I'm well aware of the Emotional Support Chicken, though I haven't made one myself.
I think what we're witnessing here is simply another example of power laws[1] in effect. Say you have a set of objects that vary in desirability. Then you have a forum where people can talk about which objects they like. People will end up talking about the objects they like more, which will make them more visible to other people, who then end up also talking about them more. Meanwhile, slightly less desirable objects get talked about slightly less, which means fewer people discover them and talk about them.
Turn the crank on that iterative process many times and what was originally a linear distribution in object popularity will quickly become a huge spike on the few things at the top with a long tail of forgotten stuff.
In this case, Ravely is the center of the knitting world and has incredible impact on the fiber arts community. I'd guess that it's literally where most knitters across the world go to find patterns.
Emotional Support Chicken is currently the 3rd most popular knitting pattern on the site. It got there, I think by being cute and hitting the mental health zeitgeist at just the right time during COVID and then having the power law math work its magic.
Another pattern that hit the zeitgeist at just the right time and rocketed to popularity is the Non Cooperation Brick, released just after Trump was inaugurated.
For those who are curious, the top pattern is YSolda Teague's Musselburge hat. It's extremely common but also sort of generic looking so you probably don't realize how often people make and wear it. It's a good, simple start project, and Teague is a knitting celebrity.
Number two is PetiteKnit's Sophie scarf which is, honestly, not a very good article of clothing, but it is a very good tutorial project on how to knit. I suspect there are thousands of unworn Sophie scarves sitting in closets, having already completed their purpose of turning its owner into a knitter.
If one were to want to absorb knitting culture and be able to come across as "in the know" as quickly as possible, skimming the top patterns page on Ravelry is an excellent shortcut to get there.