The decline in U.S. newspaper circulation is accelerating as the industry continues to struggle with reader defections to the Internet and tumbling ad revenue.

New figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that average daily circulation dropped 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month span in 2008.

That’s greater than the 7.1 percent decline in the October-March period.

Sunday circulation fell 7.5 percent.

As expected, The Wall Street Journal has surpassed USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the United States.

Newspaper sales have been declining since the early 1990s, but the drop has accelerated in recent years. Circulation revenue has largely held up, though, because of price increases.