KERRANG OVERTAKES NME AGAIN

Back when NME retook its 'biggest selling rock weekly' crown from Kerrang, after a short period at number two, Kerrang's spokesperson suggested this was just the loss of floating metal fans disappearing as the genre became less trendy again.

With the news that the pair have swapped again, EMAP aren't suggesting they've tempted back the fickle floating metalheads, but instead pointing to the powers of cross-promotion. However, it's worth noting that Classic Rock and Metal Hammer both posted strong increases without the need for the launch of any television programmes, so the chances are a good portion of the current market is responding to the joys of girlfriend-free rock rather than the existence of an FM radio station in Birmingham.

Kerrang is now selling just over 80,000 copies an issue, while the NME has slipped back to 74,000-ish.

IPC aren't even prepared to admit there's any sort of circulation battle between the two titles:

The NME publishing director, Paul Cheal, said that the two magazines were not rivals as they had very little crossover in readership or advertising.

And, certainly, Kerrang has shown very little interest in running features on the tenth anniversary of Knebworth or helping Lily Allen's PRise to to fame. We're not saying that like it's a bad thing, either.

Elsewhere in the music magazine market, Q remains the sector leader, but has lost another six per cent of their readership, although the tears at EMAP will be balanced by the growth of Mojo's sale. The Word nudges over 35,000, and freebie The Fly sees a small increase.

Uncut, meanwhile, has tanked somewhat, but they're pointing out that they've had a relaunch which hasn't been factored in there.

The top ten in full:

1: Q 158,271 (-6.1%)
2: Mojo 121,746 (1.0%)
3: The Fly 109,734 (1.5%)
4: Uncut 88,756 (-19.4%)
5: Kerrang! 80,186 (5.3%)
6: New Musical Express 74,206 (-3.4%)
7: Classic Rock 56,037 (12.0%)
8: Metal Hammer 45,359 (3.0%)
9: Mixmag 41,757 (-1.1%)
10: Word 35,142 (1.1%)