A newspaper that has topped the circulation charts for the past four years has continued its reign – but the latest ABC figures revealed decreases across the board at the UK’s regional dailies.

The Irish News, which has recorded the best year-on-year percentage change figures for all but one of the six-monthly audits since 2018, recorded a decrease of 3.3pc for the first half of this year when compared with the same period in 2021.

The Belfast-based News has also recorded the second highest average circulation between January and June this year at 27,096, with only Aberdeen’s Press & Journal charting a higher number at 28,482.

However, the News beat the Press & Journal on the metric of paid single copies at 23,669, compared to the DC Thomson-owned title’s 20,700. The remainder of their respective average circulations are made up from paid subscriptions.

The latest figures see 13 Newsquest dailies across England and Wales back in the list after being audited by ABC for the first time since 2018, although the group’s Scottish titles are still missing.

Flagship title the Northern Echo recorded an average daily sale of 11,321 compared with 19,142 the last time it was audited.

Other big name titles to see significant drop in circulation included the Liverpool Echo, down 16.2pc, Wolverhampton’s Express & Star, down 17.9pc and the Hull Daily Mail, which recorded the biggest percentage decrease, losing just over a fifth of its circulation.

By comparison the Manchester Evening News fared relatively well, posting n 8.2pc decrease, while The Scotsman saw its circulation fall 8.8pc.

A total of 54 daily titles reported for the January to June 2022 period, with some newspapers including Blackpool daily The Gazette and the Edinburgh Evening News now only reporting annually in February.

The full list of regional dailies in order of paid-for circulation decrease is below.