Satirical magazine Private Eye recorded its highest circulation for more than 25 years as it celebrated its 50th anniversary in the second half of 2011, selling an average of nearly 230,000 copies a fortnight during an exceptionally busy period for news.

Private Eye remains the biggest-selling UK news and current affairs magazine but it was a good six months for other news and current affairs titles, with The Week, The Oldie, Prospect and BBC History magazine all up on the first half of 2011 and year on year, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday.

Private Eye averaged 228,112 copies a fortnight in the six months to the end of December, up 10.6% on the previous half year and a 10.1% year-on-year rise.

This is the biggest circulation figure since editor Ian Hislop's first year in charge, when sales was the highest ever in the magazine's 50-year history at 238,332 in December 1986.

Private Eye has benefited from an eventful year in current affairs, with revelations on phone hacking and the financial crisis dominating its coverage. The title also benefited from the publicity surrounding its 50th birthday in October, with a book by Eye staff member Adam Macqueen making the Sunday Times bestseller chart.

Hislop said: "10% growth in a year, I feel like the chancellor – in his dreams."

He added that the recent successes was due to the magazine's journalists and satirists.

"I would like to say it was down to my brilliance but the razzmatazz over the 50th birthday helped and there have been some great issues. The anniversary issue was a great cover. It was a very special year and a lot of our stories came good, whether it was hacking, or PFI or the Hartnett [tax sweetheart deals] story."

Hilsop said that the one positive outcome from the decline in advertising was a boon to sales. "With less space taken up by ads this means you can get more stories, more jokes in the magazine".

The magazine's managing director, Sheila Molnar, said: "It has been an amazing year for the Eye. The publicity that our 50th anniversary generated, the V&A exhibition, publication of The A-Z of Private Eye – The First 50 Years, has had an enormous impact on sales. The first question I am always asked is 'What is the secret of the Eye's success?' Simply, the magazine is entertaining, informative, and very reasonably priced at £1.50."

Elsewhere in the news and current affairs sector, The Week was up a solid 3.9% year on year to 187,536 – a rise of 2.1% compared with the first half of 2011. Monthly magazine Prospect increased its circulation 0.4% period on period and 0.5% year on year to 32,105.

The Oldie, the magazine edited by Private Eye's founder and former editor Richard Ingrams, also did well, adding 6.4% year on year to record a sale 41,008. This was up 1.5% on the previous six-month period to the end of June.

However, things were less positive for rightwing political weekly the Spectator, which recorded a modest 1.1% rise on the period with a 63,543 circulation but was down 9.6% year on year.

The Economist's performance remained static with a circulation of 210,384 for the UK edition, up just 66 copies from the figures for the end of June 2011, a 0.1% year-on-year rise. The continental Europe edition was up 0.3% on the period to 241,726 and flat year on year.

BBC History Magazine's circulation was 72,271 for the period, up 4.1% on the first half of 2011 and 4.2% year on year.

MoneyWeek was up 10.7% year on year to 50,036, a 5.6% period-on-period rise.

Investors Chronicle, from FT Business, slipped 6.1% over the six months to record a circulation of 26,753. The title was down 6.2% year on year.

The leftwing weekly current affairs magazine New Statesman does not submit an ABC figure.

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