| Year | Weekday | Sunday | Weekday (estimated) | Sunday (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 41,132,000 | 32,371,000 | ||
| 1945 | 48,384,000 | 39,860,000 | ||
| 1946 | 50,928,000 | 43,665,000 | ||
| 1947 | 51,673,000 | 45,151,000 | ||
| 1948 | 52,285,000 | 46,308,000 | ||
| 1949 | 52,846,000 | 46,399,000 | ||
| 1950 | 53,829,000 | 46,582,000 | ||
| 1951 | 54,018,000 | 46,279,000 | ||
| 1952 | 53,951,000 | 46,210,000 | ||
| 1953 | 54,472,000 | 45,949,000 | ||
| 1954 | 55,072,000 | 46,176,000 | ||
| 1955 | 56,147,000 | 46,448,000 | ||
| 1956 | 57,102,000 | 47,162,000 | ||
| 1957 | 57,805,000 | 47,044,000 | ||
| 1958 | 57,418,000 | 46,955,000 | ||
| 1959 | 58,300,000 | 47,848,000 | ||
| 1960 | 58,882,000 | 47,699,000 | ||
| 1961 | 59,261,000 | 48,216,000 | ||
| 1962 | 59,849,000 | 48,888,000 | ||
| 1963 | 58,905,000 | 46,830,000 | ||
| 1964 | 60,412,000 | 48,383,000 | ||
| 1965 | 60,358,000 | 48,600,000 | ||
| 1966 | 61,397,000 | 49,282,000 | ||
| 1967 | 61,561,000 | 49,224,000 | ||
| 1968 | 62,535,000 | 49,693,000 | ||
| 1969 | 62,060,000 | 49,675,000 | ||
| 1970 | 62,108,000 | 49,217,000 | ||
| 1971 | 62,231,000 | 49,665,000 | ||
| 1972 | 62,510,000 | 50,001,000 | ||
| 1973 | 63,147,000 | 51,717,000 | ||
| 1974 | 61,877,000 | 51,679,000 | ||
| 1975 | 60,655,000 | 51,096,000 | ||
| 1976 | 60,977,000 | 51,565,000 | ||
| 1977 | 61,495,000 | 52,429,000 | ||
| 1978 | 61,990,000 | 53,990,000 | ||
| 1979 | 62,223,000 | 54,380,000 | ||
| 1980 | 62,202,000 | 54,676,000 | ||
| 1981 | 61,431,000 | 55,180,000 | ||
| 1982 | 62,487,000 | 56,261,000 | ||
| 1983 | 62,645,000 | 56,747,000 | ||
| 1984 | 63,340,000 | 57,574,000 | ||
| 1985 | 62,766,000 | 58,826,000 | ||
| 1986 | 62,502,000 | 58,925,000 | ||
| 1987 | 62,826,000 | 60,112,000 | ||
| 1988 | 62,695,000 | 61,474,000 | ||
| 1989 | 62,649,000 | 62,008,000 | ||
| 1990 | 62,328,000 | 62,635,000 | ||
| 1991 | 60,687,000 | 62,068,000 | ||
| 1992 | 60,164,000 | 62,160,000 | ||
| 1993 | 59,812,000 | 62,566,000 | ||
| 1994 | 59,305,000 | 62,295,000 | ||
| 1995 | 58,193,000 | 61,229,000 | ||
| 1996 | 56,983,000 | 60,798,000 | ||
| 1997 | 56,728,000 | 60,486,000 | ||
| 1998 | 56,182,000 | 60,066,000 | ||
| 1999 | 55,979,000 | 59,894,000 | ||
| 2000 | 55,773,000 | 59,421,000 | ||
| 2001 | 55,578,000 | 59,090,000 | ||
| 2002 | 55,186,000 | 58,780,000 | ||
| 2003 | 55,185,000 | 58,495,000 | ||
| 2004 | 54,626,000 | 57,754,000 | ||
| 2005 | 53,345,000 | 55,270,000 | ||
| 2006 | 52,329,000 | 53,179,000 | ||
| 2007 | 50,742,000 | 51,246,000 | ||
| 2008 | 48,597,000 | 49,115,000 | ||
| 2009 | 45,653,000 | 46,164,000 | ||
| 2010 | — | — | ||
| 2011 | 44,421,000 | 48,510,000 | ||
| 2012 | 43,433,000 | 44,821,000 | ||
| 2013 | 40,712,000 | 43,292,000 | ||
| 2014 | 40,420,000 | 42,751,000 | ||
| 2015 | 37,711,860 | 40,955,458 | ||
| 2016 | 34,657,199 | 37,801,888 | ||
| 2017 | 30,948,419 | 33,971,695 | ||
| 2018 | 28,554,137 | 30,817,351 | ||
| 2019 | 25,952,584 | 27,389,866 | ||
| 2020 | 24,299,333 | 25,785,036 |
Note: To determine totals for 2015 onward, researchers analyzed the year-over-year change in total weekday and Sunday circulation using AAM data and applied these percent changes to the previous year’s total. Only those daily U.S. newspapers that report to AAM are included. Affiliated publications are not included in the analysis. Weekday circulation only includes those publications reporting a Monday-Friday average. Comparisons are either between the three-month averages for the period ending Dec. 31 of the given year and the same period of the previous year (2015-2019) or between the six-month period ending Sept. 30 and the three-month period ending Sept. 30 of the previous year (2020).
Source: Editor & Publisher (through 2014); estimate based on Pew Research Center analysis of Alliance for Audited Media data (2015-2020).
