How popular was grunge music in the 1990s?

Absolutely. They even beat out Michael Jackson.

--M.D.C.

Up until about 1996 it was huge. Between '92 and '96 it was always on the radio and music video channels. Cobain's death in 94 was the beginning of the end, though, and by 1997 it had been largely replaced in the public consciousness by fake neo-grunge like Creed and Nickelback, Britpop and boy bands.

temple of the Dog

Pop music always predominates. But for rock audiences, grunge was the main force in the early 90's.

The important difference about grunge is that it was a uniquely American genre. The Brits usually dominate rock.

Entirely too much.

I could never figure out, for the life of me, what was the appeal of all that talentless whiny garbage.

Grunge was very popular in the first half of the 90s.

Nirvana were probably the biggest, but not necessarily the most beloved.

Pretty popular until at least the mid-90s. Teen music and teen film and tv shows go hand in hand, so the fade out of grunge had a lot to do with shows like My So-Called Life getting cancelled and movies like The Crow resulting in the death really souring the relationship between grunge and film/tv. And with no outlets like these to feature the music, where would grunge bands get their promotion? Certainly not the internet. This, in conjunction with the rise of the girl/boy band being a huge vehicle for pushing mass teeny bopper merch onto teens - which was antithetical to grunge culture - really killed the genre.