No, popularity is utterly worthless. Argumentum ad populam. Appeal to popularity. Maybe popularity meant something to Kishimoto and his editors, but considering the way Boruto turned out, that just goes to show you fixate too much on what they think is popular.
SS is just awful. You can make an evil character (who has done evil and detestable things) redeem himself through the love another character expresses for him (see the romance between Viconia and the Bhaalspawn in Baldur's Gate II and Baldur's Gate Throne of Bhaal). Many series have done this. The problem is that Naruto does not even try. There is literally NO RHYME or REASON to SS. Chapter 693 confirms this when Kishimoto (correctly) has Sasuke state that Sakura has no reason to love him, only for Kakashi to retort that love does not need a reason. And don't bother retorting with headcanon nonsense like "Sasuke was mentally unhinged" or "Sakura's love for him sprouted from X." That's all fanfiction. If it's not in the manga, it didn't happen. SS is lazy. SS is boring. It's bad writing on parade. Boruto doesn't just fail because fail because Naruto and Hinata got together. It fails because the ending (or rather last third) of the previous series was an unhinged hackneyed mess not even fit for a creative writing contest with participants consisting of 12 year olds) and Boruto is simply a continuation of the unhinged hackneyed mess the gave birth to it in the first place.
I don't give a rat's @ss about which "pairing" is the most popular. I only care about good writing. Naruto MISERABLY failed in that department. But the potential it had not to fall to the depths it ended up falling to makes for good conversation. Also . . .
The solo fuction of the chapter 685 and the ridiculous eye smex was to show Sasuke cares about Sakura...
lol whut? Dude, you're a card carrying pairing goggle SS shipper through and through; you've NEVER supported NS for a single instant. You sound like someone else who got caught doing this exact same routine a few years ago. Drop the act.