I don’t think there’s a way to avoid that kind of zipf curve when it comes to “mainstream” as it’s rarely the technical merits that makes something mainstream. The network effect is very strong.
It’s usually the force of large, powerful (or early) organizations.
Realistically I’m okay with a single overwhelming popular entity as long as I, as an individual, can choose have my alternative.
There are many alternatives to (ICANN) DNS, but since none have support built into major browsers, they end up being a pain to use, which hampers adoption.
The most successful is probably the Onion network and that's far from mainstream.