> Either one of the lucky 10,000 or one of a smaller number pointing out that he’s not the world’s most popular painter.

Is there anyone else (alive?) today whose art is being enjoyed regularly by more people than this fellow?

You’d have to say “painting”. I’d say the art of Taylor Swift would probably be enjoyed more regularly and wholeheartedly if we’re talking about the entire class of artists. If we’re talking about the entire class of content creators on TikTok, then I don’t have the stats.

The unsung hero that oversees the google "graphic of the day" ?

That { individual | art collective } get the eyeballs but not the name recognition.

Hayao Miyazaki comes to mind.

Think "Studio Ghibli" if you don't know who I mean. And if you don't know that, watch some of his movies.

He has 49 million followers. If he isn't the world's most popular painter, he is extremely close.

He might technically be the most popular painter, but only because he's extremely popular among a narrow demographic. It's like how the most popular youtube channels are the ones with animated children's songs. Sure, they're the most popular but in a diverse population relatively few would have heard about them.

That’s the entire point of the article.

I’d hazard a guess that there are more people who are wearing clothes featuring art by Keith Haring than this guy has followers. But if we’re talking about artists who are alive, then Keith probably doesn’t count. All the best artists are dead.