Modeller's are as individual as the modeller. There is no one modeller. Best suggestion: try as many as you can until you find one that clicks with you. Start with the free ones like Blender, truSpace (if it can still be found) and Wings. Hex, Silo, are on low end of the price range. Zbrush and Modo are somewhere in the middle. And then there is the Autodesk group where you practically need a second mortage to buy them. However, most have demos. Try the demos.

It isn't a matter of widely used, it's a matter of what works for you.