Heat's circulation snowballed to 335,304, but it is still a long way off its downmarket rival Now, published by IPC and which knocked Hello! off the top spot in the celebrity market with a 16.2% increase year on year to 552,774.
Meanwhile, OK! magazine lost 16.9%, falling to 486,858, losing more ground than its arch-rival Hello, which dropped just 4.8% to 526,947. More worrying, however, was the period-on-period decline. Hello dropped 37.5% and OK! 25.3%
Both titles had been expected to show a decline on last year's figures, when OK! owner Richard Desmond used his then-recently acquired newspaper, the Daily Express, to carry free copies of his celebrity glossy.
In response, Hello teamed up with mid-market heavyweight tabloid, the Daily Mail, to give away free copies of the self-appointed upmarket glossy.
The success of the celebrity titles, as widely reported, comes against a general downturn in the women's weekly lifestyle sector.
IPC's Woman's Own fell 6.4% on last year to 518,495. It recently brought in the former editor of the now-defunct Woman's Journal, Elsa McAlanon, to help revive the title's flagging fortunes, following the departure of Terry Tavner.
Bella fell 12%, despite a redesign by publisher H Bauer to help stem the title's flagging circulation, which fell by around the same amount last period. It was down to 468,937. Its lower-end rival Best fell just 0.2% year on year to 430,433.
IPC's long-running woman's weekly stalwart Woman, however, remains at the top of the women's weekly lifestyle sector with a massive circulation of 646,643, up 1.6%. The sector as a whole was up 1.7% to 7,445,708.
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