The Top 10 U.S. Newspapers

Newspaper circulations have fallen in recent years thanks to stiff online competition and declining advertising revenues. But that doesn’t mean they’re not important – far from it, in fact. Newspapers are still one of the main ways Americans find and consume news across all demographics and age groups.

Here are the top 10 newspapers by circulation in the U.S.:

  • The Wall Street Journal - 1,011,200
    The 130-year-old, New York-based business publication (also known as WSJ) is published by News Corp. and was co-founded by Charles Dow and Edward Jones (yes, that Dow Jones). As of 2019 it had won 37 Pulitzer Prizes for its news content.
  • USA Today - 633,488
    USA Today is owned by Gannett Co. and distributed across the U.S. and internationally in Asia, Canada, Europe and the Pacific Islands. It’s known for combining concise reporting alongside compelling graphics and pop culture features.
  • The New York Times - 487,000
    The New York Times, also known as the NY Times or NYT, was founded in 1851 and is owned by the New York Times Company. Going by the nickname “The Grey Lady”, it’s generally considered the newspaper of record in the U.S. and covers international, national and local news.
  • Los Angeles Times - 477,000
    The Los Angeles Times, typically known as the LA Times, has been published in Southern California since 1881. It’s the largest U.S. newspaper not published on the Eastern seaboard and has won more than 40 Pulitzers. It’s owned by Los Angeles Times Communications LLC.
  • New York Post - 424,242
    The New York Post (also known as the NY Post) was first published all the way back in 1801, making it the oldest of all the newspapers in the top 10. It’s also one of the only tabloid-style papers, along with the New York Daily News, on our list. It’s owned by News Corp.
  • The Washington Post - 293,349
    The Washington Post, also known as WaPo, is owned by Nash Holdings and primarily publishes federal government- or national politics-themed content. It has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes and broke the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s.
  • Star Tribune (Minneapolis) - 261,783
    The Star Tribune is the offspring of a merger of Minnesota’s two biggest newspapers, the Minneapolis Tribune (founded 1867) and Minneapolis Daily Star (1920), in 1982. It has won six Pulitzer Prizes and is owned by the Star Tribune Media Company LLC.
  • Chicago Tribune - 238,103
    The Chicago Tribune (also known as “The Trib”) is owned by Tribune Publishing and was founded in 1847. It’s the most-read daily in the Great Lakes region and has won 25 Pulitzers, and for years billed itself as the “World’s Greatest Newspaper”.
  • Houston Chronicle - 207,334
    Founded in 1901, the Houston Chronicle is owned by Hearst Corp. and is acknowledged as Houston’s newspaper of record. It was founded by a former Houston Post reporter for the kingly sum (back then) of $30.
  • New York Daily News - 200,000
    The New York Daily News, also known as simply Daily News, was founded in 1919 and is the only other tabloid-style paper in the top 10. The Daily News was actually the first-ever tabloid paper in the U.S., peaking in circulation in 1947 with more than 2M papers distributed daily.

Newspaper circulations and rankings are determined by Fullintel’s media intelligence analysts in combination with data supplied by LexisNexis.

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