“Popular” was the first single Nada Surf released from their debut album
High/Low.
It reached #11 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song is set in high school and is about kids trying to fit in to a clique system, but the singer is one of the fortunate ones who is popular.
The verses are in spoken word form and were derived from the book
Penny’s Guide To Teen-Age Charm And Popularity
published in 1964.
This is the most popular song with a title containing the word popular of all time.