DECLARE @asd VARCHAR(20)SET @asd = 'asdaaaadffa'SELECT Letter, Occurrences = COUNT(*)FROM ( SELECT Letter = SUBSTRING(@asd,n,1) FROM (SELECT TOP(LEN(@asd)) n = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM sys.all_columns) tally) dGROUP BY LetterORDER BY Occurrences DESC