notes on article about NME

NME’s first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express. To begin with, it was published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. It created the first UK Singles Chart on 14 November 1952.
1960's - 200,000 issues per week sold, one of the UK’s biggest sellers.
1970’s- NME was overtaken by Melody Maker as it had failed to keep pace with the development of rock music. In early 1972 the paper was almost ceased by IPC (who bought the paper from Kinn in 1963). Sales were now at 60,000.
1980’s- new direction for the NME proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve Lamacq to give it a stronger identity and sense of direction. Sales were still dropping and NME was yet again threatened with closure. The magazine was being pulled in all sorts of directions.
1990’s- The start of 1990 saw more American bands published in NME, yet British bands were not ignored. Britpop began to fill the musical/cultural void that Nirvana left, and NME covered all of these new bands. Sales began to increase. However, at the end of the year, sales took a dip again.

2000's -  From 21 March 1998 the paper was no longer printed on newsprint, and was converted to glossy covers. Melody Maker and Select were shut down, narrowing down the music magazine market. New photographers and new writers were hired, which proved popular therefore increasing the sales. An Irish version of NME was released, later to be closed down. Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the second half of 2009, the magazine's circulation was 38,486, 47% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442