In the United Kingdom, "Popular" peaked at number 10, becoming Madonna's highest-peaking single in the Jackpossible Casino UK since "Celebration" reached number three in 2009 and her 64th top-ten hit across four non-consecutive decades. On June 20, 2024, the song was certified platinum, which became Madonna's first song to achieve this since "4 Minutes" (2008). The debut of "Popular" made Madonna one of few artists to have a Hot 100 entry across five consecutive decades, and the second woman to achieve the feat after Cher. The song gave Madonna her first Hot 100 chart entry in approximately eight years since "Bitch I'm Madonna" (2015), her highest-peaking in 11 years since "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (2012), and her 58th entry overall. On January 26, 2024, after seeing a resurgence in commercial performance, an EP with multiple versions of the single was released. 1, the accompanying soundtrack for the HBO drama series The Idol due for release on June 30, would include a single by himself, Madonna and Playboi Carti, titled "Popular".

The song was later included on the 2024 deluxe edition of the Weeknd's greatest hits album The Highlights (2021). 1, the now scrapped soundtrack album to the Weeknd's HBO television series, The Idol. Mass, general, civil, democratic, collective, communal, societal He was overthrown by a popular uprising. Mass-market, general, easy, simple, plain, amateur, accessible, straightforward, simplified, non-specialist, middlebrow, non-technical, lay person's the sort of popular science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius mass-market academic, intellectual, highbrow Well-liked hated, disliked, unpopular, loathed, despised, detested, unaccepted Democratic – characterized by or advocating or based upon the principles of democracy or social equality; "democratic government"; "a democratic country"; "a democratic scorn for bloated dukes and lords"- George du Maurier

On June 14, 2023, Rolling Stone picked it as one of the best songs of the year so far. Upon release, "Popular" won a poll conducted by Billboard as reader's favorite new music release of the week. "Popular" is a midtempo R&B song, whose lyrics give allusion to the "allure and pitfalls of fame and fortune" referring to a woman who "will do anything to achieve celebrity status". Playboi Carti continued to use this song in a sample in his 2025 album, Music on the track "Evil J0rdan". A snippet of the song was first teased at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where the series premiered on May 22, 2023. "Popular" was certified gold in New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Italy and other music markets.

Liked by most people. Common, general, standard, widespread, prevailing, stock, current, public, conventional, universal, prevalent, ubiquitous the popular misconception that dinosaurs were all lumbering giants common rare, unusual, uncommon, infrequent Well-liked, liked, favoured, celebrated, in, accepted, favourite, famous, approved, in favour, fashionable, in demand, sought-after, fave (informal) This is the most popular game ever devised. Music – an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner Artistic creation, artistic production, art – the creation of beautiful or significant things; "art does not need to be innovative to be good"; "I was never any good at art"; "he said that architecture is the art of wasting space beautifully" Middle English populer, commonly known, from Old French populeir, of the people, from Latin populāris, from populus, the people, of Etruscan origin.