SQL count how many times a value appears in multiple columns?

Question

I have two columns in a mysql database that i would like to count how many times a single name appears in both columns. The COUNT function by itself doesn't work for me as it only counts the total in one column.

MySql Columns:

+-----------------+--------------+
| Member1         | Member2      |
+-----------------+--------------+
| John            | Bill         | 
| Bill            | John         |
| Joe             | John         |
| Bill            | Joe          |
| John            | Steve        |
+-----------------+--------------+

Desired output:

+-----------------+--------------+
| Member          |     Total    |
+-----------------+--------------+
| John            | 4            | 
| Bill            | 3            |
| Joe             | 2            |
| Steve           | 1            |
+-----------------+--------------+

Any ideas?? Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use the following which will unpivot your multiple columns of members into a single column using a UNION ALL . Once it is in the single column, then you can apply the aggregate function count :

select member, count(*) Total
from 
(
  select member1 as member
  from yt
  union all
  select member2
  from yt
) d
group by member
order by total desc;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

Answer 2

If a single name appears in 1 columns 2 times and more, above sql result will be wrong. Try it with "distinct" statement in subquery.