Hm, the bottom left of the screen indicates the number of records in a view, so to get the total number of records in a table you'd check that number on a view with no filters:

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re: Row numbers

You could try using an autonumber field to help with this?

Its a little more complicated! Basically, I have a bunch of topics and each topic has a link to multiple dates (events). I want to create a chart with the top 5 most popular topics. So basically I can count how many dates are associated with each topic, but If I could get a row number that updates as the top 5 rearrange, that would be great. The autonumber feature is static and would not change as the top 5 topics shifts! 

Ah I see!  If this is purely visual then the row number on the left works after we sort it?

I take it you need an actual field with the number in it so that you can use it somewhere?  If so, I created a marketplace app for that: https://airtable.com/marketplace/blkJYKH72q2NLBLZE/auto-ranker