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The Guardian has set a new traffic record with nearly 37 million unique users for December.

Guardian.co.uk remained the most popular UK newspaper website in terms of unique users for the fourth month running, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe).

The Guardian posted 36,980,637 unique users in December - the highest number of unique users in one month for any UK newspaper website ever recorded by the ABCe.

The site's unique user figure rose by 3.32 per cent from November. "December is often a quieter time of year for web usage, but exceptional traffic in the early part of the month ensured Guardian.co.uk finished the year strongly," said Emily Bell, director of digital content at Guardian News and Media.

Copenhagen coverage had helped boost traffic for EnvironmentGuardian.co.uk, she said, with a 15 per cent month on month increase in visits and a 10 per cent increase in average daily unique users. There was also a significant rise in traffic from the US – up 18 per cent since the November recordings.

Mail Online again stayed ahead of Telegraph.co.uk, recording 32,843,958 unique users. Telegraph.co.uk attracted 30,711,261. Some way behind the top three, the Sun recorded nearly 21m. In fifth place, Times Online registered just under 20m. The Mirror Group, with 9,702,760 users for December, was just ahead of Independent.co.uk which recorded 9,347,658 - an increase of 4.71 per cent month on month and 6.81 per cent year on year.

The full figures for the six audited titles and Mirror Group's websites are listed below. The percentage in brackets indicates the month-on-month change compared with the November 2009 ABCe report :

Guardian.co.uk Monthly unique users: 36,980,637 (+3.32 per cent); +61.99 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 1,888,446 (-1.98 per cent) Mail Online Unique users: 32,843,958 (+ 5.1 per cent); + 67.03 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 1,899,272 (-1.98 per cent) Telegraph.co.uk Monthly unique users: 30,711,261 (-0.33 per cent); +45.88 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 1,534,775 (-5.61 per cent) Times Online Unique users:19,854,510 (-5.14 per cent); +3.86 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 1,040,711 (-8.40 per cent) TheSun.co.uk Unique users: 20,907,012 (+3.5 per cent); +10.26 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 1,213,961 (-1.76 per cent) Mirror Group Unique users: 9,702,760 (-8.73 per cent); +82.23 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 448,628 (-10.77 per cent) Independent.co.uk Unique users: 9,347,658 (+4.71 per cent); 82.23 per cent year-on-year

Average daily unique users: 448,628 (-0.46 per cent)

ABCe figures since January:

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Written by
Judith Townend

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