I posted this in the Stratovarius thread which everyone ignored, so here it is again
Looking what seems to be the modern yardstick for popularity, official band Facebook page;
Blind Guardian - 667,074
Helloween - 1,666,839
Stratovarius - 1,175,862
Edguy - 381,977
Gamma Ray - 246,364
DragonForce - 1,771,057
Avantasia - 534,908
Hammerfall - 793,643
Nightwish - 4,396,729
Sonata Arctica - 1,164,893
So thus the big 4 of power metal are:
1. Nightwish - by a long shot and I very much consider them a PM band.
2. DragonForce
3. Helloween
4. Stratovarius
Which to me at least is surprising, almost shocking