Print circulation is the average number of copies of a
publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some issues are distributed without cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy is read by more than one person.
Concept
Print circulation is a good
proxy measure
In statistics, a proxy or proxy variable is a variable that is not in itself directly relevant, but that serves in place of an unobservable or immeasurable variable. In order for a variable to be a good proxy, it must have a close correlation, not ...
of print
readership and is thus one of the principal factors used to set print
advertising rates (prices). In many countries, circulations are
audit
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...
ed by independent bodies such as the
Audit Bureau of Circulations to assure advertisers that a given newspaper does reach the number of people claimed by the publisher. There are international
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
directories such as ''Mondo Times'', but these generally rely on numbers reported by newspapers themselves.
World newspapers with the largest circulation
The
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) publishes a list of newspapers with the largest circulation. In 2011, India led the world in terms of newspaper circulation with nearly 330 million newspapers circulated daily. In 2010, China topped the list in term of total newspaper circulation with 110.78 million a day, ahead of India in second with 100.993 million,followed by Japan, with 50.4 million; the United States, with 48.5 million; and Germany, with 19.7 million. In the 2019 survey, among the top 10 newspapers, all were Asian newspapers and four were Japanese newspapers.
The Japanese ''
Yomiuri Shimbun'' (), ''
Asahi Shimbun'' () are still the
largest circulated newspapers in the world. ''
The Times of India'' is the
largest circulated English-language daily newspaper in the world, across all formats (Broadsheet, Compact, Berliner and Online). ''
Reference News
''Reference News'' () is a Chinese newspaper. Founded in 1931, it is ranked 7th in the world by circulation and 1st in China.
Reference News was first published on 7 November 1931. The early editions of the newspaper were published under dif ...
'' () is the most popular paper in China.
According to the
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
, the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ...
'' exceeded 21,500,000 in 1990, while the Soviet weekly ''
Argumenty i Fakty'' boasted a circulation of 33,500,000 in 1991.
In many developed countries, print circulation is falling due to social and technological changes such as the availability of news on the internet. On the other hand, in some developing countries circulation is increasing as these factors are more than cancelled out by rising incomes, population, and literacy.
Individual countries
Australia
''
The Herald Sun'' has the highest circulation in Australia. Based in one of the country's two major cities,
Melbourne, it is the result of the amalgamation of the original ''Sun'' and ''Herald'' newspapers.
Belgium
The Belgian institution CIM (Centre for Information about Media) publishes national circulation figures for all written, audiovisual and web-based media in Belgium. The top ten best selling papers according to their websit
are
Het Laatste Nieuws
''Het Laatste Nieuws'' (; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and ...
, 317,715;
Het Nieuwsblad
''Het Nieuwsblad'' (; en, The Newspaper) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports.
History and profile
In 1929, ''Het Nieuwsblad'' was published by ...
, 245,209;
SUD Presse (group of papers focused on community specific content), 147,749;
Het Belang van Limburg
''Het Belang van Limburg'' (Dutch; literally ''The Interest of Limburg'') is a Dutch language regional newspaper in Belgium.
History and profile
''Het Belang van Limburg'' was founded in 1933 as a merger of several weekly magazines. The paper ...
, 121,428;
Le Soir, 113,780;
Vers l’avenir, 109,287 (group of papers focused on community specific content);
La Dernière Heure, 107,583;
De Standaard
''De Standaard'' (meaning ''The Standard'' in English) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and F ...
, 104,758.
Canada
The most widely read paper in the country is the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', which, as of the six-month period ending on March 31, 2007, averaged 634,886 copies sold on Saturday, 436,694 Monday to Friday, and 442,265 on Sunday. The second most widely read paper is Toronto-based national newspaper ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', which averaged 374,000 copies on Saturdays, and 303,000 Monday to Friday. The most widely read French-language newspaper is
Le Journal de Montréal
''Le Journal de Montréal'' is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. ...
, which averaged 319,899 copies on Saturday, 267,404 Monday to Friday, and 264,733 on Sunday. Unlike in the United States, newspapers in Canada published their biggest and mostly widely read editions on Saturdays.
India
The
Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that the largest read local language newspapers to be
Dainik Bhaskar (with 4.320 million readers) and
Dainik Jagran (with 3.410 million readers), both published in
Hindi. The
Times of India is the most widely read
English language newspaper ( 3.029 million), followed by
Malayala Manorama (2.370 million),
Amar Ujala
''Amar Ujala'' is a Hindi-language daily newspaper published in India which was founded in 1948. It has 21 editions in six states and two union territories covering 180 districts. It has a circulation of around two million copies. The 2017 Ind ...
(2.067 million),
Hindustan Times (1.132 million),
Eenadu (1.732 million),
Daily Thanthi is a Tamil daily (1.498 million),
Anandabazar Patrika is Bengali language newspaper(1.075 million).
