But its return to the top of the sector masks an ever-greater reliance on bulks, which make up 76,970 of its sales, and on the news-stand it sells almost 60,000 fewer copies than nearest rival Closer.
Every title bar Northern & Shell's New! has maintained or grown sales in the period.
Even IPC's Now, forecast by rivals to continue its decline following the departure of founding editor Jane Ennis, maintained sales with little promotion. It now faces the test of existing alongside IPC's latest launch, Look, on news-stands without cannibalising sales.
Hello!'s continued growth was helped by a big push on news-stands, where sales rose 9%. An exclusive on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby pictures proved a strong draw, though drew less of an uplift than the previous period's Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie cover.
Looking to 2007, the racism row in this year's Celebrity Big Brother has cast a shadow over the future of the reality show.
Publishers will have got good mileage from their coverage of the furore over the past couple of months, but will be praying that their cash cow can continue to deliver the goods.