I don't have any idea what the classical top of the pops looks like. I assume you are talking about classical music in general, not just the music written during what is called the classical age in music (appr 1750 to 1820).

If you are indeed talking about classical music in general, as distinct from popular music, the theory about "brimming with talent" sounds very likely.

I would suspect most buyers of classical music like melody and/or rich orchestration (I sure do, and I've bought a fair amount of classical, and continue to buy more)-- (among many other types of music).

Anyway, there's a really long list of Germanic composers who fit the above desired characteristics. The list includes Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Handel (German speaking), Mendelssohn, Schubert, Haydn, Schumann, Mahler, and Wagner, among others.

Obviously, in Russia, Tschaikovsky, Moussourksky (sp) (esp Pictures At An Exhibition (with Ravel's orchestration), and Rimsky- Korsakov-- (esp Scheherazade and Russian Easter Overture) also fit for either melody or orchestration, or both. And in Italy you have Vivaldi and Correlli and then later, in opera, Verdi and Puccini. In France, there's Lully and Couperin, then later Debussy and Ravel. But as you can see, the lists are much shorter than for Germanic composers. In Britain, there were wonderful composers in the 16th century, especially Tallis and Byrd--though both wrote mainly for voice. Then there are great ones in the 20th century--but melody starts to become a missing element. I'm sure there are others in all these countries--and they're represented in the classical top sellers--as is Gershwin, for the US, --those are just the ones that spring to mind,---- but still not as many as for Germanic countries.

So with the Germanic composers, you have a much greater variety of music,since each composer has his own style, as well as just a greater volume of wonderful music. In fact I would guess that Mozart by himself has a good share of the top-selling classical pieces--especially since he excelled in so many fields---symphony, choral, opera, and chamber works--there are just fantastic Mozart pieces in virtually every area of music.

Just my own perspective-- I'd be curious about anybody else's views.