So who were the top 5 Most Popular Male Stars of 1928, at least according to Moving Picture World Magazine? You might be very surprised at this list:1. Lon Chaney
2. Tom Mix
3. John Gilbert
4. Harold Lloyd
5. Richard Dix
A brief analysis:
Chaney obviously had a broader demographic of appeal, and bigger fan base than virtually any other Male Star at the time. 
Mix never receives the proper credit today. He was clearly among the biggest Silent Stars of them all! Because He made only Western's He is continuously overlooked by most everybody! It certainly doesn't help that his films are basically nowhere around either. Gilbert one would expect to rate at least this high, if not number 1. In the category of the type of films He was making, some might say Adventure-Romance, or more properly Romance-Adventure, He was a clear cut number one at the time. 
Harold Lloyd, is well Harold Lloyd! His limitless appeal knew no boundaries! But Harold being a died in the wool perfectionist, and a notoriously slow worker, only released one film a year starting in 1925 with THE FRESHMAN, FOR HEAVENS SAKE in 1926, THE KID BOTHER in 1927, and SPEEDY in 1928. So under the circumstances, it's relatively hard to believe that He still rated this highly. Although all of those films were ligitimate Blockbusters, that ran for weeks on end allot of places. 
Richard Dix??? This is certainly the biggest stunner of the bunch to me! I have seen relatively few of this guys Silent films. In all honesty, I would have probably expected this spot to be occupied by Charles Farrell, or Ramon Novarro. 
Dix is OK, but really didn't do much for me. I would love to see SINNERS IN HEAVEN (1924) with Bebe Daniels. I have no idea how many more of Dix Silent's still survive? He was still a big name leading man, and actor though well into the 30's, and even the early 40's.
) and all around good guys. 
). I would say that Charles had more success first thanks to big hits like Seventh Heaven (in ’27) and Street Angel. Of course Gary’s silent career was quite successful too especially beginning in 1928 which was the first year in which he had leading roles in all his films. They both transitioned well to talkies but that’s when Gary’s star began to shine brighter. 
It’s the combination of their looks, abilities, screen persona, and real personalities that make them a couple of my faves (with William Powell being in my top three as well). 
