With the exclusive pictures form her fairytale wedding, Kim Karashian has done it again, pushing up People magazine's sales way past its average of of 1.3 million copies. And although People hiked up its price by $1.00 for the special issue, that didn’t stop newsstand buyers from grabbing a copy.
“Many thought that Kim was overexposed and that after images of her wedding dress where revealed on E! news that the People cover wouldn’t do very well,” a magazine insider tells me. “Plus, on top of that we had a hurricane and they increase their cover price. This could have been a disaster but the power of the Kardashians ultimately won again. I would never bet against this family.”
Although Kardashian’s cover will come nowhere near the staggering 2.5 million copies sold when the royal wedding issue hit stands -- the magazine’s biggest single-copy seller since People's 2008 issue featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's twins -- Kardashian’s issue is a home run and looks like it will be their best issue this year.
One person who won't be surprised by Kardashian's mega-selling issue is best friend and star of E! series "The Spin Crowd," Jonathan Cheban: "Paris [Hilton] is so jealous … Kim is now bigger than movie stars,” Cheban told me just nine months ago when, at the time, I may have doubted him.
Although we don’t yet know how many issues Kardashian’s wedding sold in total, we do know its market share was substantially increased. And with its $1 increase in price, the magazine will easily make back the $1.5 million it spent to get the exclusive pictures and add Kardashian to the list of the following celebrities who have come close to the top of People’s best sellers:
– Sandra Bullock's baby cover sold over 2.7 million copies
– Princess Grace's tribute issue after her death in 1982 sold 2.6 million copies.
– The marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, in 1986, 2.5 million copies
– The 1982 birth of Prince William sold 2.5 million copies.
– The wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981 sold 2.5 million copies.
– Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's first daughter, Shiloh moved 2.2 million copies.
But Kardashian has a long way to go be beat the magazine’s top two sellers in its 35-year history: the Sept. 11 issue (4.1 million copies) and the issue covering Princess Diana's death (3 million).