50 bestselling classical authors in France

       In Le Figaro Mohammed Aissaoui lists Le top 50 des auteurs classiques les plus vendus -- the fifty bestselling classical authors in France between January 2004 and January 2012 (with actual sales numbers !).
       The top five are:

1. Guy de Maupassant (3,790,000 copies sold)
2. Molière (3,400,000)
3. Émile Zola (2,900,000)
4. Albert Camus (2,810,000)
5. Victor Hugo (2,710,000)

       I wouldn't have guessed that Maupassant leads the way -- or that, for example, Georges Simenon only ranks 26th (with 990,000 copies sold -- spread out over some 200 books, that's not a great per-book average ...). Impressive, on the otehr hand, that Stefan Zweig sells so well (he's 7th).
       Almost all these authors are also well-established in English, or at least have a few books in print; René Barjavel (33rd) looks to be the major exception; time for a revival ?