Sunday red-tops in the United Kingdom weathered a difficult time for newspapers in August, and saw the biggest growth in a sector seeing overall downturns, Marketing Week reported.

The Sun continued to grow and remained the market leader, rising 1.48 percent to 3.1 million in the six months up to August, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures.

News of the World posted 2.07 percent growth month-on month, but was down 3.18 percent year on year, to 3.19 million.

The Daily Star Sunday was up 3.82 percent, the Sunday Mail was up 2.78 percent and The People was up 1.54 percent month-on-month; however, all three saw year-on-year declines, Marketing Week reported.

Other popular morning newspapers, the Daily Record, Daily Mirror and Daily Star, saw small monthly increases, but fell year-on-year, according to Marketing Week.