Even further, I believe SJ is overly biased towards the series, ranks it too high and consistently favors and over-advertises it on top of other series, sort of like shoving it down people's throats or using it as propaganda.
There're some valid reasons for that.
For the ranking, they actually do some kind of a popularity poll, and then they put the series index according to the results. As for way too much advertising... It's one of their crown jewels. So, it only makes sense.
Not to mention...
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Personally, I think the story took a sharp turn ever since the Sabaody arc events. Which then continued to Amazon Lily, Impel Down and finally Marineford, ultimately leading towards the time-skip. I think that was one of the reasons why it started to get even more popular.