#and there are haughty powerful characters such as theo or blaise who consider themselves above draco's gang

[slitheringghost]

ES: Was James the only one who had romantic feelings for Lily? JKR: No. [Pause.] She was like Ginny, she was a popular girl. Lupin was very fond of Lily, we'll put it like that, but I wouldn't want anyone to run around thinking that he competed with James for her. She was a popular girl, and that is relevant. But I think you've seen that already. She was a bit of a catch.

Everyone taking JKR's extracanon as canon and collectively claiming Lily as a "popular girl" is one of the things that irritate me, at least in the way fandom usually means it, in particular when it's accompanied by Snape being called her "unpopular weirdo friend".

For one thing, the actual quote is about boys being attracted to her, and in context of the full interview this seems to be an allusion to the Snape backstory which wasn't revealed yet.

And claiming men being attracted to her is some kind of legitimate privilege she has over Snape is truly an incel-lite misogynistic take (and from what we see, said men either publicly harass and blackmail her or call her a slur).

We know she has a gang of friends, which probably includes like 2-3 girls - Snape also has a gang of friends (and his total amount of friends includes Lucius Malfoy, Avery, Mulciber, possibly Evan Rosier and Wilkes, Narcissa Malfoy, and of course Lily - that is considerably more friends than most characters have).

I see Slughorn saying "I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her" as a general "why wouldn't someone like her, she's great" because he likes her type statement rather than confirmation she was universally liked. (of course Slug Club is something Lily presumably has over Snape, though I imagine that wasn't a factor until like 4th or 5th year).

I would say Snape's Worst Memory in fact indicates that Lily wasn't universally liked - that crowd laughs at James's joke at Lily's expense, and given their enthusiasm for Snape being beaten up, they probably do not love her constant intervention there.

Frankly I think Hermione is actually more outgoing and social and popular than Lily is. Hermione dates like 3-4 high status boys, and she genuinely enjoys Slughorn's parties while I see Lily as mostly kinda tolerating them and also evidence of her manipulating Slughorn for information.

Anyways, Lily wasn't a loser by any means, she was well liked and admired, but at the same time judged for being friends with a proto-Death Eater by those that opposed Voldemort.

There are plenty of characters who Have Friends, and aren't like, Popular or Unpopular, they are just kinda chillin' by themselves with their friends in their corner, like, idk Dean and Seamus, and Lily was probably one of those.

Of course, either way popularity doesn't determine whether you'd be violently attacked by teenage Death Eaters, or how some people would refuse to be around you because being associated with Muggleborns is dangerous and can label you a traitor in the war climate.