We Judge A Magazine By its Cover
The numbers say it all. 
Vanity Fair has a penchant for dead people. They LOVE to put beautiful but albeit dead Icons on their covers. Weird? Maybe but according to WWD Vanity Fair’s best selling issue featured a wide-eyed Audrey Hepburn on the cover. Hepburn managed (still) to garner enough interest to sell 308,000 copies while a very much alive Taylor Swift only sold 200,000 (shame).
When Vogue stuck everyone’s favourite lady, Beyoncé on the cover she sold 60,000 more copies than Michelle Obama who’s issue also featured an exclusive interview.
Cosmopolitan’s best selling issue was their sexed up Miley cover. It sold over 1 MILLION copies while their worst, Rachel Bilson, still sold over 900,000.
These numbers were shocking to me. I had no idea Cosmo had such a large readership! I guess the fact that it consistently has the words SEX and ORGASM and CLIMAX emblazoned across a scantily clad cover star helps a bunch.
Funnily enough Selena Gomez was InStyles’s worst selling cover star but Taylor’s issue did pretty well.
Nicki Minaj is apparently “newsstand poison” she sucks at selling magazines across the board.
People are still loving Kate Hudson (duh); her Glamour cover was the magazines best seller yet.
Marie Claire hit the jackpot with their Olivia Wilde cover but their Heidi Klum one bombed big time.
Surprisingly (or not depending on who you are) Drew Barrymore was Harpers Bazaar’s best selling cover. Unsurprisingly Jennifer Lopez was their worst.
Obviously, looking at these numbers, it is still the age of celebrity. Not one of these best selling issues featured a model, but then again neither do any of the worst sellers. Perhaps it is because the general public often have strong opinions about celebrities. Take Taylor Swift for example, you either love her or loath her (and a lot love to loath her after the way she reacted to that Tina and Amy skit) Anne Hathaway is the same. Models however – if you are not an avid fashion follower – are just models. People have no opinions of them at all and therefore they are much less likely to get attention on the newsstand.
Personally, while a particular cover star may attract my attention, it’s the articles within the magazine that ultimately influences my decision. I buy the UK editions of Harpers and ELLE religiously because they always have something interesting to say; sometimes I think they are the only ones that remember we know how to read. But then again I have been known to completely dismiss an issue that has someone I don’t like find uninteresting on the cover. You know, people like Anne Hathaway, Taylor Swift, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Nicole Kidman, Rachel McAdams, Naomi Campbell, Candice Swanepoel, Katie Holmes, Jennifer Garner, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Claire Danes, and Amy Adams.. They just don’t do it for me.
Sorry.
.
Lucy Korn
Source: WWD
P.S: Below is my favourite ever Vogue cover, just incase you were wondering.
