Smash Hits' circulation for the six months ending in June was 120,701 copies, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. This compares with a figure of 114,383 for the last period but it is still almost 20% down on the same period last year, when Smash Hits sold an average of 150,042 copies per issue.
Smash Hits was the one bright point in the teen entertainment category, with every other title posting significant falls.
Monthly magazine Top of the Pops suffered a circulation decline of 5.6% on the last set of ABC figures. Selling 216,954 copies per issue, it is still the market leader in the teen entertainment category but this figure is 14% down on the same period last year.
Weekly title Sneak, published by Emap, was the star performer in its category in the last set of ABCs but it fell by more than 11% over the past six months to record a figure of 92,368 copies, compared with 104,174 in December.
Marcus Rich, the managing director of Emap Performance, which publishes Smash Hits and Sneak, said: "The teen magazine market is one of the toughest battles on the newsstands. To have Sneak retain its title as the biggest-volume seller in the sector and to see Smash Hits achieve growth in such difficult circumstances is thanks to the great efforts of the teams involved."
The BBC's other monthly title, It's Hot, was down by 22% to 91,495 copies compared with December's figure, while Hachette Filipacchi's TV Hits, which is soon to relaunch, was down 23% to 100,377. Across the board, the sector suffered a circulation decline of more than 18% compared with the same period last year.
Emap's Bliss was the strongest performer among the lifestyle titles, up 6.4% following the closure of teen girls' stalwart J-17. Bliss recorded a circulation of 257,162 copies for the six month period, compared with Hachette Filipacchi's Sugar with 295,009 -- up 1.1% on December 2003.
Significant declines at fortnightly titles Mizz, published by IPC Media, and Shout, by DC Thomson, meant the teenage lifestyle category reported an overall decline of almost 2%.
Mizz recorded an ABC figure of 78,158 copies, down 22% on December's figure, while Shout was down 19% to 68,257.
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