You can actually use thread activities on TSR to judge the universities potential students tend to strongly desire to go to by assessing the number of thread pages created on the annual applicants' pages on TSR.
It is on these threads you see the universities with the hihhest activities in regards to applicants chatting about going there, hoping to get offers from, having anxieties waiting for decisions, celebrating getting offers and expressing disheartenment about rejections.
I first saw it done here:
https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/king-s-college-london-in-the-us/2085560/14And I just did the one for 2023 to create this table:
The table shows hardly any fluctuation in the Top 2, Top 7 and Top 11 most popular and desired universities for offers.
Top 2 is obviously Oxbridge
Top 7 adds LSE, UCL, KCL, Durham and Imperial
Top 11 further adds Edinburgh, St Andrews, Warwick and Bristol
It is when one starts going beyond the Top 11 that the fluctuation increases e.g. Bath is not in the Top 20 in 2020 applicants, but gets to Top 10 in 2023; Birmingham did not make it to the Top 20 in 2022 but is a steady 18th in other years.
The likes of Sheffield, QMUL, Lancaster, Strathclyde, Cardiff and Southampton sneak once in a while into the Top 20, but are not regulars.
Beyond the Top 30, the fluctuations exacerbate and the averages dovetail; QMUL, Southampton, Strathclyde, Cardiff, SOAS, Newcastle, Lancaster, Aberdeen, QUB will make up part of the Top 30; the final university of the Top 30 will be a toss up.