A newsstand hit: Hello! earned about $3.4 million from single copy sales in 2007.

Two new magazines have cracked Masthead’s annual list of the Top 50 revenue-generating magazines in Canada. Hello! Canada, the Rogers Publishing Ltd.,-owned celebrity weekly, debuted at number 29, with annual revenues around $8.4 million in 2007. More, Transcontinental Media’s book for women over 40, took the 48th spot, with earnings around $4.1 million (a slightly deceiving number, since only five issues were published in 2007, compared to the eight scheduled this year). The full list, along with in-depth analysis of key titles and categories, appears in the May/June edition of Masthead, mailing to subscribers next week.

Chatelaine topped the list for the seventh year in a row. The 80-year-old, Rogers-owned women’s mag had estimated annual earnings of $59.2 million in 2007, for a 5.1% increase over the previous year. There was only one change to the top ten, with Coup De Pouce ($17.1 million) overtaking 7 Jours ($16.1 million) for the ninth position. Here’s what the top ten looks like for 2007:

1.    Chatelaine ($59.2 million)
2.    Canadian Living ($50.1 million)
3.    Reader’s Digest ($39.2 million)
4.    Maclean’s ($37 million)
5.    Canadian House & Home ($23.5 million)
6.    Time ($21 million)
7.    Flare ($19 million)
8.    Châtelaine ($18.1 million)
9.    Coupe De Pouce ($17.1 million)
10.  7 Jours ($16.1 million)

The biggest gainer last year was Transcon’s Good Times, a title aimed at retired folks, where reveues grew by 30.3%. This partly reflects budding interest from an advertising community that's increasingly keen to reach people over 50. As Sunni Boot, president of media buying agency ZenithOptimedia, puts it, “70 is the new 50 and 50 is the new 30."

THE TOP 50 BY NUMBERS

# of Transcontinental-owned titles: 13
# of Rogers-owned titles: 12
# of St. Joseph Media-owned titles: 4
# of TVA Publications-owned titles: 4
# of titles read primarily by women: 37
# of titles based in Toronto: 32
# of titles based in Montreal: 16
# of titles based in Ottawa: 1
# of titles based in Vancouver: 1
# of controlled circulation titles: 9
# of titles where circ revenue exceeds ad revenue: 5
# of titles new to the Top 50: 2 (Hello!, More)
# of titles dropped from last year’s list: 3 (Inside Entertainment, Vice, TV Guide)
Biggest gain vs. 2006: 30.3% (Good Times)
Biggest decline vs. 2006: -31.7% (Tribute)
Biggest gain vs. 2003: 78.9% (enRoute)
Biggest decline vs. 2003: 59.5% (Starweek)

 Related links:

• Masthead Top 50 for 2006 in PDF format (Subscribers Only)