According to the article, this "record high" is only in the context of the ALA's data, which only goes back 20 years. Ulysses was published a little over a hundred years ago. It would be interesting to see data from earlier periods of history.

It's also worth noting that Ulysses wasn't banned in the sense of being challenged at a local library by a bunch of angry parents in the sense that things happen today. Rather, it was completely blocked from being imported into the US by the federal government. I don't know if that level of ban could or would happen today.