Washington - US newspapers have continued to suffer major losses over the last six months, posting a more than 10-per-cent drop compared to last year, according to industry figures released Monday.

The drops were worse at some newspapers than others: The Wall Street Journal, whose circulation actually increased very slightly, claimed the top spot from USA Today, which was pushed into second place by a massive 17-per-cent drop in its circulation.

In total, average daily circulation tumbled 10.62 per cent to 30.4 million in March-September compared to the same six-month period in 2008, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which compiles figures from 379 dailies. Circulation in the previous six months had fallen 7.09 per cent.

Circulation among the country's 562 Sunday papers fell 7.49 per cent to 40 million over the March-September period.

Newspapers have been hard-hit by the deep US recession over the past year, while more and more consumers are shifting to online news. The downturn has forced serious lay-offs and some newspaper closures.

The New York Times last week said it planned to slash 100 jobs from its newsroom. The prestigious paper is the third largest by daily circulation, but also reported a
7.28-per-cent drop in the last six months.

Rounding out the top five newspapers in the United States is the Los Angeles Times, which saw an 11.05-per-cent drop in circulation, and the Washington Post, which lost 6.4 per cent. (dpa)