Why is Ethereum used for NFTs?

I understand the fact that Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency and that it has incredible potential for further growth as well, but I'm curious about Ethereum's blockchain. One thing that's not so clear to me, is why are most NFTs on Ethereum?

I know that ETH is not the only way to buy NFTs, but why are so many people interested in minting NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain?

We have like dozens of marketplaces, Rarible, OpenSea, and Nifty Gateway are three popular Ethereum-based NFT marketplaces. It's obvious that the high volume of network traffic causes a significant transaction backlog, leading to a substantial increase in transaction fees. Could in that case help L2 solutions, Metis, or something similar?

In such situation, how do you deal with rising gas prices? On a good day, I've heard that you'll pay between $10 and $40 each transaction. I'd think that's a cheap cost for creating an NFT. However, on a typical day, it may cost as much as $100-150 dollars. Is that correct?

I'm aware that people are making NFTs on Ethereum's blockchain because of its highly-secure network, the Ethereum blockchain leads the DeFi market, with the bulk of NFT projects running on it, but why would some average artist (I'm not referring to famous NFT collections) mint their NFT on Ethereum and risk to pay huge amount of money when he/she may do that as well on Solana for example? Is the transaction speed on Ethereum faster?