@Saturn:
Really, I'm pretty sure that if Togashi really does his job and writes HxH regularly then it should be at least equivalent to the popularity of the current big 3, I wonder if that would make it a big 4 or would it replace Bleach for 3rd?
Apparently for a while, Sena (from Eyeshield 21) made it a big 4, in Japan anyway. And I'm planning on reading Eyeshield 21 soon enough, even though it's sports I've heard nothing but good things about it from people whose opinions I greatly respect, so I'm planning on reading that bad boy.
Edit: Yeah, I think it's a testament that HxH's popularity (in Japan) that it still ranks that high even after all the hiatuses. And yeah BBL, we're not the only people who call One Piece, Naruto and Bleach the big three, it's a well known term in the anime/manga fandom.
Some people actually add Fullmetal Alchemist to make it a big four, despite FMA not being in Shonen Jump. Other manga that have been added to the "big four" are Death Note, Fairy Tail and recently Toriko. Honestly now that I look at them Naruto, Bleach and Fairy Tail are actually pretty unique in how popular they are despite how much they suck. (Although Naruto was pretty damn awesome when it started out, but we all know what happened there). The other super popular, relatively recent manga besides One Piece that I mentioned (Eyeshield 21, Hunter x Hunter, Fullmetal Alchemist, Toriko, Death Note) all range from pretty to very awesome. So popular things (in Japan anyway) don't have to suck.
Although I forgot about Shaman King, apparently in Japan that series was actually very popular (and it was shit from what I hear) maybe not on the same level as the other series, but it was still one of Jump's big guns for a time. Sorry if this is off topic and sorry if I mentioned two series that weren't in Jump (they just happen to be ultra-popular, even though only one of them deserves it). I just like to analyze popular manga.
You see there's a difference between popular and really popular. Negima, D. Gray-man and Reborn are all quite popular but they are certainly not on the level of the other series I mentioned (one of those series kicks ass, one is alright and one of them sucks, I'll let you guess which one's which). Once again, sorry I posted so much stuff that wasn't completely relevant.