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March 19, 2020updated 30 Sep 2022 9:04am

National newspaper ABCs: Daily Mail closes circulation gap on Sun to 5,500 copies

By Freddy Mayhew

The Daily Mail has closed the circulation gap between it and the Sun newspaper to just over 5,000 copies, once bulk sales are removed.

The Sun sold 1.2m copies in February this year, according to new ABC figures, but 66,859 of these were sold as bulks at a reduced rate.

With bulks removed, the Sun has a total circulation of 1.14m, compared to the Daily Mail’s 1.13m circulation – a difference of 5,500 copies.

The Sun remains the best-selling daily newspaper in the UK, but daily freesheet the Metro has the largest distribution at 1.42m.

UK national newspaper circulations for February 2020 (source: ABC)

Publication Total ABC Feb 2020 Year-on-year % change Bulks
Metro FREE 1,419,614 0%
The Sun 1,206,595 -11% 66,859
Daily Mail 1,134,184 -4%
The Sun on Sunday 1,022,485 -11% 66,861
The Mail on Sunday 962,084 -5%
Evening Standard FREE 787,447 -8%
The Sunday Times 633,567 -11% 49,629
Daily Mirror 441,934 -10%
The Times 359,960 -11% 52,911
Sunday Mirror 356,621 -13%
Daily Express 289,679 -8% 11
Daily Star 274,808 -15%
Sunday Express 245,629 -10% 15
i 215,932 -7% 47,558
Daily Star – Sunday 158,101 -21%
The Observer 155,021 -4%
Financial Times 155,009 -10% 28,008
Sunday People 137,275 -12%
The Guardian 126,879 -5%
Sunday Mail 103,939 -14%
Daily Record 103,222 -12%
City AM FREE 85,738 0%
Sunday Post 84,947 -19% 538

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