Angel has been named the fan favourite character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, beating titular character Buffy Summers, Spike and Willow Rosenberg to the top spot.

The research, provided by SlotsOnlineCanada, found that fictional character Angel has seen the highest influx of positive Tweets to date, compared to any other main star.

The Twitter sentiment analysis was conducted on Tweets mentioning any of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters, and involved assigning a positivity score to each.

After Angel – Buffy’s on/off love interest – the most popular characters among fans were revealed to be Buffy herself, Spike, Willow and Anya, with Dawn proving the least popular.

The analysis suggests that fans remain heavily invested in Buffy Summers’ love interests after the show aired, with both Angel and Spike featuring in the top three results.

Interestingly, Xander proved the least popular of the trio of vampire slayers, ranking beneath his demon girlfriend Anya and behind librarian-cum-slayer-mentor Giles.

Most popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters, ranked

1 – Angel
2 – Buffy Summers
3 – Spike
4 – Willow Rosenburg
5 – Anya Jenkins
Of the characters analysed, the least popular duo came out as Cordelia Chase and Buffy’s little sister Dawn Summers, with fans showing them the least support online. This is surprising given that Cordelia also played a key role in the Buffy spin-off series, Angel.

The analysis also looked at fan sentiment around potential show reunions, and found that Buffy the Vampire Slayer boasted the most appetite for a reboot, as fans flocked to Tweet their support for the show in celebration of its 24th anniversary this year.