Tolkien was pretty much a niche read until it blew up from the screen adaptations, and maybe a little from the earlier hobbit adaptation. Fantasy has never had

Tolkien was pretty much a niche read until it blew up from the screen adaptations, and maybe a little from the earlier hobbit adaptation. Fantasy has never had a better time than right now. So it will inevitably decline, I think, but should remain more popular than historically because of video games, etc. Look at baulders gate 3 success. We may have read more, but when our kids, neighbors, nieces, classmates, etc, say they're enjoying it, we'll have a long list of suggestions. If we the nerdiest can't keep the momentum going, that's on us. But if you want to blame anyone else, blame film industry for churning out crap instead of scouring literature for new stories worth telling.