1.Has anyone produced a list of contests in order of popularity? Some contests create a virtual pileup all over, while some contests generate barely any interest at all.
Most contest organizers publish statistics showing number of logs submitted.
CQ WW would be at the top of the list:
http://www.cqww.com/stats.htmOf course, other contests are "popular" but a little more geographically or time targeted. One of my favorite contests of all for example is the OK/OM CW contest. State QSO parties are all over the place in terms of popularity/depth/breadth.
There's a certain "critical mass" of activity it takes, for a contest to be self-sustaining and interesting. If rates get too low folks find other things to do on nice weekends :-). By having shorter hours for the more geographically directed contests, along with suggested bandplans of concentrated activity, a contest organizer can avoid "spreading the activity too thin".
2. Does logging software allow for more than one contest to be handled?
With N1MM and N1MM+ it's pretty painless to switch between two simultaneous contests on the fly. On weekends with multiple simultaneous contests/events the CQ or other hints will tell you which contest(s) each CQ'er is interested in. Then switching the contest is easy with N1MM or N1MM+, you just go to "file" and pick out the contest.
Some multi-contest weekends, the organizers have structured the exchange and log format such that multiple QSO parties can interoperate with each other all in the same log and you don't have to switch between logs. Examples are the weekend in May when there's simultaneous Delaware, 7th call area, Indiana, and Northeast QSO parties.