Westerns were arguably more dominant in their heyday. Between 1950 and 1965 there were more than 100 western TV series produced... at a time where there was only a few channels.
We still call the music genre “country and western”, with the “western” being movie soundtracks
@charliejaneanders.comYeah I've seen the comparison to westerns brought up a bunch, and it feels very valid. Though I am not sure if westerns ever achieved quite as much cultural dominance as superhero films reached in the first two decades of the 21st century.