diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index 42dfdcb..9a5761b 100644
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -28,14 +28,18 @@ def fetch_titles_and_genres(engine: Engine) -> pd.DataFrame:
     query = """SELECT title, genres FROM audiobookshelf.ao3;"""
     return run_query(engine, query)
 
-def count_genre_occurrences(data: pd.DataFrame, column: str = "genres") -> pd.Series:
-    """Count how many times each genre appears across all titles."""
-    return data.explode(column)[column].value_counts()
+def count_genre_occurrences(engine: Engine) -> pd.DataFrame:
+    """Count how many times each genre appears across all titles in SQL before returning."""
+    query = """SELECT genre, COUNT(*) 
+                FROM audiobookshelf.ao3, unnest(genres) AS genre
+                GROUP BY genre
+                ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC;"""
+    return run_query(engine, query)
 
 def main():
     engine = get_engine()
-    data = fetch_titles_and_genres(engine)
-    genre_counts = count_genre_occurrences(data)
+    #data = fetch_titles_and_genres(engine)
+    genre_counts = count_genre_occurrences(engine)
     print(genre_counts)
     # print(data.head())