COVERING THE WINNERS AND LOSERS: Beyond the cover lines and the fashion credits, there’s that celebrated face that can make or break a magazine’s newsstand sales. And if that face is a brunette with a handsome husband and a family the size of a farm team — or wife of an international soccer star — chances are she helped sell the most magazines last year.
A search of numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations found that Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham and Lauren Conrad were among the most salable cover faces for fashion monthly titles in 2008, while Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, and Rachel Weisz were the least. That said, the losers shouldn’t bear the entire burden: Several of the worst-selling issues fell in January, which is typically a soft month for newsstand sales, or around the holidays, when consumers were dealing with more pressing economic concerns.
Though Longoria Parker and Johansson were best sellers for In Style and Cosmopolitan, they fared the poorest for Allure. The duo fell victim to the economic downturn: They appeared on the November and December issues of the beauty title, which both sold 190,000 copies each. Allure’s best seller? Beckham once again — her August cover sold 273,000 copies.
“The Hills” star Conrad was the best seller for Shape, selling 447,969 copies in January, and Jennifer Lopez was the best seller for Self in September (376,000 copies), as the mother of twins was training for her first triathlon. But fewer readers were interested in Renée Zellweger and Kelly Ripa. Zellweger was Self’s worst seller in October, selling 254,000 copies. The November issue of Shape, featuring Ripa, sold 258,200 copies.
Jennifer Lopez in Self Magazine, scans and photo shoot.
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