Metro

Bullock is a People pleaser

People owes a big wet kiss to Sandra Bullock.

The May 10 issue — in which the jilted Oscar-winning actress revealed she was adopting a baby — sold a whopping 2,225,000 newsstand copies, rescuing the top-selling weekly from a somewhat sluggish second quarter.

The surge enabled People to hang on to its crown as the country’s No. 1 weekly on newsstands — by a razor-thin margin of only 32,000 copies.

Overall, People’s newsstand sales averaged 1,289,467 copies a week for the six-month period ended June 30, a 2.3-percent decline from a year earlier. When subscriptions and the verified free circulation were added to the mix, People posted total circulation of 3,553,420, a 1.7 percent drop in the period.

The numbers, which are set to be released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations on Aug. 9, will show that People withstood the challenge from the lower-priced Woman’s World magazine, which surged 6.9 percent in the six-month period to finish at 1,256,519.

That magazine is mainly a newsstand title from Bauer Publications. Its total circulation of 1,366,748 was only slightly larger than its newsstand total. And, of course, at $1.79 a copy, its newsstand revenue doesn’t come close to People’s.

A regular issue of People sells for $3.99, but the mag hikes its price to $4.99 for special issues, such as the Bullock one, which also happened to be its “Most Beautiful People” issue.

The Time Inc. top performer is a lot more concerned with how the world spins in the celebrity-weekly world and, according to the soon-to-be released figures from ABC, it was not a particularly happy half-year for most titles in the category other than In Touch, which broke the story that Sandra Bullock’s husband, Jesse James, was cheating on her.

In Touch obtained steamy photos of James’ tattooed mistress, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee. The issue sold 1,225,000 on newsstands and helped In Touch post a 3.4 percent gain in newsstand sales, to 770,088 copies a week.

It is now breathing down the neck of the No. 2 celeb title, Us Weekly, at least in terms of newsstand sales. Overall, its total circulation was 810,189, according to numbers submitted to ABC.

A year ago, Us Weekly was routinely selling in excess of 1 million copies a week when it cranked out nine consecutive covers chronicling the disintegrating marriage of reality-TV stars Kate and Jon Gosselin.

Its newsstand sales in the first half of 2010 fell 7.8 percent to 778,043. US Weekly’s best-selling cover in the first half, featuring “The Bachelor” Jake Pavelka, logged in at 1,028,145 copies.

Oddly enough, Us Weekly’s verified free circulation fell by 60,000 copies, but its paid circulation surged, with 72,000 new subscribers in the period — a staggering 3,000 new subscribers per week. The price of a subscription was not disclosed.

The combined effort meant Us was able to limp over the 1,950,000 rate base that it promises advertisers it will deliver each week. Total circulation was 1,952,885, basically flat compared with a year earlier.

The US version of the UK’s popular OK! is still struggling as it reaches its five-year anniversary. OK!’s newsstand sales in the first half are going to show a 9.6 decline to 360,180, and a 14 percent drop in total circulation to 695,197. That puts it far below the 800,000 rate base it promises advertisers.

Life & Style, the sister title of In Touch, also missed its 450,000 rate base, done in by a 10.1 percent drop in newsstand circulation to 430,625, and a similar decline in total circulation to 440,009.

Star, which lowered its rate base to 925,000, will post a single-copy decline of 11.7 percent to 530,500, while its total circulation is down 18.3 percent to 946,369. Part of the subscription decline is deliberate, however, as the magazine lets unprofitable and bargain-priced subscriptions drift away because they are no longer needed to prop up the old rate base of 1 million copies.

AD to NY

Architectural Digest will be moving its headquarters to New York City from Los Angeles now that Condé Nast has formally designated Margaret Russell its new editor-in-chief, replacing the venerable Paige Rense. Russell was vice president and editor-in- chief of Elle Décor.

Rense has made her presence felt in New York, but the magazine always had a West Coast sensibility. Architectural Digest has been based in the Los Angeles area since long before Condé Nast purchased it and Bon Appetit from Bud Knapp in 1993.

Rumblings that Rus sell was the new EIC started almost from the moment that Rense an nounced she was retiring after 40 years. No replacement has been named yet at Elle Décor, but Michael Boodro, a former top editor of Martha Stewart Living, will serve as interim editor.

kkelly@nypost.com