Malayala Manorama newspaper which is published in
Malayalam from Kerala, currently has a readership of over 2.370 million (with a circulation base of over 2.4 million copies) has the most circulation in other languages.
Japan
The 2022 circulation figures for the morning and evening editions of Japan's newspapers:
Yomiuri Shimbun, 6,870,000; The
Asahi Shimbun, 5,890,000;
Mainichi Shimbun, 2,572,000;
Seikyo Shimbun, 5,500,000;
Nihon Keizai Shimbun
''The Nikkei'', also known as , is the flagship publication of Nikkei, Inc. (based in Tokyo) and the world's largest financial newspaper, with a daily circulation exceeding 1.73 million copies. The Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tok ...
, 1,731,000;
Chunichi Shimbun/
Tokyo Shimbun,2,871 ,000;
Sankei Shimbun, 1,330 ,000;
Nikkan Sports, 1,661 ,828;
Hokkaido Shimbun, 1,896,594;
Shizuoka Shimbun
is a Japanese language daily newspaper. The company is associated with the Shizuoka Broadcasting System
Shizuoka Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS, 静岡放送株式会社) is a Japanese broadcaster in Shizuoka. Its radio station is affiliat ...
, 1,479,000; .
Norway
The
Norwegian Media Businesses' Association publishes national circulation figures for every newspaper in Norway every year. In 2011 the most read newspaper was the
Oslo-based national newspaper
Aftenposten, with a circulation of 235,795 followed by the tabloid
Verdens Gang with 211,588. The local evening newspaper
Aften averages 101,574 and the tabloid
Dagbladet had 98,989 readers. The financial newspaper
Dagens Næringsliv
''Dagens Næringsliv'' (Norwegian for "Today's Business"), commonly known as ''DN'', is a Norwegian newspaper specializing in business news. , it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, who was appointed i ...
averaged 82,595. In the top ten list it is followed by five local newspapers:
Bergens Tidende, 79,467;
Adresseavisen, 71,657;
Stavanger Aftenblad, 63,283;
Fædrelandsvennen, 36,604 and
Drammens Tidende, 33,352.
Turkey
{{Main list, List of newspapers in Turkey
As of August 2016, the top 6 best selling papers are respectively:
Hürriyet, 340,898;
Sözcü, 322,829;
Sabah, 313,989;
Posta, 302,919;
Habertürk, 253,256 and
Milliyet
''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey.
History and profile
''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...
, 143,577.
United Kingdom
{{Main list, List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation
According to the
Audit Bureau of Circulations the best-selling papers as of January 2017 are ''
The Sun'', 1.67 million, ''
The Daily Mail'', 1.51 million and the ''
Daily Mirror'', 725,000.
United States
{{Main list, List of newspapers in the United States by circulation
The heyday of the newspaper industry was the 1940s, but the percentage of Americans reading newspapers began to decline with the increased competition from radio, television and, more recently, the Internet. A growing population helped the absolute circulation numbers continue to increase until the 1970s, where it remained stable until the 1990s, when absolute circulation numbers began declining.
Newspaper circulation numbers are reported to the
Alliance for Audited Media. The best-selling papers in America, measured by combined daily average circulation as of March 31, 2013, are the ''
Wall Street Journal'' with 2,378,827 in circulation; ''
The New York Times'' at 1,865,318; and ''
USA Today'' with 1,674,306. Overall, for the 593 reporting newspapers, daily circulation declined 0.7 percent year-over-year between March 2012 and March 2013. Sunday circulation was down 1.4 percent over the same period.
[{{cite web, title=Top 25 U.S. Newspapers For March 2013, url=http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/blog/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx, access-date=June 9, 2013, date=April 30, 2013, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611122852/http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/blog/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx, archive-date=June 11, 2013]
See also
*
List of newspapers by circulation
This is a list of paid daily newspapers in the world by average circulation. Worldwide newspaper circulation figures are compiled by the International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations and World Association of Newspapers and News Publis ...
*
List of magazines by circulation
*
Newspaper delivery: The circulation department of a newspaper, in addition to soliciting subscriptions, also distributes them to subscribers to the print edition. The last step is newspaper delivery consisting of newspaper routes run either by motor vehicle or traditional adolescent "paper boys."
References
{{Reflist
External links
Newspaper Map (circulation worldwide)BPA Worldwide: Media AuditingThe State of the Media 2004 from journalism.orgAlliance for Audited Media web siteThe Front Pages of the Main Newspapers of the WorldEditor & Publisher Yearbook On-line with circulation statisticsSearchable database of Canadian newspaper circulation figures from the Canadian Newspaper AssociationEnglish Newspaper in Spain{{Authority control
Circulation
Circulation may refer to:
Science and technology
* Atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air
* Circulation (physics), the path integral of the fluid velocity around a closed curve in a fluid flow field
* Circulatory system, a bio ...