IME twohanded barbarian twinks are not really superior to twohanded fighter twinks... the additional feats may be the edge here too. Depends on the kind of enemies though. Now, with DR coming earlier, the barbarian may easily be better against many small enemies (who still hit him) than a fighter who enjoys slightly higher AC.
I've see the fighter as more popular, mostly because they have feats to waste so they can get into prestige classes. Strangely, my usual group loves prestige classes.