Seeking data on the number of observations by star and year

Hello everyone,

Is it possible to obtain data on the number of observations for stars in the VSX catalog, preferably broken down by year?   I'm mainly interested in visual observations of mid to longer-period variables as I recognize that the term "observation" might be ambiguous for very short-period variables observed using photometric methods. I'm seeking this information for two reasons. 

1) I'm interested in the history of the AAVSO and trends in citizen science engagement.  

2) I'm working with some students of mine at Northeastern on a research project to develop an interactive web-based dashboard for exploring the VSX database and for helping users identify variables that are accessible to their available equipment and geolocation.   Recommending under-observed stars and tying in links to active observing campaigns is one of the goals of the dashboard project.   (Once completed we plan to make the dashboard open-source and freely available to variable star enthusiasts.)

Any help would be much appreciated.   I suspect this requires a pretty simple well-formed SQL query.  :-)