That's true. Some people hate Strahd and love Dragon Heist, but if you look at popular opinion, it's usually the other way around.
So we should realize that there is something quantifiable that worked with Strahd and did not work with Dragon Heist - for "most" people, of course.
I do realize that I'm something of an outlier when it comes to liking "Princes of the Apocalypse" and disliking "Storm King's Thunder" (and maybe to a lesser extent "Rime of the Frostmaiden").
But when I look about what I didn't like about Storm King's Thunder (the weak intro, the flying giant tower, etc.), most people don't like that. Even if they can look past that and enjoy the rest of the adventure, they dislike the same stuff I disliked. I just couldn't look past it.
The same is true for Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Even though I liked Tomb of Annihilation a lot, I'm guessing that I disliked the same stuff about it that your one player did - but the rest of it appealed to me enough to overlook what I didn't like.
And when it comes to rankings, it looks a lot like most groups like Strahd and most don't like Heist. Figuring out why will help us all become better designers and DMs.