Keep in mind that vas majority of legendary members became legendary before merit was introduced. And back then you only needed activity.
Nowadays its much harder to rank up due to merit requirements, and with good reason tbh
There are so many legendary who ranked up from zero merits. It's like the data has changed. In 2021, when I was a newbie, I was told that many legendary for their rank before the merit system. This is 4 years later, I'm now a legendary member and we are still hearing same statement. If we compare the data of the legendary members before and after the merit system, we could understand better.