Isn't it two-fold?

Such as that popular person could've net great social skills which is what gets you far on life versus that quiet kid who didn't get any social skills at all. Also in certain fields like business and law that popular person would excel because they are working in a tight corporate situation where appearance and social skills matter.

It's not black and white.

I actually found the opposite. The 'fake/popular' people in my school rarely spoke to anyone outside their clique of other 'hot' individuals, meaning that they failed to develop the ability to hold a general conversation unless the topics revolved around what they did last saturday night, who they hooked up with etc; meaning their socialisation was actually limited to their clique which shared these same values.

Those who didn't care about popularity and spoke to anyone (which is ironically what "unpopular" people are defined as -- not caring about their social class to actually mix with ANYONE) developed the conversational skills and opportunities to hold better conversation with others -- I actually had deeper conversations with these individuals.

Think about it -- wasn't it really hard to speak to the popular people at your school? Why? Because they developed the mentality that nobody else mattered but their little world of popularity and superficialness. They develop this mentality that nothing else or nobody else is worth the time of day to talk about unless it benefits them. Then they enter the real world, and they are in for a SHOCK when they realise nobody cares about whatever pretentious topics they had to offer to the plate.

Again, I may be generalising, but this is purely anecdotal evidence from the school I went to. The popular kids are literally GONE.

Wow, this is so true
I did have deeper conversations with other more down-to-earth students, and was afraid to approach the popular kids, who are gone now. They didn't even enter the rather prestigious for the state university in our town

all this tea right here

Not really. The people who were popular were so because they were charismatic and talked to many people. We're both generalizing anyway.

My brother was/is popular and was hospitalized for psychiatric assessment and put on anti-depressants this year. I am am very much an introvert and have only had the same 2 best friends for 5 years, and my hair is seriously falling out from stress and anxiety. Point being, every single person is troubled in some way.

I think you're talking about a different type of popular, maybe "well-liked" is a better description as to what you are describing. The type I am referring to is the type where individuals used their looks to shape their high school experience, not the fact they spoke to everyone (I mean, anyone can chat with 'many people' -- but can everyone be defined as 'popular' by the youths aesthetically driven standards?) This involves the stereotypical jocks/queen bee aka regina george who are idolised/talked about from far but hardly approachable -- exactly like portrayed by the movie itself.

being the regina george of my old high school basically yeah, its hard to keep up with everything and its hard to really know who your friends are so you bottle everything in

Adele doesn't seem very troubled. So, no.

The insecure generalisation