NEW YORK — Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines fell 6.3 per cent in the first half of 2008, an industry group said Monday, as rising gas and food costs led consumers to cut back on non-essential spending.

Most top titles, including best-selling Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine, had sharp declines. Of the top 10 sellers, only People, the entertainment news magazine, and In Style posted gains.

Overall magazine circulation, which includes subscription and newsstand sales, was flat at 349.9 million copies in the period, as paid subscriptions edged higher to 290.2 million copies, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported.

Single-copy magazine sales in the six months ended June 30 fell to 44.1 million copies from 47.1 million a year ago. The survey included 467 titles that reported results in both periods.

Publishers redouble efforts to sign up subscribers during economic slowdowns because they know newsstand sales will ebb, which they need to offset because advertising rates are based on minimum circulation targets.

Newsstand sales are far more lucrative than subscriptions, though, meaning circulation revenue is dropping at most titles.

Like newspapers, magazines have been struggling with declining advertising revenue as readers increasingly go online for news and entertainment. In the second quarter, magazines had 8.2 per cent fewer ad pages, the Publishers Information Bureau reported.

Hearst Corp.'s Cosmopolitan magazine, the top-seller on the country's newsstands, had a 6 per cent decline to 1.75 million copies -- nearly 114,000 fewer magazines. Top 10 sellers In Touch Weekly, US Weekly, Woman's World and O, The Oprah Magazine each posted a double-digit decline in newsstand sales.

People, published by Time Inc., boosted newsstand sales by 5.2 per cent and remained the No. 2 best-selling magazine at kiosks around the country. In Style was also able to increase newsstand sales.