EXCLUSIVE: Top 30 Newspaper Sites for August -- Most Buck Tradition of Sleepy August

By: Jennifer Saba Two-thirds of the top 30 newspaper Web sites reported year-over-year gains in unique visitors in August, according to data from Nielsen Online.

But the below data should be viewed with caution, Nielsen emphasized. As of June 2009, the measurement firm vastly expanded its panel -- making it eight times larger. As a result, Nielsen warns that year-over-year trending could be affected for some sites and that the below information only should be used directionally.

Below is the custom list of top 30 newspaper Web site for the month of August compared to August 2008, ranked by uniques. Please note that several factors including news events can cause swings in traffic. For a look at August uniques compared to July 2009 uniques go here to Fitz & Jen.

* Please note due to a Nielsen error, the previous version of this story did not include The Seattle Times. It is No. 29 on the list.

(Nielsen Online and E&P share the same parent company.)


NYTimes.com -- 17,183,000 -- (-13%)
washingtonpost.com -- 11,681,000 -- 4%
Wall Street Journal Online -- 10,867,000 -- 42%
USATODAY.com -- 9,787,000 -- (-6%)
LA Times -- 9,245,000 -- 3%

Daily News Online Edition -- 8,573,000 -- 90%
Boston.com -- 4,981,000 -- 11%
New York Post -- 4,843,000 -- 46%
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 4,269,000 -- (-5%)
Chicago Tribune -- 3,910,000 -- (-17%)

Politico -- 3,260,000 -- (-10%)
NJ.com -- 2,894,000 -- 71%
The Houston Chronicle -- 2,838,000 -- 0%
Chicago Sun-Times -- 2,689,000 -- (-19%)
MercuryNews.com -- 2,541,000 -- 63%

Newsday -- 2,511,000 -- (-13%)
MiamiHerald.com -- 2,502,000 -- 89%
Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 2,491,000 -- 6%
DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 2,327,000 -- (-20%)
Philly.com -- 2,314,000 -- 18%

Orlando Sentinel -- 2,191,000 -- 33%
Detroit Free Press -- 2,095,000 -- 14%
The Washington Times -- 2,082,000 -- 76%
tampabay.com -- 1,992,000 -- 50%
Star Tribune -- 1,985,000 - (-23%)

DenverPost.com -- 1,914,000 -- 39%
The News & Observer -- 1,892,000 -- 110%
Azcentral.com -- 1,879,000 -- 2%
Seattle Times --1,842,000 -- (-3%)
Sun-Sentinel -- 1,771,000 -- 6%