En garde, New York Times.

The Guardian is now the second most popular English language newspaper website in terms of desktop traffic, according to comScore.

The British daily logged 42.6 million worldwide desktop uniques in September, up 12.3% from the month before; meanwhile, the Times drew 41.6 million. The data does not count mobile users.

Despite trailing the Mail Online's 55.8 million unique users, Guardian editor in chief Alan Rusbridger felt his publication came out on top.

Guardian (42.5m) overtakes NYT (41.7m) in Sept Comscore - now #1 quality English-language digital newspaper in the world — alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) October 21, 2014

The competition between the two papers has prompted some behind-the-scenes intrigue. The Guardian hired Aron Pilhofer from the Times in May to over see its digital operations, a move that came soon after the firing of then-executive editor Jill Abramson. Abramson had attempted to hire away Janine Gibson, editor in chief of The Guardian in the U.S.

While the numbers sound big, non-English news sites dwarf their Western brethren, with China's Xinhua News Agency logging 90.2 million uniques, followed by China's People's Daily Online at 89.1 million.