Sunday Mirror's paid-for circulation overtakes Mail on Sunday

Paid-for circulation of the Sunday Mirror looks to have overtaken the Mail on Sunday for the first time in 14 years, as the Daily Mail & General Trust-owned title lost as many as 150,000 sales last weekend, according to unofficial industry figures. The Sunday Mirror is thought to have had a headline circulation of just under 1.9m copies on Sunday 14 August, down from about 2m the week before . Meanwhile the Mail on Sunday's headline sale slipped to 2m, down about 150,000 sales on the previous Sunday , including bulks and overseas distribution. The MoS's 2m headline circulation includes 109,333 bulks – copies sold to airlines, rail companies, hotels and gyms for a nominal fee and given free to the public. Most national newspaper publishers, including Sunday Mirror-owner Trinity Mirror, have stopped distributing bulks as they do not reflect the paid-for circulation of a title. Stripping out the MoS's bulks figure leaves the tabloid with an underlying sales figure of about 1.89m – just below the Sunday Mirror's 1.9m. The Sunday Mirror has also distributed about 58,000 copies overseas; stripping these out would give the title a UK and Ireland paid-for circulation of 1.84m. The MoS, which distributed about 126,413 copies overseas, would be left with a UK and Ireland paid-for circulation of 1.76m. For advertisers who are targeting UK consumers a key metric is to strip out overseas sales – most offers and adverts are irrelevant to international readers. The MoS passed the circulation of the Sunday Mirror in December 1997 – selling 2,151,510 copies versus 2,102,210 respectively – according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The first officially audited figure for the MoS was in July 1982 at 738,887. During much of the 1980s the Sunday Mirror enjoyed sales of up to 3m. Sales of all five Sunday national tabloids – including the Daily Star Sunday, Sunday Express and People – were boosted significantly following the closure of the News of the World on 10 July. The MoS's decline may not be over as it is yet to return to its full price of £1.50. The tabloid currently costs £1.30 across the UK, except for Scotland where it is £1.50. Trinity Mirror has returned the Sunday Mirror and stablemate the People to their full price in recent weeks . The People is thought to have recorded a roughly stable week-on-week sales figure of about 900,000 for Sunday 14 August. The title was selling about 475,000 copies before the closure of NoW. Richard Desmond's Sunday Express, which was selling about 540,000 copies a week before the NoW's demise, is thought to have seen a slight sales drop of about 10,000 to 15,0000 copies to 670,000. Stablemate the Daily Star Sunday is thought to have stayed steady at about 780,000. The title is well up on the 300,000 copies it was selling before the NoW's closure. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook .