Distrowatch list is just how many people click the page on Distrowatch. It's not a general metric how many people use it.

Me, I use it.

In fact, his sentiment of "Linux mint for everyone else, MX Linux for me" is my exact philosophy.

I started using it for this shitty old system I was using as an HTPC. Then I tried it on my main system (using the KDE flavor), and I love it. Everything just works. Most stable system I've ever used. And, the MX tools are great. I can change the bootloader settings so easy. I try other distros, and I always wind up missing some small feature from the tools.

I like that I can set my password as [nothing] right from the installer. Why do all the other installers fight you for that? Sure there are ways around it with the command line, but I don't even need them in MX.

It runs on an Intel compute stick about a decade old, and quite well. I use it on a couple of them I have.

Thats about it though.

I use MX Linux because it provides a simple way to use both the NVIDIA 340 drivers and the latest kernels with my 14 year old laptop.

I used MX for a bit. Its actually pretty solid and I liked their Fluxbox setup. Very similar to Mint as it provides quite a solid suite of tried and tested tools and is fairly easy to get started with if you have basic computer experience. It also has non-systemd options for those who are into that. Quite a few reasons for folks to check it out so I am not shocked its towards the top of the list.