This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Media
Some music mags saw circulations rise in 2016, according to latest ABCs
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 14 February 2017
Assuming you have now had chance to fully digest and dissect and consider and clarify and review and respect and ponder and process and murmur and manage and file and forget last week’s official radio listening figures from RAJAR, the latest stats also slipped out last week for those mediums of organised content that old-timers call magazines.
Yep, we’re talking about the latest numbers from the Audit Bureau Of Circulation, which keeps tabs on how many copies different magazines are selling. Not all music mags bother the ABC to verify their print runs, though most of the key titles do, and plenty appear in the latest stats pack, focused on the latter half of 2016.
As is the norm, most print music titles continued to see their circulations slip through last year. From biggest to smallest, Mojo was down 4.2% year-on-year to an average of 67,518 copies sold per edition; Classic Rock was down 9.2% to 46,517; Uncut was down 9.7% to 43,235; Q was down 9.2% to 40,003; BBC Music Magazine was down 1.7% to 35,734; We Love Pop was down 4.4% to 32,055; Metal Hammer was down 2.9% to 20,353; and Kerrang! was down 23.7% to 18,462.
But there was some also bad news for fans of doom and gloom, as some titles increased their circulation during the year. NME likes the ABC figures now it’s a free title, with its weekly run rising 0.6% to 308,938 last year. Top Of The Pops magazine was also up 15.1% year-on-year to 50,218, while classical title Gramophone was up 10.1% to 23,162. And Rock Sound was up 1% last year to 14,057, which the independent title’s publisher keen to point out that the rock mag has now seen increases in four consecutive sets of ABC figures.
Owner and publisher Patrick Napier said last week: “I’m delighted to be able to record another increase despite a tough environment thanks to some blockbuster issues and the opening up of new sales channels. We’re fortunate to serve a truly passionate audience and the future is exciting as we grow our brand and develop new ways of reaching an increasingly global market”.
