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The public's fascination with stars' lives gave celebrity titles a boost in a women's weekly sector that saw an overall drop in sales of 1.3% year on year and a slight increase of 0.9% period on period to 7,475,174.

Boosted by a high-profile television advertising campaign and a repositioning as a celebrity-based title for women, Emap's Heat, tipped for closure last year, reported an astounding 137.6% year-on-year rise in sales, to 172,311.

Barry McIlheney, chief executive of Emap Elan, said: 'We're thrilled. I can't remember an increase of this scale.'

Repeating the pattern of February 2000, Hello! lost out to OK's stronger line-up of exclusive stories.

Hello! reported a 1.5% yearly increase, 9.6% period-on-period, and sales of 502,679, while its rival rose by 6.2% year-on-year to 586,176.

The battle for the top slot among the celebrity news titles is likely to be even more fiercely fought now that former News of the World editor Phil Hall has taken the Hello! helm.

He promises more celebrity-based stories and less concentration on minor European aristocracy.

NatMags has said it is too early to analyse the effect of its takeover of Gruner & Jahr titles, which include Best.

With a circulation of 431,352, Best is down 5.4 % period-on-period and 8.6% year-on-year, hit by the effects of being delisted by Tesco during the distribution row.

NatMags deputy managing director Duncan Edwards said the company would be evaluating Best as a brand and that further tweaks are likely.

IPC Media's Now has benefited from a combination of price-cutting and an aggressive above-the-line marketing campaign, which has boosted circulation by 20%year on year and by 11.9% since June, to 475,571.

This year IPC has marketed Woman and Woman's Own with its joint 'Advice on Life' campaign.

Woman retains a strong position as second in the sector, despite a year-on-year drop of 5%, and while Woman's Own saw a year-on-year decline of 2.7%, it still fared better than Bella, which dropped 6.9%, Chat down 5.8% and Woman's Weekly down 9.5%.

H Bauer's Take a Break still holds an impressive lead in the sector, with sales to the end of December of 1,137,952. But even this market-leading title suffered a 3.7% circulation drop since June, and a year-on-year declineof 7.5%.

NO. TOP 10 WOMEN''S WEEKLIES

     Magazine                Dec 2000     Dec 1999   % change

1    Take a Break           1,137,952    1,230,758       -7.5

2    Woman                    636,528      670,241       -5.0

3    OK! Magazine             586,176      551,901        6.2

4    That''s Life              569,804      526,845        8.2

5    Woman''s Own              553,701      569,019       -2.7

6    Bella                    532,668      572,151       -6.9

7    Hello!                   502,679      495,349        1.5

8    Women''s Weekly           496,162      547,953       -9.5

9    Now                      475,571      396,303       20.0

10   Chat                     469,769      498,619       -5.8