The NRS data, for the period between April 2008 and March 2009, shows, however, that the Alexander Lebedev-controlled London Evening Standard posted a year-on-year readership fall of 3% from 633,000, to 613,000 in the period.
The Standard's fortunes contrasted with News International-owned thelondonpaper which was up 21% from 897,000 readers to 1.08 million in the period.
However, thelondonpaper continued to lag behind the London Lite, which extended its lead over its rival with a readership of 1.16 million despite giving away around 100,000 less copies than thelondonpaper every day.
Metro, meanwhile, recorded a readership of 3.4 million, up 24% year on year.
Steve Auckland, managing director of the London Lite, said the results indicated that "free titles were catching up on their more established paid-for counterparts in the eyes of readers".
Across the paid-for daily titles, the Pearson-owned Financial Times posted the biggest rise in readership, up 15%, to 417,000 readers.
It was joined by only two other paid-for dailies, The Guardian and The Times, which were up 3% to 1.2 million and 6% to 1.7 million respectively, in recording increases.
News International-owned The Sun, which boasts the biggest readership figures, was level year on year, registering 7.8 million readers.
In the Sunday market, the big fallers year-on-year were The Independent on Sunday, down 15%, to 676,000 readers and The People, which fell 11% to 1.45 million.
Unlike the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs) figures, which register the circulations of newspapers, the NRS canvases a panel of people to find out how many papers they have read.
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