React didn't "win" because it’s the best, it won because it became the safe default. Everyone knows it, hiring is easy, and the ecosystem is huge. That’s great for stability but not so great for innovation—lots of teams never even look at lighter options like Svelte or Solid. React still works fine, but we probably lean on it more out of inertia than actual fit.

Silicon Valley never misses an opportunity to hop on a bandwagon.