I think it was purely because the Spitfire was the dominate aircraft in the Battle of Britain that it became so popular. In fact the hurricane did more work in more areas over a longer period than the Spitfire.
For example, a small extract from an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica :
\\ Hurricanes were credited with shooting down more than 1,500 Luftwaffe aircraft in the critical first year of the war, a total barely exceeded by all other British aircraft combined.//