Zoo sold 240,215 copies during the period against Nuts' 275,459. The men's weekly market appears to have hit a wall in terms of overall circulation growth and it is having less of an impact on the sales of monthly titles than some expected.
The swing leaves Emap looking strong in the men's market -- its market leader FHM grew 1.1% on the period to 580,027 copies, down 3.5% year on year.
Dharmash Mistry, managing director of Emap Consumer Media, said: "The success is down to Paul Merrill and his fantastic team who are producing a magazine full of humour and wit that has become increasingly relevant to more discerning young men and their weekly agenda."
IPC's Loaded suffered, slipping from third place to sixth as it lost 15,000 sales to hit 220,057 in the past six months. Loaded was down 6.4% on the period and down 16.4% year on year.
Loaded has been superseded by Zoo, in third place, Maxim in fourth, and Men's Health in fifth.
Tim Brooks, IPC ignite! managing director, said: "If 2004 was the year of Nuts, 2005 will be the year of Loaded. We have bold plans in place for Loaded. It revitalised the men's monthly sector when it launched in 1994 and it will do so again in 2005."
Dennis Publishing's Maxim added more than 7,000 readers or 3.2% over the period, leaving it with 234,183 copies after it brought in a new editor, Greg Gutfeld, from the US to rejig its editorial. It is 3.8% down year on year.
Bruce Sandell, group publishing director of Maxim, said: "Overtaking Loaded has been a goal of ours for a long time. We're absolutely delighted, in particular because the increase has been down to word of mouth rather than advertising."
Dennis is to invest more in Maxim this year, and is about to launch a TV campaign.
Haymarket's Stuff also had something to celebrate. The gadget magazine was up 6.2% over the past six months to 74,570 copies and up 14.7% on the year.
Men's Health, published by NatMags-Rodale, grew 3.6% over the period and 3.9% year on year, and is now selling 229,116 copies.
There was bad news for Future, which is buying Front publisher Highbury House. Front shed 16,000 sales and, at 84,093 copies, it is down 16.1% over the period and 18.5% on the year.
Among the lower selling titles, NatMags' Esquire stood out with a 11.3% sales increase to 71,401 copies.
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