The market-leading Q, which had turned off rock fans with covers featuring Beyonce and Britney Spears, returned to its rock roots after an overhaul last September. This included the addition of advice on downloading music from the web. One issue provided a list of 1010 songs to download. A 7.8% sales increase in the ABC period reflected the success of the changes.
Mojo, which targets older rock enthusiasts, was up 7.1% year on year to 111,815 copies - its highest ABC to date. IPC's Uncut, with a similar retro-music focus, beat Mojo into second by including 7789 free copies in its ABC.
Future Publishing's Metal Hammer was the biggest riser, up 30.9%, while Emap's Kerrang!, down 10.7% and dance title Mixmag, down 8%, were the biggest fallers.
Emap Performance managing director Marcus Rich said downloading and iPods were driving renewed interest in music magazines.
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