Touki

I'm just going one step further to say that in H!P, having more than average look but no skill in singing, does not guarantee the popularity. Otherwise, you'll see girls like Tanimoto Ami dominating her own group and gaining tremendous popularity.

It is well-known among H!P fans that appearance is not the main factor for becoming an idol, or even more, getting pushed within H!P.

On the contrary, being cute/beautiful/good-looking but without singing ability does not guarantee popularity in H!P (except for Love-rin). Not having good look but being a top vocalist can guarantee the popularity. Proofs are Sakura and Ruru.

I don't think single sales is the worst metric to measure popularity or profits generated by idol groups. However, it is not sufficient to determine the groups' popularities or how much profit they generate. Except for MM, it's hard to tell about other groups.

ANGERME and J=J have more hardcore wotas who are willing to pay for the concerts compared to Tsubaki or OCHA NORMA, but it does not mean they are more popular than Tsubaki or OCHA, and especially J=J. On the contrary, even if Tsubaki or OCHA NORMA has a lot of events or TV shows to attract people's attentions, it does not mean their fans are willing to go to their concert events. We don't know which one generates more profits or which one potentially makes the group more popular (the TV shows/single events or concerts), so it's very difficult to tell.

Also, to tell you this, I predict that most H!P wotas don't like TF or OCHA NORMA because they are very different from traditional H!P groups. On the contrary, most TF or OCHA fans are young people and choose whether to attend their concerts at their wills (they can be fans of multiple idol groups outside of H!P), and I don't think they like groups like MM or J=J because in terms of personality, they're boring. I really appreciate that Eripon wants to change the MM's tradition, but let's see what happens.

One fun fact: All Little Camelia members got selected this year.

Calm down guys! That's why the idea of disliking someone because she is a 48 fan is so unpopular. Only people who cares a lot about MM vs 48's stuff think that it matters.

(Note: The 48's was popular around the time Eripon auditioned, but right now their popularity is meh despite the 500k sales. The 46's has dominated instead.)

This is my unpopular opinion: I don't understand how MM is still the most popular group despite being the most boring compared to other H!P groups.