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It increased its sales in May by 28,212 average copies to 619,182 - up 4.8% month on month.

In the 12-month period to the end of May, the Sunday Telegraph increased its market share by 0.3% to 26% in the quality title sector.

News International's Sunday Times, which has been forced to follow in the Telegraph's footsteps after it reportedly turned down the MPs data, saw its circulation fall 2.2% to 1,194,485, month on month, its weakest performance of the year.

Despite the dip, the NI newspaper remains the only title in the ABC Sunday audit to increase circulation year on year, albeit just 0.6%.

Guardian News & Media's Observer also suffered its worst month of 2009, with circulation sliding 3.8% to 405,516.

The Independent on Sunday was the only other major quality weekend newspaper to increase its circulation this month, up 1.5% to 167,546 from its April figure.

Despite the culmination of the English football leagues and Rugby Premiership, May proved an unremarkable month for the Sunday tabloids.

Scotland's Sunday Mail led the falls, down 3.5% since April to 426,576. The weekend's most popular newspaper, the News of the World, also slipped 0.4% month on month to 2,924,137 - once again losing the crown of the most popular newspaper in the UK to its daily stablemate The Sun.

However, there were slight monthly circulation gains for the Sunday Mirror, up 0.3% to 1,220,410, The People, up 0.9% to 583,258, and the Daily Star Sunday, up 0.6% to 359,723.

The mid-market Sunday's failed to capitalise on the quality circulation exodus in May, with market leader The Mail on Sunday falling 1.6% to 2,065,415 and the Sunday Express down 0.6% to 359,723.