German-language title 20 Minuten, a 30pp full-colour tabloid, has overtaken paid-for paper Blick after posting year-on-year circulation growth of 13% to 782,000.
Blick, which has recently shrunk to the tabloid size, recorded a circulation of 736,000, while the third-placed Tages-Anzeiger had average sales of 573,000.
20 Minuten, launched in December 1999, is published by Norwegian media group Schibsted, and has sister titles in Paris and Madrid.
However, the green-topped Metro, from Swedish freesheet pioneer Metro International, is the world's biggest newspaper with a circulation of around 15 million across 40 editions worldwide.
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