There is a tendency for some to think that because something is popular is a bad forces, eye, that popular must be something that person does not approve, because if you approve entocnes there if the popularity is good.
It is a somewhat cynical way of thinking, since it literally forces others to think like that person, forgetting the precept that everyone has the right to like it.
It's true, SAO is not the best work in the world but, is it bad for being popular? It is a work whose purpose is to entertain, not to be the living concept of the origin of life, it is a work of fiction and as such, if it is popular, it is because something good has attracted people.
Stop thinking that pro is popular is bad, but rather see the market that is aimed and what you want to achieve, if something seeks to be fun, that you hope or dreams, it is just as good that something that gets you a lot of ideas and complex things, something happy is not less than something dramatic, not because something contains deaths would be better than something that does not have them, and not because one is a fantasy about family love and friendship is worse than one that is based on the path of the Hero.
If I mention SAO, it is because I see a marked tendency to use it as an example of what is popular, considering that it really has nothing to do with it, it is a work and it fulfills its purpose which is to entertain, if you do not like it, do not see it, it did not attract me at all and that's not why I go everywhere saying it's bad just because I want to prove a point.