The United Kingdom’s Newspapers have contributed significantly to the country’s history. This article is a curated list that comprises the 10 largest newspapers in the United Kingdom in 2024. It also mentions the average circulation, foundation year, and the owner of the top leading newspapers.
In the United Kingdom, newspapers play a significant part in British history and play a beneficial role in educating citizens about updated information and events. While in the digital age, many people termed newspapers as outdated, the print media still stands as the most reliable source of information.
A recent data survey states that almost 62 per cent of adults read physical newspapers and almost 49.1 million adults read newspapers of different brands in the country. Here’s a closer look at the United Kingdom’s largest newspapers and how they continue to ace among the mediums.
About British Newspapers
Initiated in the 17th century, the British news publication types like posters, ballads, and pamphlets were introduced where they covered both, the news and the rumours. The sales of newspapers in the country rose in the 18th century, and in the 20th century, it reached its peak; however, since after that, the numbers have been constantly declining.
UK Newspapers are categorised into two niches, intellectual newspapers that cover topics related to education, finance, and related and others, commonly termed ‘tabloids’ which comprise news related to entertainment. The United Kingdom’s highest-selling newspaper is The Metro.
List of the top 10 Largest UK Newspapers in 2024
1. Metro
- Average Circulation: 953, 475
- Owned By: DMG Media
Published by The Daily Mail and General Trust (plg), The Metro is known as one of the fastest-growing newspapers in the United Kingdom. With its monthly audience increasing by 15.9 per cent, it has an average total readership of 16 million. A daily newspaper, The Metro is distributed from Monday to Friday; it excludes the public holidays.
2. The Telegraph
- Average Circulation: N/A
- Owned By: Telegraph Media Groups
Founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855, The Daily Telegraph ranks second among the top newspapers in 2024. A data publishing record, published in April 2024, claimed that The Daily Telegraph’s garnered more than 15.9 million readers. While the newspaper had a 1.4 million circulation in the 1980s, it dropped by a substantial 20 per cent in 2018. The Daily Telegraph is a daily newspaper.
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3. Daily Mail
- Average Circulation: 735,857
- Owned By: Daily Mail and General Trust
Founded in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, The Daily Mail, ranks as the second-largest circulated newspaper in 2020. According to the data publishing record, women make up the majority of this newspaper’s readership; it comprises 52-55 per cent of the total readership. Not only the physical newspaper, but The Daily Mail attracts an average visitors of 218 million.
4. Evening Standard
- Average Circulation: 314, 285
- Owned By: Evgeny Lebedev, Daily Mail & General Trust, Justin Byam Shaw, Geordie Greg
Founded in 1827 as The Standard, Evening Standard is a long-established newspaper. Initially, the newspaper promoted a paid circulation. However, the newspaper, in 2009, ended its 180 years of history by becoming a free newspaper that is published on Weekdays.
On May 29, 2024, The Evening Standard was announced as a daily newspaper to the weekly newspaper.
5. Daily Mirror
- Average Circulation: 240,799
- Owned By: Reach Plc
Founded in 1903 by the British company, Reach Plc, Daily Mirror is a national daily tabloid newspaper. In 2016, the leading British newspaper had an average print circulation of 716,923; however, it constantly dropped to 587, 803 the following year. While Daily Mirror is a daily newspaper, Sunday Mirror is its Sunday sister newspaper.
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6. Daily Express
- Average Circulation: 152, 699
- Owned By: Reach plc
Founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, The Daily Express is a national daily British media-market newspaper. Published in London in a tabloid format, in the 1940s, the newspaper went on to become the largest newspaper in the world with an average circulation of 4 million copies. However, in June 2022, the average daily circulation of Daily Express declined to 201,608.
7. Daily Star
- Average Circulation: 132,699
- Owned By: Reach plc
Founded in 1978 as a part of the Express Newspapers, Daily Star sold out its first-night print of 1,40,000; however, its cover price decreased to pass its competitor, The Sun. Published by Rich plc, the Daily Star covers news related to entertainment, celebrities, sports, news/gossip, and soap operas.
8. City A.M.
- Average Circulation: 67,090
- Owned By: THG plc
Founded in 2005, City A.M.’s former editors were Sunday Times and journalist David Parsley. Distributed primarily in London, as of 2023, the business-focused newspaper has an online presence of 1.8 and 2 million subscribers, and a print circulation of 67, 714.
9. Daily Record
- Average Circulation: 52,618
- Owned By: Reach plc
Founded in 1895 as a sister title to the North British Daily Mail, Daily Record is a Scottish national tabloid newspaper which is published from Monday to Saturday with its website being updated hourly.
The Daily Record’s newspaper is based on sports and news primarily serving the Scottish location. As of 2024, Daily Record holds the largest readership among the Scotland publishers.
10. The Guardian
- Average Circulation: 108,687 (As of 2021)
- Owned By: Guardian Media Group
Founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, The Guardian is the United Kingdom’s daily newspaper. Owned by Scott Trust Limited, the sister groups of popular newspapers are The Observers and The Guardian Weekly. Besides its physical newspaper, The Guardian has three prominent news websites, TheGuardian.com, Guardian Australia, Guardian US, and The Guardian New Zealand.
Why Are the Newspaper Industry Declining?
Since the introduction of newspapers in the 17th century, it has served as one of the most important news media. However, following the era of television, the readership steadily declined in 1950, making people shift from print to electronic media swiftly.
The major change came in 1990 when the world was introduced to the internet. While the internet brought varied topics and niches to read from, it made the newspaper dominate the state of news.
Here are some of the significant impacts of the Internet on the newspaper industry,
- In the United Kingdom, one of its leading newspapers, The Independent, 2008, announced major job cuts, and in 2016, the leading newspaper ceased circulation. In 2023, the Department for Media, Sports, and Culture, while announcing a shocking revelation, claimed that almost 300 newspaper titles went off between 2009 and 2019.
- Not only in the United Kingdom, but the United States saw a steady newspaper decline with more than 2200 American local newspapers being closed between 2005 to 2021.
Final Words
Despite the Internet continuously dominating the newspaper industry, these leading UK newspapers are continuing to win reader’s attention. Not only newspapers, but several readers still prefer physical newspapers over E-newspapers. For those newspaper fanatics, we have drafted a whole list of the top 10 UK newspapers mentioned above.
