FAS-FAX Circulation Report: Top 25 Papers All Suffering

The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) released its report for the six months ending September 2009 and the numbers aren’t good. 15 of the country’s top 25 papers by size reported double-digit percentage drops in circulation; the San Francisco Chronicle’s circulation fell by more than a fourth. The Wall Street Journal was the only paper to increase circulation—and it topped USA Today as the nation’s most widely-circulated paper earlier this quarter.

Editor and Publisher has ranked the top 25 papers by circulation size, but we thought it’d be more useful to rank them by decline. After the jump, see the numbers.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — 2,024,269 — 0.61%
NEWSDAY — 357,124 — (-5.40%)
STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS — 304,543 — (-5.53%)
THE WASHINGTON POST — 582,844 — (-6.40%)
THE NEW YORK TIMES — 927,851 — (-7.28%)
DETROIT FREE PRESS (e) — 269,729 — (-9.56%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — 465,892 — (-9.72%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE — 242,705 — (-10.05%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES — 240,147 — (-10.70%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES — 657,467 — (-11.05%)
The PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND — 271,180 — (-11.24%)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES — 275,641 — (-11.98%)
THE OREGONIAN — 249,163 — (-12.06%)
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC — 316,874 — (-12.30%)
DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) — 544,167 — (-13.98%)
HOUSTON CHRONICLE — 384,419 — (-14.24%)
USA TODAY — 1,900,116 — (-17.15%)
THE BOSTON GLOBE — 264,105 — (-18.48%)
NEW YORK POST — 508,042 — (-18.77%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS — 263,810 — (-22.16%)
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK — 246,006 — (-22.22%)
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — 251,782 — (-25.82%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER — 361,480 — N/A
THE DENVER POST — 340,949 — N/A
THE SEATTLE TIMES — 263,588 — N/A

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