That's prolly cos the devs are doing a good job in trying to build an actual cryptocurrency. And some of it is cos of Fluffy having more exposure than before. Tbh, I didn't think much of XMR back in 2014 - 2015 (I wasn't paying attention, yeah, but I was trading in and out of it). But if I've seen or watched a good interview of Fluffy, I might have started hodling then (which I do now).
The first interview I've watched with him on was with DeRose and Unseth at BU. Fluffy owned both of them which was haylarious.
this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UERfcZgdF_Q
Yup. Notice how they goad Fluffy at first. It didn't work and it turned to Fluffy's favor. I think that's when DeRose started paying more close attention to XMR.