One of the Grammar Points I'm More Worried About

Has anyone else noticed how rarely superlatives are used in written English these days?

Maybe I'm old, but I remember a time when writers weren't afraid to use phrases like "one of the most well-known," "one of the best," "some of the most respected," and so on.

Now in many articles and posts that I read online, I see a shrinking away from the superlative in favor of the comparative, even when it doesn't make much sense. I see sentences that start, "One of the more well-respected companies in the industry, ProductCorp earned acclaim for..." Or "Some of the better albums released this year..." Aren't the phrases "one of" and "some of" already enough of a hedge against making an overreaching absolute statement?

If I call "Third" by Portishead one of the better albums released in 2008, unless I have in mind a separate list of "best albums of 2008" apart from my list of "better albums," what am I really saying? Maybe I'm just trying to avoid criticism by making (what appears to be) a weaker statement.

It's a kind of knee-jerk, slightly nonsensical aversion to making solid statements. It's one of the more annoying aspects of reading online.