The last issue of the News of the World is thought to have sold all 4.5m copies printed, as members of the public put aside their feelings of animosity over phone hacking to snap up a final souvenir copy of the 168-year-old paper. The unofficial sales figure, which will not be confirmed until the publisher collates consolidates figures later on Monday, is the highest News of the World has managed since at least 1998.
The surge in sales of the last-ever edition, which hit newsstands across the country on Sunday signing off with the headline "Thank you and goodbye", represents about a 70 percent increase over NoW's typical current weekend circulation of 2.66m. In February 1998 the newspaper sold 4,5434,457 copies, according to official figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation. It is understood that News of the World is likely to have sold out the entire run it put out to retailers and newsagents, begging the question over how many sales it might ultimately have managed if it had boosted its run further. There were unconfirmed reports that copies were trading hands for as much as GBP 10 on Sunday. The bumper sales will be a boon for the good causes that NoW has said that it will donate all circulation revenue from the final edition. Of the GBP 1 cover price 26p goes to the retailer and wholesaler, leaving 74p per copy.
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