USA TODAY's Spin: We're No. 1 in Circulation

USA TODAY's public relations department was in full force this afternoon as it touted the daily newspaper as leading the nation in total daily print circulation on the day the Audit Bureau of Circulation rated it No. 2 behind The Wsll Street Journal by about 124,000 a day.

For immediate release

USA TODAY REMAINS NUMBER ONE IN TOTAL DAILY PRINT CIRCULATION

Sells nearly 275,000 more print copies per day than closest competitor


McLean, Va. (Oct. 26, 2009) – USA TODAY remains number one in total daily print circulation in the United States, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation report. USA TODAY’s daily print circulation was 1,891,604 for the period ending September 30, 2009.

USA TODAY’s print circulation is nearly 275,000 copies per day larger than its closest competitor, The Wall Street Journal, and more than 1,000,000 copies per day larger than The New York Times. USA TODAY is also the newspaper leader in single copy newsstand sales selling more than 475,000 copies per day versus The Wall Street Journal’s 89,951 copies per day. Single copy newsstand sales reflect customers who actively seek out the newspaper each day and pay full newsstand price, which is widely considered the most valuable circulation by advertisers.

"We are proud to remain America's number one choice in a daily print newspaper. For 10 years USA TODAY has been the leader in print. In these trying times, the most people continue to choose USA TODAY day in and day out for the news they want to know,” said Dave Hunke, president and publisher of USA TODAY.

Audit Bureau of Circulation Finds Newspaper Circulation in Steep Decline

Circulation for the country's daily newspapers were in a steep decline over the past six months since September, the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported today.

ABC said that 379 daily newspapers reported an average 10.6 percent drop in their circulation to 30,395,652. This represents one of the most severe declines ever. Sunday circulation for 562 reporting newspapers was down 7.4 percent to 40,012,253, ABC said.

Only The Wall Street Journal reported a daily circulation gain among the nation's top 25 papers. ABC said that the Journal had a modest 0.61 percent increase to 2,024,269 a day. Nobody among the top 25 posted a gain in their Sunday circulation.

Here is Editor & Publisher's list of top 25 newspapers with their ABC results, as compiled by Jennifer Saba.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,024,269 -- 0.61%
USA TODAY -- 1,900,116 -- (-17.15%)
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 927,851 -- (-7.28%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 657,467 -- (-11.05%)
THE WASHINGTON POST -- 582,844 -- (-6.40%)

DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) -- 544,167 -- (-13.98%)
NEW YORK POST -- 508,042 -- (-18.77%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 465,892 -- (-9.72%)
HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 384,419 -- (-14.24%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 361,480 -- N/A

NEWSDAY -- 357,124 -- (-5.40%)
THE DENVER POST -- 340,949 -- N/A
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 316,874 -- (-12.30%)
STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS -- 304,543 -- (-5.53%)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -- 275,641 -- (-11.98%)

The PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 271,180 -- (-11.24%)
DETROIT FREE PRESS (e) -- 269,729 -- (-9.56%)
THE BOSTON GLOBE -- 264,105 -- (-18.48%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 263,810 -- (-22.16%)
THE SEATTLE TIMES -- 263,588 -- N/A

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- 251,782 -- (-25.82%)
THE OREGONIAN -- 249,163 -- (-12.06%)
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK -- 246,006 -- (-22.22%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE -- 242,705 -- (-10.05%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES -- 240,147 -- (-10.70%)

Here is Editor & Publisher's list of top 25 Sunday newspapers with their ABC results:

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,400,302 -- (-2.66%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 983,702 -- (-6.76%)
THE WASHINGTON POST -- 822,208 -- (-5.06%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 803,220 -- (-7.13%)
DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) -- 603,671 -- (-10.45%)

DETROIT FREE PRESS -- 560,188 -- (-7.46%)
HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 547,387 -- (-6.30%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 499,140 -- N/A
THE DENVER POST -- 495,485 -- (-9.16%)
STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS -- 477,562 -- (-8.31%)

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 458,992 -- (-0.87%)
THE BOSTON GLOBE -- 418,529 -- (-16.90%)
NEWSDAY -- 413,830 -- (-4.62%)
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- 405,549 -- (-12.75%)
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- 401,427 --(-5.23%)

THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 390,636 -- (-4.97%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 390,520 -- (-19.29%)
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. -- 371,060 -- (-18.57%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES -- 370,050 -- (-5.19%)
THE SEATTLE TIMES -- 359,672 -- (-5.93%)

NEW YORK POST -- 343,361 -- (-11.07%)
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL -- 334,240 -- (-10.97%)
THE BALTIMORE SUN -- 322,491 -- (-8.03%)
THE COLUMBUS (OHIO) DISPATCH -- 316,202 -- (-4.75%)
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE -- 309,571 -- (-9.58%)

And, on the brighter side. Editor & Publisher listed the top 10 gainers by percentage nationwide:

YORK (PA.) DAILY RECORD -- 55,370 -- 16.45%
WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY -- 53,142 -- 14.31%
THE OAKLAND (MICH.) PRESS -- 68,067 -- 7.26%
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL -- 175,841 -- 6.56%
CHATTANOOGA (TENN.) TIMES FREE PRESS -- 69,569 -- 2.18%

OGDEN (UTAH) STANDARD-EXAMINER -- 62,062 -- 1.89%
NEW HAVEN (CONN.) REGISTER -- 70,559 -- 0.79%
MOBILE (ALA.) PRESS-REGISTER -- 92,849 -- 0.75%
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,024,269 -- 0.61%
THE FORUM, FARGO, N.D. -- 50,131 -- 0.39%