1. Yomiuri Shimbun
This is Japan's leading daily, with a staggering circulation of 14.407
million. The Japanese read a lot of newspapers, so many in fact that if
we weren't limiting each country to one daily paper then, according to
Zenith Media's World Press Trends 2001, Japan would have six titles in
the top ten.
2. Bild
The Germans are up there with the world's most news-hungry populations.
In Europe, the UK and Germany are pretty much level-pegging with about
four dailies sold for every ten people. As in the UK, the most popular
title is a tabloid, circulating 4.39 million copies.
3. The Sun
Here it comes. The UK's Murdoch-owned tabloid success story. Currently
selling 3.5 million copies a day, it says a lot for the UK's fun-loving
citizens that this is the premier paper of choice. But you can't argue
with the statistics.
4. The People's Daily
How can China's biggest paper, published by the media arm of the
communist party, come in at only fourth place when there are more than
1.2 billion Chinese? A whopping 19 billion dailies are sold each year,
but 650 dailies share the sales, with The People's Daily selling 2.5
million copies.
5. Chosun Ilbo
A circulation of 2.478 million among South Korea's 47 million people is
an impressive figure for a quality broadsheet. But, despite his
achievements, its head honcho, Bang Sang Hoon, has not avoided arrest
for tax evasion.
6. The Wall Street Journal
The internationally respected paper is also the biggest daily in the US.
But ad revenues of $48.7 billion estimated in 2000 have been hit
for a six this year and the WSJ is fighting for money alongside the
1,500 or so other US dailies.
7. The Times of India
Given that less than one person in 20 buys a daily paper in India, a
circulation of 1.687 million looks a bit more chipper, even though there
are 686 million inhabitants.
8=. Liberty Times, China Times, United Daily News
Taiwan's threesome dominates, accounting for almost 70 per cent of
market share (1.2 million copies each).Since the liberalisation of
Taiwan's newspaper industry in 1999, they've needed to compete with more
sex and gossip.
8=. Thai Roth
Thai Roth has a circulation that is head and shoulders above its rivals
(1.2 million copies), a particularly good position given that Thailand
is one of the fastest-growing markets for dailies, with a 25 per cent
increase in ad revenue between 1999 and 2000.
10. Jang
At number ten, with a circulation of 850,000, Pakistan's leading daily
has recently been in the international news itself, after a reporter
received a "press release" in an envelope containing anthrax spores.
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