How did Nickelback gain a large fan base despite criticism of their music?

—

Nickleback are awesome! My new favourite band! I just got their fourth album. It totally rocks!

I think it went something like this.

Why did Cartman love Heidi purely with heart, her being the first one he ever did, but then one day Butters tells him that all women are manipulative and then he began to believe that she was a bad person and pretended to be a victim?

Dude, you heard that new single by that band, Nickleback? It’s awesome! Holy crap! That song is everywhere! It’s so cool!

(It sounds a bit too much like they took what made them popular from the previous album and just did more of that.)

(Nickleback sucks! They’re the worst band ever! I can’t stand them. Why do so many people like them? So unoriginal!)

Fujifilm's X-E5, New Bose Speakers, and Qualcomm's Smart Glasses Chip—Your Gear News of the Week - WIRED

Here’s my ranking of Nickleback’s discography. They don’t have a bad album at all. But some are better than others. In last place is their most recent album. I felt it was very uninspired. This track is the best one and that track is pretty good. But the rest of the album doesn’t do much for me…

Hey, have you heard of this new band, Nickleback? Their first album is pretty cool.

(Yeah, it was great at first. But I have heard it a bit too much.)

Andy Bogard's Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves gameplay trailer revealed, releases June 24 - EventHubs

(Nickleback? They suck. Who cares…)

Yay! Nickleback!

Nickleback! Nickleback!

How can a native English speaker say "it was nice talking to you" in French without using that exact phrase?

Hey, man, that band I told you about, Nickleback? The dropped their sophomore. It’s really good. Check it out.

(It really bugs me that such a boring, unoriginal band gets so much attention when there are loads of other way more interesting bands out there.)

(Wow! What’s with this band? So many people are going nuts for them? What’s so special about them? They had a decent song or two. But there’s no originality now. They’re just wearing themselves out chasing their own tail.)

Republicans, why do you support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump?

Something like that. Millions of people love them. Millions claim to hate them. The most honest criticism of the music is that it sounds like it’s being written deliberately for a particular market. I haven’t heard anything since around 2002 or so, so I can’t say for myself. They don’t suck as in bad musicians or bad song writers. They just sell millions of albums while other excellent bands struggle. That’s what the real problem is, I think.