Is there a way to set popularity as the main option for sorting search results?

If 'popularity' is a field available on item records then yes, otherwise no. ('Best seller' might be available, but I am not sure.) And there is a field in configuration record which lets you choose a field to sort by in type ahead search. https://developers.suitecommerce.com/bridgehead4667039852

@Dakotah.S you could try Best Sellers Extensions to see if that´s what you are looking for: http://suiteapp.com/SuiteCommerce-Best-Sellers?fragment=/SuiteCommerce-Best-Sellers

the best seller extension wasn't available for our SCA implementation when we were on elbrus. It's not a bad project to do, something like: create a custom item field to populate. In a scheduled SuiteScript, create/run a saved search for 'best selling' items and update/populate that field. Set that field up in Sort Fields in your Web Site Setup. That's how I did it and it's been working well

If I had to describe how to do it, that's what I would do

@Flo@Steve Goldberg @MR Thank you all for the info. I am going to try a few things today and will follow up if I run into issues