Loaded's circulation was down to 305,444 from 351,353 last time. Maxim almost made it this time. The Dennis-owned magazine has been snapping at the heels of Loaded for a time. While still down 6.5% year-on-year to 305,070, it is now only 374 copies behind its rival.
The slump in circulation coincides with the appointment of new editor Keith Kendrick, who came over to the job at the start of this year from IPC women's title Chat.
Kendrick, who was a surprise appointment, said at the time of his appointment that he intended to ditch its "laddism" tag and take on a more sophisticated tone and contain broader coverage aimed at older readers.
"Loaded has always been an intelligent, stylish magazine but its image has been tarnished by the media's obsession with 'laddism'," Kendrick said at the time.
There was a fear this change in direction could see Loaded compete with stablemate Later, which was aimed at an older target audience. IPC remedied this situation earlier this year and closed Later.
Market leader and rival lads magazine FHM saw its circulation fall only 2.2% to 700,172 year on year. FHM's spin-off quarterly fashion title, FHM Collections, suffered the biggest fall in the sector, dropping 21.9% to 55,511 putting its future in some doubt.
As the lads' magazines suffered, the traditional men's style titles were also hurt. The big losers were Men's Health, which was down 9.6% to 213,145, and Esquire, which fell 12% to 62,005. The Face was another loser -- it saw its sales fall 8% year-on-year to 60,092.
At Conde Nast, GQ saw its circulation fall 7.7% to 127,518.
There was good news for Cabal as Front saw its year-on-year circulation rise 6.3% to 152,041, making it the best performer in the sector. Another rare positive performer in the sector was Arena. The Emap title was up 6.4% to 50,140 year on year and, more importantly, it has brought itself up from its perilous December figure of 37,080.