There's no specific required download count for a mod or plugin, it's case by case decision that takes many different factors into account, not only downloads.
that's not what im saying, the suggestion submission page doesn't even give the mod or plugin a chance if its not popular enough, and it doesn't tell us how popular it needs to be, we need a clearly stated standard benchmark to be set for popularity, so that way there is less guess work on the submitter's as to how popular it needs to be to get it considered for approval. in my case, i have the two sister mods of the mod that im trying to suggest on my server, it does the exact same thing as its sister mods, but just to a separate set of items/blocks (its the variant (x) mod set by xanthian) but im unable to submit it because of the low download number, which means im stuck in terms of progression until i can submit it, and i have no idea how long it will take or what i need to aim for