By Jon Slattery
Two titles at either end of the national newspaper spectrum have reasons to be cheerful in the latest circulation figures for June.
The Daily Star is the only popular daily to show a rise on May and is heading towards the one million mark. Year-on-year, it is showing a rise of more than 30 per cent – the biggest increase of any national.
The other winner is The Business, which last month broke through the 100,000 sales barrier. In June it increased its circulation to 102,632 and is showing a year-on-year rise of 25 per cent.
Other good performances in June came from The Sunday Times, with a month-on-month rise of more than 3 per cent, and the Sunday Mirror, which was up 2.4 per cent on May.
The News of the World also did well, maintaining its sale at 3.8 million.
But elsewhere there was little to cheer. Apart from the Star, all the popular papers were down on May, although the decline in sales of The Sun and the Daily Mirror was only marginal.
The decline in the morning quality dailies has continued. The Daily Telegraph, which dropped below one million at the end of last year following its brave decision to drop bulks, is now down to 915,206 and in danger of slipping below 900,000.
All the mid-market titles – daily and Sunday – were down and sales of the Evening Standard in London dropped below 400,000 in June for the first time this year.
The national press must be hoping for a boost from the return of football next month. No wonder the popular papers are busy sending reporters over to Madrid to cover David Beckham.
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