unsure how to word this mysql question

I have a table in mysql in which a field is constantly being filled with one of a thousand options.  I'm looking to find out how I can grab the 20 most recent rows for each unique option filling that field.

My other question is how realistic is queing up this much data if the field options were to reach a number of say 50-100 thousand options that I'm pulling the most recent 20 rows for each in terms of time it'll take to retrieve all the data.  Is the database going to be fast enough or should I not bother with this feature?

As always thank you very much for any help!

SELECT option, COUNT(id) AS c FROM table GROUP BY option ORDER BY c LIMIT 20

not tested

SELECT option, COUNT(id) AS c FROM table GROUP BY option ORDER BY c LIMIT 20

not tested

Ill give it a try thanks!  Is it safe to assume that handling that much data will be possible in a real time page load?

Works wonderfully! Thank you!

Unfortunately I forgot about another field I need figured in... I can get what I need done with more lines but if possible to use a single query I'd prefer to; so is there a way to get the syntax right when doing something along the lines of:

SELECT (option where x = y or option 2 where x = z), COUNT(id) AS c FROM table GROUP BY c ORDER BY c LIMIT 20

Thanks!

You mean like this?

SELECT COUNT(id) AS c FROM table where x=y or x=z GROUP BY c ORDER BY c LIMIT 20