PHP 'Count' displaying multiple '1's and not a total value - php

Question

I am calling data from an SQL database in PHP, and I want to be able to count the number of specific values I am pulling from the database, I can pull a specific value, and get say 20 values, when I try to get the 'Count' of these values, it'll display 20 '1's so "11111111111111111111" rather than "20".
I have tried printing it, and entering it into a table, and neither produce the result I want.
My code below:
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');
$conn = new mysqli("xxx.xxx.xxx","title","password","title");
if (!$con){
{exit("Connection Failed: " . $con);}
//Connecting to the (DB) Database
}
<?php
if (isset($_POST['submit'])){
?>
<table>
<tr><td><strong>Count</strong></td></tr>
<?php
$start=$_POST['start'];
$end=$_POST['end'];
$sql="SELECT Data.Items ".
//Selecting the required data from the table
$sql="FROM Data ";
//Selecting FROM the Table(s) required
$reports = $con->query($sql);
while ($report = $reports->fetch_object()){
$result = count ($report->Items);
echo count ($result);
echo "<tr><td>".$report->Items."</td></tr>";
}
?>

Answer 1

Its because you are using the count function inside a loop as you fetch each row. Each row has got 1 item(which is not even an array). You have to use
echo $reports->num_rows;
before the while loop instead.

Answer 2

You need to take an array with values and count how much time each value is there in database:
You can do this by using array_count_values()
$items = [];
while ($report = $reports->fetch_object()){
$items[] = $report->Items;
}
if (! empty($items)) {
$numOccurances = array_count_values($items);
foreach ($numOccurances as $val => $count) {
echo "<tr><td>" . $count . " times </td><td> => ".$val."</td></tr>";
}
}
Sample Output:
4 times => item 1
2 times => item 2
1 times => item 3
1 times => item 5
2 times => item 6