Things tend to be popular because they offend nobody, not because they inspire anybody.
Discussion
Niche music shifts the artistic Overton window and then more-popular musicians adopt a sanitized version for the masses.
You can observe the same thing on here. Some npubs are unpopular, but constantly shift the window and have enough readers to demand a response of some kind. The responses to their notes often get more play than their notes do, but they're effectively driving the conversation through novelty.
That could be mapped. You'd see waves of responses and speech patterns rippling out from their notes.
That would also catch air replies, by the way. You would be able to see the connection through the content of the note.