Magazines on the newsstand. Picture: Press Gazette
Only 11 UK magazines grew their actively-purchased print sales in 2025, according to the latest data from ABC on the biggest-selling magazines in the UK.
Monthly title Autosport grew its paid-for print circulation by 175% to 13,916. Fashion and lifestyle monthly Harper’s Bazaar grew its paid print circulation by 22% to 30,547 and The Week Junior grew by 9% to just under 40,000 copies per week.
Other print success stories included: The Spectator (up 3% to 55,191) , Homes & Gardens (up 4% to 41,470) and Women’s Health (up 5% to 39,945).
The other 120 magazine titles with actively-purchased print sales recorded by ABC lost circulation, with the average rate of decline running at around 9%.
The biggest fallers were Reach-owned OK! Magazine (22,783) and New! (23,187). The celebrity news weeklies were down 28% and 24% respectively year on year.
TV Choice was the UK’s biggest selling magazine in 2025 selling 850,169 copies per week on average (down 5% year on year). This was followed by What’s On TV on 515,842 and The Economist (with global print sales of 412,421).
Circulation of digital magazine editions have fared better, boosted by all-you-can read subscription bundlers like Apple News+ and Readly. Read Press Gazette’s full round up of digital magazine sales for 2025 here.
Under ABC rules one article read on Apple News+ qualifies as a digital magazine sold. Although Apple News+ is a significant revenue stream for many publishers, the per-edition revenue is tiny compared to direct sold circulation.
Sales of print and digital magazines only tell part of the story of the industry. Many titles have also grown huge audiences via podcasts, Youtube shows, email newsletters and on social media.
More magazine ABCs 2025 coverage:
New subs technology helps Spectator reach 198-year sales high
Women’s interest magazine sales 2025: Harper’s Bazaar grows in print and digital
All you can read sales and auditing changes boost digital mag ABC figures
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