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Print circulation is the average number of copies of a
publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...
. 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 of print
readership Readership may refer to: * The group of readers of a particular publication or writer: their target audience * The total number of readers of a particular publication (newspaper, magazine, book), as proxy-measured by web/app views or print circulat ...
and is thus one of the principal factors used to set print
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
rates (prices). In many countries, circulations are audited by independent bodies such as the
Audit Bureau of Circulations An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circula ...
to assure advertisers that a given newspaper does reach the number of people claimed by the publisher. There are international open access 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 The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...
(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 The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...
'' (), ''
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...
'' () are still the largest circulated newspapers in the world. ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' is the largest circulated English-language daily newspaper in the world, across all formats (Broadsheet, Compact, Berliner and Online). '' Reference News'' () is the most popular paper in China. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper '' Komsomolskaya Pravda'' 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 The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald Sun ...
'' has the highest circulation in Australia. Based in one of the country's two major cities,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, 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, 317,715; Het Nieuwsblad, 245,209;
SUD Presse Sud or SUD may refer to: Places * Sud (Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg constituency), a constituency in Luxembourg * Sud (department), an administrative subdivision of Haiti * Sud Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of I ...
(group of papers focused on community specific content), 147,749; Het Belang van Limburg, 121,428;
Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...
, 113,780;
Vers l’avenir Vers may refer to: * Vers (Lahn), a river of Hesse, Germany * Vers (Lot), a river of southern France, tributary of the Lot *an abbreviation for the trigonometric function " versine" *an abbreviation for versatile (sex), commonly used in Western ...
, 109,287 (group of papers focused on community specific content);
La Dernière Heure ''La Dernière Heure'' (The Latest Hour) and ''Les Sports'' (sometimes referred to as ''La DH'') is a French-language daily newspaper published in Brussels, Belgium. The paper is known for news and sports. History and profile ''La DH'' was esta ...
, 107,583; De Standaard, 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 pa ...
'', 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, 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 An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circula ...
shows that the largest read local language newspapers to be
Dainik Bhaskar ''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...
(with 4.320 million readers) and
Dainik Jagran ''Dainik Jagran'' ( Hi:दैनिक जागरन , , ) is an Indian Hindi language daily newspaper. It was ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in India by circulation in 2016. In 2019 Quarter 4, according to Indian Readership Survey, Daini ...
(with 3.410 million readers), both published in
Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
. The
Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...
is the most widely read
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
newspaper ( 3.029 million), followed by
Malayala Manorama ''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has ...
(2.370 million), Amar Ujala (2.067 million),
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
(1.132 million),
Eenadu ''Eenadu'' () is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.Daily Thanthi ''Dina Thanthi'' ( en, Daily Mail; known as Daily Thanthi in English language, English) is a Tamil language daily newspaper. It was founded by S. P. Adithanar in Madurai in 1942. ''Dina Thanthi'' is India's largest daily printed in the Tamil la ...
is a Tamil daily (1.498 million),
Anandabazar Patrika '' Anandabazar Patrika'' ( Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million c ...
is Bengali language newspaper(1.075 million).
Malayala Manorama ''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has ...
newspaper which is published in
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
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 The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...
, 6,870,000; The
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...
, 5,890,000;
Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...
, 2,572,000;
Seikyo Shimbun (English: "the newspaper of sacred teachings") is a Japanese newspaper. In 1997, it claimed a 5,5 million circulation, but the number is controversial and impossible to verify..It is owned by the Japanese Buddhist religious movement Soka Gakka ...
, 5,500,000; Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1,731,000;
Chunichi Shimbun The is a Japanese daily "broadsheet" newspaper published in mostly Aichi Prefecture and neighboring regions by Based in Nagoya, one of Japanese three major metropolitan areas, it boasts the third circulation after the group newspaper Total Yo ...
/
Tokyo Shimbun ''The Tokyo Shimbun'' (東京新聞, ''Tōkyō Shinbun'', literally ''Tokyo Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published by The Chunichi Shimbun Company. The group publishes newspapers under the brand name of The Tokyo Shimbun in the Tokyo Met ...
,2,871 ,000;
Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asa ...
, 1,330 ,000;
Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946. It has a circulation of 1,661,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of the ''Asahi Shimbun''. Companies and regions ;Nikkan Sports News (Tokyo) :Tokyo HQ: 5-10, Tsukiji Sanc ...
, 1,661 ,828;
Hokkaido Shimbun The , which is often abbreviated as , is a Japanese language daily newspaper published mainly in Hokkaidō, Japan by . As of June 2022, its morning edition has a circulation of 8,40,000. It was first published in Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポ ...
, 1,896,594; Shizuoka Shimbun, 1,479,000; .


