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The Daily Mail is gunning for Mirror readers after narrowing the

circulation gap between mid-market titles and tabloid newspapers to just

over 100,000, according to the latest official sales figures from the

Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Data for July shows that the Daily Mail’s circulation has topped the 2.2

million mark for the first time this year, with sales up by 2.6 per cent

on June to 2,217,123.

The Daily Mail is now just 113,327 copies behind the Mirror, whose sales

rose 1.17 per cent last month to 2,330,450. However, the Mail’s July

sales included 173,246 sales at below cover price and 18,000 bulk

sales.

Sales of the Mail on Sunday rallied last month, up more than 3.6 per

cent to 2,176,931. Although this was bolstered by 57,000 lesser rate

sales and 45,895 bulk sales, the Sunday Mirror’s 2.44 per cent increase

to 2,278,512 was supported by 211,176 lesser rate sales and 115,560 bulk

sales .

According to estimates by the Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers,

the Mail on Sunday topped 2.3 million at the start of this month, 46,000

more than any previous high and outselling the Sunday Mirror by around

100,000.

Mike Newman, the circulation director of Associated, said the Mail could

match the Mirror’s sales by the beginning of 1997: ’We’re gaining

readers from the upper end of the tabloid market.’

The figures suggest the boundaries between mass-market tabloids and

mid-market titles are blurring. However, sales of the Express are still

wavering.

Both the Daily and Sunday Express enjoyed a rise in circulations last

month, but the titles recorded the largest number of copies sold at a

lesser rate of all the papers - more than 400,000.