No, just no... why is nicoMaki so popular? They doch not fit :(
Nico is only irritating^^
Please don't come to a comment section of a NicoMaki doujin to complain about NicoMaki, that's poor taste.
And to answer your question, NicoMaki is so popular because many people think they fit together very well (I'd say mostly because it's tsundere x tsundere), doesn't really matter if you think otherwise. If you showed me one of your ships that I disliked, I could probably think of multiple reasons why they wouldn't work out, but you would disagree with those reasons.
They also had a lot of interaction in season two, and considering the other popular ships, they don't really fit with other characters (Nico's best option based on season 1 would be Nozomi, but her relationship with Eli felt very close to most fans, thus NozoEli became more popular. Maki's best option based on season 1 is either Hanayo or Rin, but we run into the same situation with RinPana and since many people don't like polygamy, Maki had to be left out. Honoka, Kotori, and Umi didn't really interact with either in either season, so NicoMaki is the only ship remaining).
And I will not allow you to insult #1 idol (best girl) like that. En garde!