The 15 Most Popular UK Newspaper Front Pages Of 2014

The BBC's Nick Sutton and Neil Henderson tweet the front pages of all of the next day's British newspapers. Here's the most retweeted newspaper front pages from their accounts this year, along with a few of their favourites.

15. The Times, 30 May

The Times / Twitter: @hendopolis

Total retweets: 241

Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death in Sudan for marrying a Christian man, despite being eight and a half months pregnant. The Times started a campaign on the issue and she was released from jail the following month.

14. The Independent on Sunday, 6 July

The Independent on Sunday / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 247

The Sindy reported that Tory peer Leon Brittan had been questioned by police over a rape allegation. The image is from the first stage of the Tour de France in Yorkshire.

13. The Independent on Sunday, 11 May

The Independent on Sunday / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 249

The Sindy accused Michael Gove of redirecting funds from classroom funding to free schools. Two months later he was removed from his post as education secretary and replaced by Nicky Morgan.

12. Daily Mirror, 30 June

Daily Mirror / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 251

The Daily Mirror broke the story about the New Era Estate in east London, which had been bought by a consortium and whose tenants were facing a substantial increase in the price of their rent. After a backlash, the firm pulled out of the property deal.

11. Daily Star, 3 October

Daily Star / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 269

The Daily Star "exclusively" reported on black-eyed ghost children, a story which resulted in a lot of social media reaction and articles questioning its reliability.

10. The Sun, 23 January

The Sun / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 276

In January the footballer Stan Collymore accused Twitter of not doing enough to stop him receiving racist abuse on the social network. The Sun reported that his ex, Ulrika Johnson, had accused him of being a hypocrite.

9. The Daily Telegraph, 23 June

The Daily Telegraph / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 337

An undercover report by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4 accused the president of Ghana's Football Association of agreeing for the Ghana team to play in international matches that others would be prepared to rig.

8. Daily Star, 27 June

Daily Star / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 388

The Daily Star reported that approximately 70 million mutant rats could grow to the size of cows. This was in a season of news stories which included speculation that a ship containing mutant rats was apparently heading to Britain.

7. Sunday Herald, 14 September

Sunday Herald / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 430

The Sunday Herald reported that the UK Treasury allegedly leaked information about the Royal Bank of Scotland moving to England if Scotland became an independent country before the bank announced its contingency plans.

6. The Sunday Times, 7 September

The Sunday Times / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 449

The Sunday Times poll which found that the Scottish independence Yes campaign was ahead of the No campaign for the first time just weeks before the referendum caused alarm. The pro-union campaign ended up winning 55% of the vote.

5. Daily Mirror, 6 April

Daily Mirror / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 512

The Daily Mirror reported that 330,000 food parcels had been given out to children and that the number of food parcels been given out by Trussell Trust had tripled.

4. The Guardian, 17 March

The Guardian / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 553

The Guardian reported an Oxfam study which found that "the poorest 20% in the UK had wealth totalling £28.1bn" while "the latest rich list from Forbes magazine showed that the five top UK entries ... had property, savings, and other assets worth £28.2bn".

3. Daily Mirror, 5 May

Daily Mirror / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 571

As of now, Stephen Sutton has raised more than £4.5 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust, despite suffering from incurable cancer. He died aged 19 in May and has since been awarded a posthumous MBE.

2. The Independent on Sunday, 4 October

The Independent on Sunday / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 596

After a video apparently showing the beheading of humanitarian aid worker Alan Henning was released, the Independent on Sunday went with this front page.

1. The Guardian, 11 July

The Guardian / Twitter: @suttonnick

Total retweets: 1954

This was The Guardian's front page after the UN condemned an attack on a school in Gaza that killed 15 people, mostly women and children.

Here are the three most retweeted sport back pages from 2014, starting with a 3–0 Chelsea win against Tottenham.

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Thursday's Telegraph Sport front page: Invincibles #CFCvTHFC #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers

Wed Dec 03 22:30:11 UTC+0000 2014

The second most retweeted sport story was the sacking of manager David Moyes from Manchester United.

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Tuesday's Telegraph Sport front page - "Moyes: The End" #mufc #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers

Mon Apr 21 21:09:53 UTC+0000 2014

And the most retweeted sport story of the year was the £37 million transfer to Manchester United of Juan Mata.

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Tuesday’s Telegraph Sport front page – “Exclusive - United close in on £37m Mata” #tomorrowspaperstoday #mufc #cfc

Mon Jan 20 22:31:38 UTC+0000 2014

Sutton and Henderson are usually the first to spot unusual or powerful front pages. Here are some of their favourites.

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

What a shame. The Telegraph has updated its front page after that unfortunate picture/headline combo in first edition

Thu Aug 07 23:15:23 UTC+0000 2014

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Is this a breakthrough moment? Times, Telegraph and Independent have @englandrugby women on front pages. #WRWC2014

09:50 PM - 17 Aug 2014

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Interesting to see which papers feature #TonyBenn on the front page (and which don't). #tomorrowspaperstoday

11:21 PM - 14 Mar 2014

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

Here's a flavour of some of the #indyref newspaper front pages #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers

10:13 PM - 17 Sep 2014

And of course...

Nick Sutton @suttonnick

The Daily Star has led three times this week on the black eye ghost child issue. I wonder why? #tomorrowspaperstoday

Thu Oct 02 22:27:25 UTC+0000 2014

You can follow Nick Sutton at @suttonnick and Neil Henderson at @hendopolis.