The Sun registered a 6.36% rise on December to 3,382,509, up by 202,368 copies as rival the Daily Mirror continued to lag in the tabloid field, with a 2.79% monthly rise to 1,748,327 copies. The Daily Star, boosted by Richard Desmond's decision to cut its cover price to 15p, rose 6.37% to 861,825.
Desmond also saw the Daily Express surge 5.62% to 949,238, performing ahead of the Daily Mail, which climbed 3.89% to 2,409,121.
While Associated Newspaper's London Evening Standard did not continue its sharp December fall, it only managed a paltry 0.91% rise to 350,671. It remains to be seen whether it can hold on to its readers after the entrance of its free edition Standard Lite, which distributes 70,000 copies a day, ahead of the opening up of the London market proposed by Ken Livingstone in December.
There was good news for The Times as it registered its third victory in a row over the Daily Telegraph with its highest circulation since going tabloid, up 5.19% to 686,327 with an extra 33,385 copies added.
The performance put it up 4.51% year on year, comparing well with the likes of The Guardian, which is rumoured to want a slice of the Times market in a move to the centre. The Guardian is down 3.42% year-on-year although up 4.7% on December to hit 376,816 for January.
For the Times, the figures put it comfortably ahead of The Daily Telegraph, which added 1.78% to 920,745 with The Independent, up 1.8% to 257,100.
The Financial Times was the only daily newspaper to register a decline, down 1.24% to 422,519.
The Sunday Mirror did rather better than its sister daily, rising 7.51% to 1,652,375, against News International's News of the World's 3.78% rise to 3,823,317. It just outperformed The People, which climbed 7.44% to 1,001,389 copies.
The Daily Star Sunday fell 11.87% to 459,933, its worst copy total during the last six months.
The Sunday Express gave Desmond less trouble with its 5.06% rise to 976,055, but Associated will be equally, if not more, happy with the Mail on Sunday's 4.76% rise to 2,446,465.
The Barclay Brothers will be worried by The Sunday Telegraph, which rose only 0.68% to 692,107, while The Sunday Times grew 5.45% to 1,375,982 copies.
The Observer was up 2.97% to 446,818 providing more encouragement for Guardian Newspapers, while the Independent on Sunday could only manage a 1.06% rise to 206,527.
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