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.
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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