Leading consumer magazines U.S. H2 2021, by circulation

AARP The Magazine was the leading U.S. consumer magazine in the second half of 2021, with a paid and non-paid circulation of 22.89 million. In second place was the AARP Bulletin with 22.57 million. These two magazines had by far the highest circulation of all magazines analyzed by the source, with Costco Connection trailing behind in third place with a circulation of 15.89 million, followed by American Mainstreet with 10.04 million.

Magazine brands and categories

The fastest-growing magazine brand in the United States in 2020 was experiential travel magazine Afar. Largely thanks to an increase in mobile web visitors, the magazine’s average monthly audience climbed by 59 percent year-over-year. Travel was, however, not among the top-performing magazine categories in the United States in 2020, and data showed that just one travel magazine was launched that year. The majority of magazines launched were in the special interest category.

Magazine readership

U.S. magazine readers still prefer print magazines to digital versions. At the same time, the average mobile web audience of magazine brands is growing. In fact, data from December 2020 showed that 40 percent of magazine access in the United States occurred via mobile web, very close to the share of adults reading printed magazines or online versions thereof. The number of magazine readers climbed semi-consistently between 2012 and 2019, although the figure dipped below 225 million in 2020. The source partially attributed this to the drop in pass-along readership during the COVID-19 pandemic, as trends showed that without the outbreak, the number was on track to reach 230 million.