Single copy sales for the country's leading magazines declined by 8.43% in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year, while paid subscriptions held steady, dipping by less than 1%. In total, paid and verified circulation was down 1.58%.

The "leading magazines" refer to the 63 titles reporting paid/verified circulation to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in both June 2008 and June 2009. ABC audits most of the magazines in Masthead's annual ranking of Canada's top moneymaking magazines and releases circulation figures in its biannaul reports, known as the Fas-Fax.

Single copy sales—mainly referring to newsstand sales—have been the sore spot for Canada's major titles over the last couple of years; the previous ABC report, published in December, showed single copy sales for the period down 23.63%.

U.S. magazines have been facing similar newsstand challenges, with total single copy sales for ABC-audited American mags down 12.36%, according to the latest Fas-Fax. Subscriptions are similarly flat in the U.S. (521 American titles report to ABC.)

41 magazines saw their single copy numbers drop from January-June 2009, though in a few cases, the "loss" could have more to do with methodology changes at ABC than actual decline in newsstand sales.

Click here for data on the top 45 ABC-audited magazines.