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The Guardian and The Independent vied for the biggest fall, with the former losing 5.07%, dropping to 380,693 copies, and the latter 5.03% to 250,195 copies. The Times followed close behind with a drop of 4.32% to 661,400 copies.

The Daily Telegraph was steady by contrast, although its fall of just 0.67% was sufficient to leave it below 900,000 copies for the only time in 2005 on 897,385.

In each market category, only one title bucked the falling trend. In the quality sector the Financial Times rose 1.8% to 439,563, while in the mid-market the Daily Express was up 0.48% to 800,403, in contrast to the Daily Mail, which was down 1.3% to 2.311m.

In the popular market the Daily Mirror climbed 0.42% to 1.679m, but The Sun fell 2.29% to 3.12m and the Daily Star lost 1.98% to 779,556.

The Evening Standard had a poor month, slumping 7.29% to 321,227 despite running a reduced cover price promotion on three days of the month.

London's new freesheet City AM recorded its first ABC figure, which revealed that readers picked up an average of 69,035 copies four months after its launch.

December disrupted Sunday reading habits, with a 3.75% drop overall, compared with a 1.48% drop for dailies.

The Sunday Telegraph will be perplexed by its 10.17% fall to 642,256, which suggests readers were unenthused by its November relaunch. It sold fewer than than October's 661,425 and much fewer than November's 714,922 copies.

Glee over at the Sunday Times will be lessened by its 5.86% fall to 1.313m, but The Observer and The Independent on Sunday escaped with lesser falls.

The Observer, which became a Berliner this month, was down 1.48% to 430,403 and the recently converted to compact Independent on Sunday was down 2.92% to 219,040.

The mid-market also suffered steep circulation falls, with the Mail on Sunday down 5.22% to 2.216m and the Sunday Express down 7.15% to 809,041. The Mail on Sunday lost 112,000 copies despite adding 25,000 copies to its bulk distribution.

Finally, a good month for Trinity Mirror saw the Sunday Mirror up 6.47% to 1.513m and rival the News of the World down 6% to 3.509m.

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