TOTP Stays Top Of The Pops
A variety of fortunes was experienced by the music magazines which have a circulation of at least 50,000 in the January-June 1998 ABC figures released on Friday. Of the magazines suffering a loss, music/style mag Face (down from comfortably over the 100,000 barrier to under 80,000) and IPC’s revamped NME were the most unfortunate.
Music Mags ABC % Change YoYComparisons Jan-Jun97 – Jan-Jun98
| Title | Jan 97 – Jun 97 | Jan 98 – Jun 98 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Top Of The Pops | 422,127 | 436,488 | 14,361 | 3.4 |
| Smash Hits | 383,422 | 383,191 | -231 | -0.1 |
| Q | 187,862 | 203,865 | 16,003 | 8.5 |
| Sky | 173,617 | 171,101 | -2,516 | -1.5 |
| New Musical Express | 106,792 | 92,367 | -14,425 | -13.5 |
| Mixmag | 86,809 | 81,008 | -5,801 | -6.7 |
| Face | 108,195 | 78,173 | -30,022 | -27.8 |
| Mojo | 65,458 | 75,084 | 9,626 | 14.7 |
| Select | 78,640 | 74,525 | -4,115 | -5.2 |
At the other end of the scale Emap Metro continues to keep Mojo working as it rises yet again (up nearly 15% year on year). In terms of actual circulation Q is ahead, accelerating from 187,362 to 203,865 copies sold. On these terms just behind is Top Of The Pops (a gain of 14,361), which ensures it is the most popular overall again with 436,488 – over 50,000 ahead of its nearest rival Smash Hits.
Overall it certainly appears that the ‘trendy’ magazines (New Musical Express, Select, Face) are suffering a post-Brit Pop headache to the advantage of their rivals.