The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Popularity \Pop`u*lar"i*ty\, n.; pl. Popularities. [L.
   popularitas an effort to please the people: cf. F.
   popularit['e].]
   1. The quality or state of being popular; especially, the
      state of being esteemed by, or of being in favor with, the
      people at large; good will or favor proceeding from the
      people; as, the popularity of a law, statesman, or a book.
      [1913 Webster]

            A popularity which has lasted down to our time.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   2. The quality or state of being adapted or pleasing to
      common, poor, or vulgar people; hence, cheapness;
      inferiority; vulgarity.
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            This gallant laboring to avoid popularity falls into
            a habit of affectation.               --B. Jonson.
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   3. Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the
      favor of the vulgar; claptrap.
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            Popularities, and circumstances which . . . sway the
            ordinary judgment.                    --Bacon.
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   4. The act of courting the favor of the people. [Obs.]
      "Indicted . . . for popularity and ambition." --Holland.
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   5. Public sentiment; general passion. [R.]
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            A little time be allowed for the madness of
            popularity to cease.                  --Bancroft.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

popularity
    n 1: the quality of being widely admired or accepted or sought
         after; "his charm soon won him affection and popularity";
         "the universal popularity of American movies" [ant:
         unpopularity]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

104 Moby Thesaurus words for "popularity":
   Amor, Christian love, Eros, Platonic love, acceptance, acclaim,
   acclamation, admiration, adoration, affection, agape, applause,
   approval, ardency, ardor, attachment, big hand, bodily love,
   bon ton, brotherly love, burst of applause, caritas, celebrity,
   character, charity, cheer, clap, clapping, clapping of hands,
   conjugal love, currency, desire, devotion, eclat, encore, esteem,
   faithful love, fame, famousness, fancy, fashionableness, favor,
   fervor, figure, flame, fondness, free love, free-lovism, glory,
   hand, handclap, handclapping, heart, hero worship, idolatry,
   idolism, idolization, kudos, lasciviousness, libido, like, liking,
   lionization, love, lovemaking, married love, modishness, name,
   notoriety, notoriousness, ovation, passion, physical love, plaudit,
   popular regard, prevalence, publicity, reclame, recognition,
   regard, renown, report, reputation, repute, round of applause,
   sentiment, sex, sexual love, shine, spiritual love, stylishness,
   tender feeling, tender passion, the bubble reputation,
   thunder of applause, trend, trendiness, truelove, uxoriousness,
   vogue, voguishness, weakness, worship, yearning