^^^interesting. I didn't consider a competition angle.
Rather than using the data as a means of arguing one ship over another, I think such an analysis would be cool just as a way of summarizing previous work in the fandom and potentially informing general trends over time, depending upon the scope.
Personally, I'm not one to get super hyped about particular ships. Good lesbian stories are hard to find. Why invest life energy in ship wars when you could be searching for your next heartwarming and/or educational depiction of a culture so starved of decent representation?
It's good you pointed that out, though. Knowledge is power and power in the wrong hands yields pain rather than progress.