Select 2 products per city with most counts in PostgreSQL

I have this dataset:

CREATE TABLE my_table (
    the_id varchar(5) NOT NULL, 
    the_date timestamp NOT NULL,
    the_city varchar(5) NOT NULL,
    the_product varchar(1) NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO my_table
VALUES ('VIS01', '2019-05-02 09:00:00','LISBO','A'), 
       ('VIS02', '2019-05-04 12:00:00','EVORA','A'), 
       ('VIS03', '2019-05-05 18:00:00','LISBO','B'), 
       ('VIS04', '2019-05-06 18:30:00','PORTO','B'), 
       ('VIS05', '2019-05-15 12:05:00','PORTO','C'), 
       ('VIS06', '2019-06-30 18:06:00','EVORA','C'),
       ('VIS07', '2019-06-30 18:07:00','PORTO','A'),
       ('VIS08', '2019-06-30 18:08:00','EVORA','B'),
       ('VIS09', '2019-06-30 18:09:00','LISBO','B'),
       ('VIS10', '2019-06-30 18:10:00','LISBO','D'),
       ('VIS11', '2019-06-30 18:11:00','EVORA','D'),
       ('VIS12', '2019-06-30 18:12:00','LISBO','E'),
       ('VIS13', '2019-06-30 18:13:00','EVORA','F'),
       ('VIS14', '2019-06-30 18:14:00','PORTO','G'),
       ('VIS15', '2019-06-30 18:15:00','LISBO','A'),
       ('VIS16', '2019-06-30 18:16:00','LISBO','A'),
       ('VIS17', '2019-06-30 18:17:00','LISBO','F'),
       ('VIS18', '2019-06-30 18:18:00','LISBO','A'),
       ('VIS19', '2019-06-30 18:19:00','LISBO','A'),
       ('VIS20', '2019-06-30 18:20:00','EVORA','D'),
       ('VIS21', '2019-06-30 18:21:00','EVORA','D'),
       ('VIS22', '2019-06-30 18:30:00','EVORA','D'),
       ('VIS23', '2019-06-30 18:31:00','EVORA','B'),
       ('VIS24', '2019-06-30 18:40:00','EVORA','K'),
       ('VIS25', '2019-06-30 18:50:00','EVORA','G'),
       ('VIS26', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','C'),
       ('VIS27', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','C'),
       ('VIS28', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','B'),
       ('VIS29', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','M');

I want the top 2 counts per the_city, so the expected result should be:

the_city    the_product    count
EVORA       D              4
EVORA       B              2
LISBO       A              5   
LISBO       B              2
PORTO       C              3
PORTO       B              2            

I have tried this but it’s wrong

SELECT the_city, the_product, count(the_product) cuenta 
from my_table 
group by the_city, the_product 
order by the_city, cuenta desc 
limit 2

Answer

It’s greatest-n-per-group problem. You can use row_number()over() window function to to serialized city wise product list in descending order of count(*). Then select first two rows from each city.

 CREATE TABLE my_table (
     the_id varchar(5) NOT NULL, 
     the_date timestamp NOT NULL,
     the_city varchar(5) NOT NULL,
     the_product varchar(1) NOT NULL
 );
 
 INSERT INTO my_table
 VALUES ('VIS01', '2019-05-02 09:00:00','LISBO','A'), 
        ('VIS02', '2019-05-04 12:00:00','EVORA','A'), 
        ('VIS03', '2019-05-05 18:00:00','LISBO','B'), 
        ('VIS04', '2019-05-06 18:30:00','PORTO','B'), 
        ('VIS05', '2019-05-15 12:05:00','PORTO','C'), 
        ('VIS06', '2019-06-30 18:06:00','EVORA','C'),
        ('VIS07', '2019-06-30 18:07:00','PORTO','A'),
        ('VIS08', '2019-06-30 18:08:00','EVORA','B'),
        ('VIS09', '2019-06-30 18:09:00','LISBO','B'),
        ('VIS10', '2019-06-30 18:10:00','LISBO','D'),
        ('VIS11', '2019-06-30 18:11:00','EVORA','D'),
        ('VIS12', '2019-06-30 18:12:00','LISBO','E'),
        ('VIS13', '2019-06-30 18:13:00','EVORA','F'),
        ('VIS14', '2019-06-30 18:14:00','PORTO','G'),
        ('VIS15', '2019-06-30 18:15:00','LISBO','A'),
        ('VIS16', '2019-06-30 18:16:00','LISBO','A'),
        ('VIS17', '2019-06-30 18:17:00','LISBO','F'),
        ('VIS18', '2019-06-30 18:18:00','LISBO','A'),
        ('VIS19', '2019-06-30 18:19:00','LISBO','A'),
        ('VIS20', '2019-06-30 18:20:00','EVORA','D'),
        ('VIS21', '2019-06-30 18:21:00','EVORA','D'),
        ('VIS22', '2019-06-30 18:30:00','EVORA','D'),
        ('VIS23', '2019-06-30 18:31:00','EVORA','B'),
        ('VIS24', '2019-06-30 18:40:00','EVORA','K'),
        ('VIS25', '2019-06-30 18:50:00','EVORA','G'),
        ('VIS26', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','C'),
        ('VIS27', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','C'),
        ('VIS28', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','B'),
        ('VIS29', '2019-06-30 18:00:00','PORTO','M');

Query:

 with city_products as 
 (
     select the_city, the_product, count(*) product_count,row_number()over(partition by the_city order by count(*) desc)rn
     from my_table
     group by the_city,the_product
 ) select the_city,the_product,product_count from city_products where rn<=2

Output:

the_city	the_product	product_count
EVORA	D	4
EVORA	B	2
LISBO	A	5
LISBO	B	2
PORTO	C	3
PORTO	B	2

db<fiddle here