | -9% | 51,148 |
| Daily Mirror | 463,256 | -13% | |
| Sunday Mirror | 378,239 | -16% | |
| The Times | 367,074 | -13% | 54,029 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 308,015 | -14% | |
| Daily Express | 302,690 | -7% | 11 |
| Daily Star | 292,395 | -16% | 181 |
| Sunday Express | 260,823 | -8% | 15 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 246,797 | -13% | |
| i | 221,083 | -8% | 48,330 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 174,309 | -18% | |
| Financial Times | 168,958 | -7% | 30,992 |
| The Observer | 160,068 | -5% | |
| Sunday People | 144,832 | -18% | |
| The Guardian | 128,492 | -5% | |
| Daily Record | 107,499 | -12% | |
| Sunday Mail | 106,523 | -16% | |
| Sunday Post | 90,510 | -18% | 538 |
| City AM FREE | 86,084 | 0% |
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