I'm pretty sure the MSX was the most popular computer here in Brazil back then. Many schools even used it in computer classes for kids, before PC's were the standard.

I only got to know the MSX a couple of years ago, but many of my friends told me they had MSX's, and I can't think of anyone that had any other kind of computer.

We only had MSX 1 though. I'm not aware of MSX 2 being officially sold here.

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n'est ce pas vrai Sinclair etait nº1 en France?

How common were the Thomson computers in France?

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What about other countries?

In ex-USSR the situation was very different from Europe and Japan. In 1980-s there was no such thing as "affordable home computer", maybe BK-0010/BK-0011 that appeared in late 80-s can be classified as such because it was sold in stores.

My first and last personal device in Russia was a soviet programmed calculator MK-61.

Most enthusiasts were either building computers themselves (e.g. RK-86, Mikrosha and Spectrum clones later) or using any computers they can gain access to at schools, universities and various organizations. That's how I got experience with ES-1022 (worked with punched cards), ISKRA-226 (8" floppies), Robotron, DVK, PC-XT, BK-0010, Korvet, Agat, UKNC and - finally - Yamaha MSX and Yamaha MSX2.
Maybe I should also mention countless Famicom or Atari-equipped gaming saloons where you could play on a pay-per-minute basis.

IMHO, almost every pupils in schools either used or had friends that used Yamaha MSX at their schools (but don't ask them about MSX, they won't remember - we called MSX by names Yamaha or "KUVT"=Computational Technics Class/Complex for Studying)

MSX (most of them were MSX2) was considered a much better computer than any other one we knew, so from this perspective I can rate MSX No.1 and BK-0010 No.2

I fogot a quite that a quite common computer i Sweden in the early 80's was the Swedish computer ABC-80 and ABC-800 which is a Z80 based computer. In one commercial for the ABC 80 the manifacturer says: "Who needs to be IBM compatible?" Aparently people thought IBM compability was good and the ABC computers didn't have a future.
There was also another swedish computer called Compis, that also thought IBM compability was nothing to care about. This computer was very popular in schools but didn't have a too long future either.

Here are some pictures of all swedish computers: http://www.hogia.se/pcmuseum/datorer75-84/datorer75-84-sida.htm

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How common were the Thomson computers in France?

They're indeed very common, I own two MO5 and one TO8 and now it's still not hard to find this kind of material. In France, if I'm not wrong, the best selling machines were Thomson, Oric & Amstrad in no known order. Btw, it's funny to see how close were the Thomson graphics to the MSX (same 8x1 color patterns with bigger resolution); but using different VDPs.

tokumaru: I think that it is very true that MSX was the no.1 in Brazil. A brazilian guy (who wasn't an MSX user) told me that the ZX Spectrum was quite popular in Brazil in the early eighties till MSX appeared. Then MSX became the no.1

I believe that in Spain before 1988 MSX and ZX Spectrum were the most sold computers. After 1988 MSX lost a lot of users and MSX computers began to be sold residually in shops while ZX Spectrum +2 and +3 were sold till 1990~1991 (in special packs with some games and a light gun).