popularity

UK/ˌpɒp.jəˈlæɹ.ɪ.ti/US/ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,872 of 15,258mostly written

Popularity is how well liked something is. Gain popularity, popularity contest, falling popularity.

It measures how many rather than how much — a thing can be enormously popular and loved by nobody in particular. Popularity contest is always dismissive. The Latin behind it means an effort to please the people, which was not originally a compliment either.

Definitions of popularity

1nounpopularityHow well liked something is.B2
“The singer's popularity grew quickly after her song went viral.”

popularity is a measure of liking.

Where it comes from

Latin popularitas means an effort to please the people, from populus, the people.

Latin
popularitas — an effort to please the people
English, today
popularity

From popular + ity, from Latin popularitas (“an effort to please the people”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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popularity in the wild

The popularity of nu metal came to a peak in 2001 with Linkin Park's diamond-selling debut album, Hybrid Theory.
Nu metal
Genres such as metalcore and emo overtook nu metal in popularity.
Nu metal
Perceived popularity is measured by asking people who the most popular or socially important people in their social group are.
Popularity
After the mid-2000s, nu metal's popularity began to decline, with many nu metal bands moving on to other genres.
Alternative metal
Deathcore bands during this time period like Bring Me the Horizon and Through the Eyes of the Dead also were influenced by melodic death metal and achieved popularity.
Melodic death metal

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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