Mike Soutar, chief executive of Shortlist Media, had previously said that the half a million figure remains the magazine's target circulation, which it is now aiming to meet by the end of the year.
The free weekly is likely to achieve this goal with plans to expand its current distribution into UK cities such as Liverpool within the next six months.
Shortlist's free weekly rival, Sport, held its circulation in only its second ABC result, with a monthly circulation of 317,209 copies, almost unchanged from 317,093 last time.
H Bauer's newly acquired men's monthly, Arena, continues to haemorrhage readers, as speculation mounts that its new owner will close the ailing title.
Arena posted a period-on-period decline of 18.3% in the six-month period ending December, taking it down to just 25,232 copies, whilst its year-on-year figure is down by a whopping 27%.
However, the biggest faller in the men's lifestyle sector was Dennis Publishing's Maxim, which suffered a period-on-period fall of 27.1% to 78,463 copies. The drop, which takes Maxim's year-on-year figure down 40.3%, can partly be attributed to the decision to take out US circulation from its UK figure.
H Bauer's FHM has arrested its circulation freefall on the back of a repositioning under editor-in-chief Anthony Noguera, with a period-on-period rise of 1.1% to 315,149 copies. Its year-on-year figure is down by 15.1%.
IPC Media's Loaded suffered a period-on-period drop of 4.5% to 115,065 copies, with its year-on-year figure down by 29.2%.
The performance of the weekly lads magazines Nuts and Loaded appears to support the view that the men's market has cannibalised itself.
IPC Media's Nuts continues to maintain a lead over H Bauer's Zoo, with a period-on-period decline of 2.6% to 270,053 copies. Its yearly figure fell by 8.5%.
Zoo reported a period-on-period increase of 4.1% to 179,006 copies, taking its year-on-year figure down by 12.5%.
The robust performance of Men's Health and GQ add weight to the argument that the lad's generation from the 90s has grown up and moved on to more adult-orientated titles.
Natmag-Rodale's Men's Health, which leads the men's health and lifestyle sector, posted a period-on-period rise of 0.6% to 240,315 copies, whilst its year-on-year figure climbed 0.7%.
Dennis Publishing's rival offering, Men's Fitness, reported a period-on-period rise of 0.2% to 65,504 copies, whilst its year-on-year figure rose by 0.6%.
Conde Nast's GQ posted a period-on-period increase of 1.3% to 129,520 copies. Its year-on-year figure rose by 1.6%.
NatMag's monthly Esquire continues to sell less than half of the magazines sold by its closest rival GQ, while enjoying period-on-period circulation growth of 11.7% to 59,800 copies. Its year-on-year figure was up 14%.
Haymarket's gadgets and gizmos monthly, Stuff, saw a period-on-period rise of 4.4% to 96,866 copies although its year-on-year figure is down by 3.4%.
Its nearest rival in the sector, Future's T3, reported a circulation of 60,028 copies, after failing to report a figure in the last ABC report. Its year-on-year figure is up 8.4%.
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