Kim & Kanye Vogue issue falls below early sales estimates

Anna Wintour’s decision to put Kim Kardashian with Kanye West on the cover of the April issue of Vogue was originally seen as a controversial move for the brand, but one which had huge upside if the ensuing uproar drew new readers to newsstands.

Early estimates were saying the controversy was going to push sales to the 400,000-to-500,000 level, easily outselling the 355,000 copies that Beyoncé sold on newsstands for the March 2013 cover, and also eclipsing the year-ago April cover of Michelle Obama that sold around 269,000.

Now, as the “Kimye” issue goes off sale and real numbers begin to trickle in, it looks like actual sales will fall way below early estimates.

“The trends for Kim K. are definitely better than the prior month with Rihanna, to the tune of 20 percent better,” said Josh Gary, vice president at Mag Net Data, who uses scan data from wholesalers that cover about 98 percent of the market.

“I’d argue that if you peg last year’s Michelle Obama at 269,000, this issue will net out around 250,000,” said Gary.

In the first half of 2013, Vogue sold on average 269,740 copies a month at newsstands, according to the Alliance of Audited Media, and had another 930,446 paid subscriptions.

It also gave away an average of 46,579 free issues, described as “verified copies” by AAM, for a total print circulation of 1,246,765.

Vogue spokeswoman Hildy Kuryk said, “We never comment on sales figures.”