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Heat recorded its third consecutive triple-digit year-on-year increase and the celebrity title leader, Now, achieved a year-on-year gain of 10%.

Once again the inclusion by OK! and Hello! of huge numbers of bulk copies obscured the true picture. Excluding bulks, Heat has moved into second place among the celeb titles with a 45,466 copy lead over OK!, despite the latter's 20% year-on-year increase in full-price sales. Hello!'s full-price sales dropped 1.9%.

Dazzled by the success of Heat, Emap is developing several new ideas with a celebrity focus. The first of these will launch in September, backed by a £10m budget. It is expected to be aimed at an older audience than Heat and will compete more directly with OK! and Hello!.

Emap entertainment managing director Louise Matthews admitted she was staggered by the growth in the celebrity sector. She added: "We thought Heat would be more niche than some other titles, such as Now, but we're being proved wrong.

"We're still motoring. Recent issues have sold well over half a million and we'll keep our foot on the gas in terms of marketing."

Hello! publishing director Sally Cartwright was keen to differentiate Hello! from her celebrity weekly rivals. "The others are big on gossip, whereas Hello!'s high AB readership and lifestyle focus is more like InStyle, she said.

Of the non-celebrity weeklies, only three managed year-on-year increases.

H Bauer's Take A Break consolidated its top slot and That's Life recorded its sixth consecutive ABC gain. Chat, up 10.4%, was the only good news for IPC. Bauer's other weekly, Bella, did not fare so well, falling 8.3% year on year - a result that has prompted a change in editor.

TOP 15 WOMEN'S WEEKLIES
    Magazine             June end 2002  June end 2001  % change
1   Take a Break             1,207,384      1,166,591       3.5
2   Woman                      631,451        660,781      -4.4
3   That's Life                590,162        569,818       3.6
4   OK! Magazine               575,307        651,513     -11.7
5   Now                        570,279        518,322      10.0
6   Woman's Own                518,861        538,424      -3.6
7   Hello!                     517,883        842,723     -38.5
8   Chat                       515,000        466,422      10.4
9   Woman's Weekly             498,268        503,722      -1.1
10  Heat                       478,924        235,450     103.4
11  Bella                      444,622        484,986      -8.3
12  Best                       430,030        432,252      -0.5
13  People's Friend            398,035        401,817      -0.9
14  My Weekly                  294,919        316,081      -6.7
15  The Lady                    43,510         43,490       0.0