Designing a list component that exposes frequently chosen options

I have a number of requirements to allow the user to select an item from a long list.

Example - country selection from an alphabetical list (where the user location is not relevant) - there are no categories

Some options are much more frequently selected. I would like users to be able to select these quickly and easily.

Currently we are using combo boxes which allows the user to type (and see a filtered list) or scroll through the options. Some of the items have a difficult/unfamiliar spelling so type/filter is not always helpful. Our interim design groups the popular options at the top of the list. We are also considering an option where the popular options are shown alongside the select list - clicking on one of these would populate the list. This allows a one-click / one-tap selection.

I'd like feedback on the second option and suggestions for other patterns which support this task.

Interim solution: https://i.imgsafe.org/3e7abca57d.png // Possible alternative (this is a very rough mockup to illustrate the concept): https://i.imgsafe.org/3e7abf0618.png