Salman Khan beats Akshay Kumar twice in a row to become most-loved star

Salman Khan beat Akshay Kumar twice in a row to emerge as the most-loved star of February 2016. The list, which is based on an Ormax Media survey, hasn't changed a bit since January.

Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and Shahid Kapoor fill up the top ten slots. The Ormax SIL (Stars India Loves) survey helps casting directors pick actors based on their popularity. The survey boasts of a sample size of 3,300 per month across 29 cities.

Salman has been teasing his fans with sneak-peeks of his upcoming film "Sultan," which also stars Anushka Sharma. While this could be a reason why he held on to the numero uno spot for two consecutive months, the superstar's love life is another possible aspect that helped him own the list.

He was spotted holidaying with rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur. The photos of them stepping out of the Dubai International Airport went viral. Long before this happened, he went ahead and promoted the Serbian beauty's show, "The Farm," on Twitter, sparking relationship rumours. Salman, who is known to not care much about what's being written about them, let this gossip slide by too.

Looks like all he cares about right now is the action-drama ("Sultan"), which is sure to bring out the performer in him. The Ali Abbas Zafar directorial is a much-needed detour from the dance-action routine he has been doing lately ("Bajrangi Bhaijaan" was an exception).

"Sultan" is scheduled for an Eid release, and as far as the reports go, it may clash with Shah Rukh Khan's "Raees."