Classic tabloid fare, such as Kerry Katona being dropped by Iceland after taking drugs, the fall-out of the Katie Price and Peter Andre break-up, and increased military casualties ahead of elections in Afghanistan, helped boost News International's tabloid's average daily circulation by 0.23% month on month to 3,128,501.
The rise equates to a slight 0.64% fall on last August, which is enough to make it the second-most-resilient newspaper in the UK over the last year.
The top annual accolade goes to the Daily Star, which continues to shine with an 18% increase in circulation year on year to 886,814. It follows a slight dip of 0.03% month on month.
In a relatively stable performance by the entire newspaper sector, Trinity's rival The Daily Mirror was the second-biggest faller, down 1.13% to 1,324,883. Compared to last August, circulation for the title was down 8.96%.
In the quality newspapers, August saw the biggest decline for The Guardian, down 5.29% to 311,387.
However, the top-line figure masks , some 12,000 copies, from circulation last month. Once taken into account, the newspaper's circulation dropped just 1%. Year on year, The Guardian was down 6.37%.
There was little movement in the rest of the market, which during the traditional silly season for news will be welcomed as something of an achievement by the embattled industry.
News International's The Times was down 0.74% to 576,185, IN&M's Independent fell 0.62% to 187,837, TMG's Daily Telegraph was down 0.59% to 814,087, while the Financial Times dropped 0.44% to 395,845.
The biggest faller since last August was The Independent, down 18.34%.
North of the border, all the newspapers in Scotland posted a monthly rise in circulation as the political fall-out and global reverberations of the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi captured the interests of the nation.
The Scotsman was up 9.91%, The Herald was up 3.92% and Daily Record up 1.21%.
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