NME fails to regain position

Latest ABC figures show that IPC’s NME has failed to regain its position as the biggest selling music weekly despite its revamp and 50th anniversary celebrations. In fact EMAP’s Kerrang!, which overtook NME as the bestselling music weekly last year, increased its lead in the first half of this year with a 9.3% rise in sales to 83,988. Although NME’s readership did rise in the first six months of the year (by 2.3% to 72,057) it still has some way to go to match its rival. Many feel, that despite the changes in format, the title was too late in shifting its music policy towards the ever-popular nu-metal which Kerrang! enthusiastically endorsed from the outset. Metal magazine Metal Hammer also enjoyed strong a circulation rise this year showing the importance of the nu-metal genre the non-dance non-pop music media scene.