yep, not only on the “really are good” part, but also on the “immensely popular” part. However, we seem to have reached consensus on iPhones and iPads (and the Simpsons).
I’ll add Pizza
Sounds like Joe Queenan: Red Lobster, White Trash, & the Blue Lagoon.
How about money? It’s good and popular.
With Roger Ebert’s passing, it brings up what he considers one of the funniest phrases in movies, in Heist: “Everybody needs money! That’s why they call it money!” which I always misremember as “Everybody loves money! That’s why they call it money!” (which makes more sense to me).
See Everybody needs money for a discussion of Mamet’s words by Ebert.
If anyone thinks money’s not good, send your money to me…
Of the longest running broadway shows, all the ones near the very top of the list that I know anything about are genuinely good, even very good, sometimes great, musicals. The main exceptions are “jukebox musicals”, which I’m a bit snooty about (Mamma Mia and Jersey Boys), and Mary Poppins at #22, which I think is fairly poor.
I think the thread might have been better titled “Immensely popular things that you think really are good”. That might have avoided some arguments.
Is there anybody (who likes burgers) who doesn’t like In-N-Out Burger?
Mid century design is very popular now, what with Mad Men and all, but I think a lot of it is very classic and will be loved for a lot longer than this fad holds.
I came in here to say this exact thing. Well, not exact - I was just going to say “commercial brand ketchup, like Heinz or Rold Gold”. Because it is - that shit that fancy restaurants try to cook up for you is awful cold smashed tomatoes. Just go get the bottle of Heinz, it’s perfect.
Yes, that’s the one, thanks.
I won’t argue with the first two, but I don’t think Macs have ever been “immensely” popular. They’ve always been a rather small portion of the computer market.
My vote - Google search. Google is still the king of search both in popularity and in quality.
But then it’s kind of ridiculous. Plainly, things aren’t immensely popular without a lot of people thinking they are really good*. Harry Potter is really an odd example for the OP as stated, imho. It has had a lot of realistic criticism and when I tried to read one I was really surprised that this was a book lauded as crossing the children/adult barrier.
*except Auto Insurance. Everyone seems to have it, but most people aren’t particularly happy about how it works. 
I vote for pancakes.
Although it’s two years old, here’s a link with the top 50 most “liked” pages on Facebook:
Of these, I’d list Bob Marley and The Beatles among my favorites, and The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park as “really good”.
Oh, they can’t be just any old pancakes. I tried to sneak by heating up frozen pancakes and my efforts were met with cries of outrage since they weren’t f’ing piping hot freshly made Aunt Jemima mix pancakes. Apparently there’s a difference, which is a revelation to me. There was real maple syrup, though!
Almost every major musical act that actually lasted for longer than a few years was really quite good. The Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Prince, U2… they’ve all put out lots of first rate songs.
Flashes in the pan sometimes suck, but I cannot offhand think of anyone who lasted who sucked.
Celine Dion.
But her husband liked it. :o
Burgers (and ground beef generally) are among my most favorite foods on earth, and the In-N-Out passion stumps me completely. The only thing I think is exceptional in any way are the slightly grilled buns. The meat and dressings are “meh” through and through. Add in the politics/religion, and in spite of the fact that live two blocks from one I never eat there. (For actual meat quality, I’ll take Carl’s Jr., especially the Six Dollar varieties, and for overall dressings and flavor experience, I’m partial to Wendy’s. Also like some Jack burgers. Hate Burger King, only eat Mcd’s at breakfast or when I have a weird craving for a “sugar burger”, aka Big Mac. And no burger should ever have ketchup on it. Ever.)
She doesn’t really suck, that’s not fair. She does have a superb instrument at her command, that’s hard to refute. The problem is that everything she does with it, on every level, is hideously cheesy and awful and repellant.
When it comes to video games, I think nearly all the most popular video games are superbly awesome. I also like a lot of lesser-known indie titles, but if a video game is massively popular, it’s usually pretty good. Only exceptions I can think of are the CoD clones that come out every year, and they aren’t bad games, they are just boring at this point.
like a Kinkade painting
I can refute this with one word: Farmville.