NME, the pop music newspaper that created the first British singles chart in 1952, will be printed for the final time this week as it shifts focus to a digital audience.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The paper - called New Musical Express in full - documented the rise of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 1960s, punk in the 1970s and the Britpop explosion led by Blur and Oasis in the 1990s.
It was relaunched in 2015 as a free publication, achieving a circulation of more than 307,000 copies a week, just beating its previous record sale in 1964.
Time Inc's UK group managing director Paul Cheal said the move to free print had boosted the brand's online audience but it was facing increasing production costs and a tough advertising market.
"Unfortunately we have now reached a point where the free weekly magazine is no longer financially viable," he said.
"It is in the digital space where effort and investment will focus to secure a strong future for this famous brand."
Time Inc said NME's digital brand NME.com, launched 21 years ago, attracted more than three million British unique users and more than 13 million global unique users a month.
"Our global digital audience has almost doubled over the past two years," NME digital director Keith Walker said.
The magazine will continue to publish special issues in print, such as its new paid-for series NME Gold.
Lily Allen and Billy Bragg were among a host of stars paying tribute to the magazine on Twitter.
"When I first started out, my ambitions were to make an album, tour America and be on the cover of the New Musical Express," singer-songwriter Bragg posted, while Allen's tweet simply read "RIP NME".
Australian Associated Press