Well, you say popularity, but I am not even sure if it would be very accurate to describe bitcoin as popular, even if it might be "popular" within some segments of society, and even if it seems to get quite a bit of press in recent times in light of it still being a baby in terms of the level of adoption.
Sure, we have some BIG players who hold a lot of bitcoin, but still overall, I doubt that there is any convincing evidence that bitcoin is experiencing overall adoption levels of greater than 1% of the world's population having exposure to it.. and at the same time, if we consider companies, there are some BIG players talking BIGGEDly about bitcoin, but their ongoing "BiG" talk on the topic does not really seem to reflect in bitcoin's numbers - including but not limited to price... so it seems very questionable in regards to how much actual bitcoin that some of the BIG talkers have.. whether Blackrock and various persons and institutions associated with that and maybe some of the other BIG players who likely do not even have very much exposure to directly owning bitcoin, otherwise it seems that the BTC prices should be reflecting those kinds of acquisition dynamics... so anyhow, my point is to question the use of the term to describe bitcoin as "popular."
I don't know about your end but from my end, Bitcoin is enjoying the greatest popularity ever... it is talk about in schools, markets, and different gatherings within my neighborhood. Social media platforms is no exception to this because Bitcoin have remained consistent as a trending topic in my Twitter day in day out especially as we entered the second half of the year. I can assure you that Bitcoin awareness have gone deeper than you can imagine even among the unbanked population. Lest I forget, Bitcoin dominated the discussion of a Human Resources Manager Town Hall Meeting of the company where I work; they were deliberating on alternative source of income for the staff to augment the salary that they refused to increased amidst daunting economic challenges. I intend to make a thread for this to seek the inputs from other members of the forum as I was given a role to play in this regard.
So, even though it is looking like Bitcoin is popular among the believers, it has made its way into the hearts of many and with time, a lot of people will adopt Bitcoin given the beauty and promises it holds.
Yes, bitcoin has been and is becoming more popular than in previous years. In my country, it is mentioned everywhere as you say, from schools, and offices to every corner of the market. But the problem is people just know about it and discuss it as a high return investment or can make people rich. There are very few people mentioning other features or benefits of bitcoin as a decentralized currency or helping us to control our own assets and get rid of the control of the bank...So to say that bitcoin is gaining in popularity is neither entirely true nor entirely false.