The paper's circulation rose 2.33% on the previous month to 2,000,901, which it achieved without any bulk copies. The rise reversed a decline sparked by editor Piers Morgan's anti-war coverage, which saw the title's circulation dip below the 2m mark in March as it ran stories hostile to the swiftly won war in Iraq.
A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said the Tony Martin exclusive "proved to be one of the biggest scoops of the year". The paper also credited the improvement with a change in editorial strategy.
"Following the recent changes to the overall tone and content of the paper, the early signs indicate our sale is stabilising across the week," he said.
The Daily Star continued to push for the 1m mark with a 1.75% increase month on month to 928,710, a year-on-year increase of 23.18%, making its sales goal seem eminently achievable.
The Sun and The Mirror both fell year on year by 4.84% and 5.85% respectively, reflecting the impact of last year's price war when both papers knocked as much as 20p off their cover prices in some regions.
The Sun improved on July's figure, however, with a 0.82% increase taking its circulation to 3,550,489.
The Daily Star Sunday's rise appears to be waning as it slipped 0.69% month on month to 524,460. The News of the World was up 1.89% to 3,937,837, the only UK Sunday tabloid to improve on July's figure.
The People saw a respite from its falling circulation, rising 0.21% on last month, but it is still down year on year by 16.87% to 1,115,459. There was a similar story at the Sunday Mirror. Month on month, it was up 0.79%, but it too is still down 10.46% on the year to 1,643,614.
In the mid market, the Daily Express passed the 1m mark with month-on-month growth of 5.11% to 1,015,326, while the Daily Mail was down 0.37% on July to 2,456,498.
The performance of their Sunday siblings was similar. The Sunday Express rose 4.53% month on month to 1,011,601, while the Mail on Sunday fell 1.95% on July's figure to 2,361,545.
The news was also bad for the Daily Mail's sister London daily, the Evening Standard, which slid back below 400,000 to 373,973, down 6.93%.
Among the broadsheets, all the dailies were down year on year and month on month, apart from the Daily Telegraph, which managed a 0.79% improvement on July's figure. The market leader's August ABC was 929,060, a 7.35% fall over the year.
The Times fell 0.51% on July to 629,815, a 7.04% fall over the year. The paper's relaunched Saturday edition, with new sections and new writers such as Radio 4's James Naughtie, former Today editor Rod Liddle, and former Hello editor Amanda Platell, debuts tomorrow aimed at stemming the title's falling circulation.
The news was also bad for the Financial Times, down 5.3% month on month, a year-on-year fall of 5.62% to 414,720. The Guardian was down 1.34% to 380,522.
The Sunday broadsheets put in a similarly lacklustre performance. The Sunday Telegraph posted a 1.99% increase month on month to 717,043, but fell 7.21% year on year. The Sunday Times was down 0.76% on July's figure to 1,312,220, a year-on-year drop of 2.42%.
The Business showed a month-on-month increase of 2.3% to 112,960, up 30.4% year on year. The figure includes 46,107 bulk copies. However, this is only 10,000 than the Independent on Sunday, which was up 1.29% on last month, down 3.98% on a year ago, to 217,294 with 37,972 bulks.
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