The £2 broadsheet defied the general market trend to post a 1.6% lift year on year to 1,221,683. Its annual circulation increase has been achieved despite losing some 18,600 copies since March.
The audited figure for The Sunday Times remains more than double that of The Sunday Telegraph, its nearest quality rival, which was down 1.5% month on month and 7% year on year, to 590,970.
The Observer reported 10,000 less copies than March, with a circulation of 421,578, down 6.7% year on year.
The Independent on Sunday was unable to win back any of the 11,700 copies it lost in March, and dropped a further 1.6% month on month to 165,040. The circulation for INM's embattled title is now down 21.8% on this time last year.
Elsewhere, April proved a stronger month for the mid-market titles, with both The Mail on Sunday (2,099,406) and the Sunday Express (637,419) improving on March circulations, up 2.6% and 0.2% respectively.
Despite commanding the weekend's second-largest circulation, The Mail on Sunday has lost more copies in its monthly audit than any other paper in the past year, down almost 200,000, or 8.4%.
The Sunday red-tops all saw slight dips month on month, led by the News of the World, down 2.7% to 2,936,239. The Sunday Mirror was down 0.98% to 1,216,918 and the Sunday Mail dropped 0.22% to 442,264.
The soon-to-be-revamped People dropped 0.46% to 578,161, equating to 11.8% year on year.
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