Glen;

I looked at the NEIC database from 1973-2006 and found 32 great quakes,
mag 8.0 and up.

1975  5 26  9 11 51.5  36.000  -17.650 8.1 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
1976  1 14 16 47 33.5 -28.430 -177.660 8.2 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
1976  7 27 19 42 54.6  39.570  117.980 8.0 NORTHEASTERN CHINA
1977  4 21  4 24  9.6  -9.970  160.730 8.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
1977  8 19  6  8 55.2 -11.090  118.460 8.0 SOUTH OF SUMBAWA, INDONESIA
1980  7 17 19 42 23.2 -12.520  165.920 8.0 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
1985  9 19 13 17 47.4  18.190 -102.530 8.1 MICHOACAN, MEXICO
1986  5  7 22 47 10.9  51.520 -174.780 8.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
1986 10 20  6 46 10.0 -28.120 -176.370 8.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
1989  5 23 10 54 46.3 -52.340  160.570 8.2 MACQUARIE ISLANDS REGION
1993  8  8  8 34 24.9  12.980  144.800 8.2 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
1994  6  9  0 33 16.2 -13.840  -67.550 8.2 NORTHERN BOLIVIA
1994 10  4 13 22 55.8  43.770  147.320 8.3 KURIL ISLANDS
1995  4  7 22  6 56.9 -15.200 -173.530 8.1 TONGA ISLANDS
1995  7 30  5 11 23.6 -23.340  -70.290 8.0 NEAR COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
1995 10  9 15 35 53.9  19.060 -104.210 8.0 NEAR COAST OF JALISCO, MEXICO
1996  2 17  5 59 30.5   -.890  136.950 8.2 IRIAN JAYA REGION, INDONESIA
1998  3 25  3 12 25.1 -62.880  149.530 8.8 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
1998 11 29 14 10 32.0  -2.070  124.890 8.3 CERAM SEA
2000  6  4 16 28 26.2  -4.720  102.090 8.3 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
2000  6 18 14 44 13.3 -13.800   97.450 8.0 SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN
2000 11 16  4 54 56.7  -3.980  152.170 8.2 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
2000 11 17 21  1 56.5  -5.500  151.780 8.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
2001  1 26  3 16 40.5  23.420   70.230 8.0 SOUTHERN INDIA
2001  6 23 20 33 14.1 -16.260  -73.640 8.4 NEAR COAST OF PERU
2001 11 14  9 26 10.0  35.950   90.540 8.0 QINGHAI, CHINA
2002 11  3 22 12 41.0  63.520 -147.440 8.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
2003  9 25 19 50  6.4  41.810  143.910 8.3 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
2004 12 23 14 59  4.4 -49.310  161.350 8.1 NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
2004 12 26  0 58 53.4   3.300   95.980 9.0 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
2005  3 28 16  9 36.5   2.090   97.110 8.6 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
2006 11 15 11 14 13.6  46.590  153.270 8.3 KURIL ISLANDS

Then I counted the number per year and tallied the number of times
each total came up.

       Number of quakes:  548274 (all mags) 
       Number of great quakes:  32 

       0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9

       15    10     6     2     1     0     0     0     0     0