=MAX(A1:A20)

=LARGE(IF(MATCH($A$1:$A$20,$A$1:$A$20,0)=ROW($A$1: $A$20)-CELL("Row",$A$1:$A$20)+1,$A$1:$A$20),2)

which is an array formula, it should be committed with Ctrl-Shift-Enter, not
just Enter.
Excel will automatically enclose the formula in braces (curly brackets), do
not try to do this manually.
When editing the formula, it must again be array-entered.

and

=LARGE(IF(MATCH($A$1:$A$20,$A$1:$A$20,0)=ROW($A$1: $A$20)-CELL("Row",$A$1:$A$20)+1,$A$1:$A$20),3)

also an array formula

--
HTH

Bob

(there's no email, no snail mail, but somewhere should be gmail in my addy)

"Eric" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find out the first, second, and
third highest occurrence of number from a list?

There is a sorted list of numbers in ascending order under column A,

3,3,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,5,6,6,6,6,6,7,7,9,9,9,10,10,10,1 0,10,11,11,11,11,11,
12,12,12,12,12,12

Since there is 6 occurrence for 12, and there are 5 occurrence for 3,6,10
Then it should return the 12 in cell B1, and 3 in cell C1, and 6 in cell
D1,
and ignore 10, because I would like to select the 3 numbers only from a
list.
Does anyone have any suggesitons?
Thank in advance for any suggestions
Eric