Old post I know, but wanted to add my two cents.
He was a TV heartthrob at the time and yes he was extremely popular. From what I've heard from a friend of mine who LOVED Smallville and is an avid autograph collector, he's a VERY private person (wouldn't even do Comic-Con, except the year where they forced his hand) and due to the abundance of paparazzi/autograph dealers that hounded him, there were a chunk of years during Smallville's peak in popularity where he refused to sign autographs and blew off fans. My friend had met him numerous times over the years and this was the general consensus in the autograph community. Though, apparently he's gotten much nicer since the show ended.
Ron beep Swanson is the greatest thing that ever happened to television.

I was a teenager then an was soooo in love with him posters and pics everywhere in my room lol

I know he was SUPER popular at the beginning of it. He was everywhere in teen magazines and all the girls had crushes on him. He was definitely a big TEEN tv star. But not big as in everyone in hollywood wanted him, or he was being photographed all the time. Just big for someone on a tv show. Maybe like the dudes off that vampire tv show (I dunno though, I dont watch it).
But it did not last long I think. I think it died down after a couple of seasonsI am not sure how many. My sister who is in her mid twenties still has all those old posters of him on her walls. lol.

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He's said many times how he acted to act, not to be a celebrity. when he left the stage it was personal time with friends and family. i think earlier in his career he probably had to do more appearances because he and the show were unknown.

He hasn't been in much movies because Smallville was very demanding, I remember him saying in an interview he spent most of his life on set and had very few off days. As for his popularity during Smallville's peak, he was never really A-list popular but he had his niche, he's also a very reserved person he tends to avoid the media, rarely doing any interviews which would account for his popularity being so low.

I remember seeing him a lot in magazine when the show first started I think around 2007 he became less popular as did the show