Writing likable, memorable songs is about striking a balance between comfortable and interesting. It always irks me when people go from "this chord progression is in a lot of popular songs" to "therefore all you have to do to write a good song is use this chord progression".

The "comfortable" bit is the easy part. Making it interesting is the trick. There are thousands of songs using this same progression that are awful.

That's my main objection to the original post, and similar articles I've seen. It doesn't really tell you anything usable about how to write a good song. At no point as a developing songwriter does looking at a statistical breakdown of chord progression help you take the next step. "It's got the same chords as X, so it'll definitely be good!" is not something you hear good songwriters say.

Edit: To clarify, I think I'm agreeing with the sentiment of your last 2 sentences, as I understand them.

Related:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM - Rob Paravorian on how so many songs have the same chord sequence as Pachelbel's Canon in D