Norway

The
Norwegian Media Businesses' Association The Norwegian Media Businesses' Association ( no, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, MBL) is an employers' organisation in Norway, organized under the national Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise ( no, Nær ...
publishes national circulation figures for every newspaper in Norway every year. In 2011 the most read newspaper was the
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
-based national newspaper
Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...
, with a circulation of 235,795 followed by the tabloid
Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...
with 211,588. The local evening newspaper Aften averages 101,574 and the tabloid
Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...
had 98,989 readers. The financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv averaged 82,595. In the top ten list it is followed by five local newspapers:
Bergens Tidende ''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. ''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...
, 79,467;
Adresseavisen ''Adresseavisen'' (; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers after Norske Intelligenz-Seddele ...
, 71,657;
Stavanger Aftenblad ''Stavanger Aftenblad'' () (lit: ''Stavanger Evening Paper'') or simply ''Aftenbladet'' is a daily newspaper based in Stavanger, Norway, and owned by Schibsted Media Group. Norwegian owners held 42 percent of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...
, 63,283;
Fædrelandsvennen ''Fædrelandsvennen'' is a regional newspaper based in Kristiansand, Norway. It covers the southernmost part of the country, ( Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder), focusing especially on the area between Mandal and Lillesand (west and east of Kristians ...
, 36,604 and
Drammens Tidende ''Drammens Tidende'' is a Norwegian Bokmål language newspaper published in Drammen, Norway. History and profile The former ''Drammens Tidende'' dates back to 2 January 1832, when it was known as ''Tiden'', taking the new name in thirteen years la ...
, 33,352.


Turkey

{{Main list, List of newspapers in Turkey As of August 2016, the top 6 best selling papers are respectively:
Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...
, 340,898;
Sözcü ''Sözcü'' (English: ''Spokesperson'') is a popular Turkish daily newspaper. ''Sözcü'' was first published on 27 June 2007 by Burak Akbay and is distributed nationwide. As of June 2018, it is one of the top-selling newspapers in Turkey, with ...
, 322,829;
Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...
, 313,989; Posta, 302,919;
Habertürk ''Habertürk'' (literally: "News Turkish"), abbreviated as ''HT'', was a high-circulation Turkish newspaper. It was established on March 1, 2009 by Ciner Media Group, drawing on the brand of Ciner's Habertürk TV. It ceased publication on 5 July ...
, 253,256 and Milliyet, 143,577.


United Kingdom

{{Main list, List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation According to the
Audit Bureau of Circulations An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circula ...
the best-selling papers as of January 2017 are '' The Sun'', 1.67 million, ''
The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publishe ...
'', 1.51 million and the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'', 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 Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) is a North American non-profit industry organization founded in 1914 by the Association of National Advertisers to help ensure media transparency and trust among advertisers and media companies. Originally k ...
. The best-selling papers in America, measured by combined daily average circulation as of March 31, 2013, are the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' with 2,378,827 in circulation; ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' at 1,865,318; and ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' 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 *
List of magazines by circulation The following list of the magazines in the world by circulation is based upon the number of copies distributed, on average, for each issue. Lists by continent and country The following are lists of magazines from selected countries/regions, ...
*
Newspaper delivery A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ce ...
: 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 Auditing

The State of the Media 2004 from journalism.org

Alliance for Audited Media web site

The Front Pages of the Main Newspapers of the World

Editor & Publisher Yearbook On-line with circulation statistics

Searchable database of Canadian newspaper circulation figures from the Canadian Newspaper Association

English Newspaper in Spain
{{Authority control Circulation