Question: What was the best-selling newspaper in 2018?

List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation


At the start of the 19thcentury, the highest-circulation newspaper in the United Kingdom was the Morning Post, which sold around 4,000 copies per day, twice the sales of its nearest rival. As production methods improved, print runs increased and newspapers were sold at lower prices. By 1828, the Morning Herald was selling the most copies, but it was soon overtaken by The Times.[1]
Pubs would typically take in one or two papers for their customers to read, and through this method, by the 1850s the newspaper of the licensed trade, the Morning Advertiser, had the second highest circulation. Sales of The Times were around 40,000,[2] and it had around 80% of the entire daily newspaper market,[3] but Sunday papers were more popular, some boasting sales of more than 100,000.[2] Later in the century, the Daily News came to prominence, selling 150,000 copies a day in the 1870s,[1] while by 1890, The Daily Telegraph had a circulation of 300,000. Sunday newspaper sales also grew rapidly, with Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper being the first to sell onemillion copies an issue.[2]
The press was changed by the introduction of halfpenny papers. The first national halfpenny paper was the Daily Mail[1] (followed by the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror), which became the first weekday paper to sell onemillion copies around 1911. Circulation continued to increase, reaching a peak in the mid-1950s;[2] sales of the News of the World reached a peak of more than eightmillion in 1950.[4] Since the 1950s, there has been a gradual decline in newspaper sales.[2] The availability of multimedia news platforms has accelerated this decline in the 21stcentury, and by the close of 2014, no UK daily or Sunday newspaper had a circulation exceeding twomillion.[5][6] The overall circulation of newspapers declined by 6.6% in 2014–15.[7]
In February 2018 The Sun's 40-year dominance at the top of the circulation charts was eclipsed by the free Metro newspaper for the first time.[8]
Daily newspapers
2010 to present
Figures shown are average circulations for January of each year. Regardless of immediate source, all figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

August 2018 figures from ABC  (dailies) 
Publication	Total circulation August 2018	Year-on-year % change	
Metro FREE			1,453,926	0%  	
The Sun				1,447,959	-7%	
Daily Mail			1,270,418	-11%	
London Evening Standard FREE	  858,557	 1%	
Daily Mirror			  558,457	-11%		
The Times			  427,668	-5%	
The Daily Telegraph		  370,929	-22%	
Daily Star			  361,202	-15%	
Daily Express			  338,843	-10%	
i				  244,060	-10%	
Daily Star – Sunday		  222,944	-14%	
Financial Times			  175,441	-5%	
The Guardian			  134,943	-8%	
City AM FREE			  83,854	-7%
2000–2009
Figures shown are average circulations for January of each year.  Only newspapers with circulations of more than 100,000 copies per day in January 2009 are listed. Regardless of immediate source, all figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

1950–1999
Figures shown are average circulations for each year.  Figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Before 1950
Figures shown are average circulations for each year.  Figures from after 1931 originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations;those from 1852 and 1838 originate from stamp duty returns.  Those from 1910, 1921 and 1930 are the most uncertain and rely on information originating from T. B. Browne's Advertiser's ABC.

Sunday newspapers
2010 to present
Figures shown are average circulations for January of each year.  Only newspapers with circulations of more than 100,000 copies in January 2010 are listed.  Regardless of immediate source, all figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

2000–2009
Figures shown are average circulations for January of each year.  Only newspapers with circulations of more than 100,000 copies in January 2009 are listed.  Regardless of immediate source, all figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

20th century
Figures shown are average circulations for each year.  Figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

19th century
Figures shown are average circulations for each year.  Figures originate from stamp duty returns.

Regional newspapers
Figures shown are average circulations for each year.  Figures originate from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

See also
List of newspapers in the world by circulation