$array = array("Kyle","Ben","Sue","Phil","Ben","Mary","Sue","Ben");
$counts = array_count_values($array);
echo $counts['Ben'];

Use array_count _values to get an array with everything counted for you.

In PHP7 you can use the NULL coalescing operator to simplify this code:

$a=['a','b','a','c','a','d'];

$output=[];

foreach ($a as $v) {
    $output[$v] = ($output[$v] ?? 0) + 1;
}

print_r($output);

Output:

Array
(
    [a] => 3
    [b] => 1
    [c] => 1
    [d] => 1
)

Demo on 3v4l.org

http://php.net/array_count_values

Did you attempt to research this at all?

 $key = 5;
 $cv = array_count_values($arr);
 echo $cv[$key];

That's how you get the count for ONE value.

You're on the right track, but you need to apply array_count_values() to each subarray, not the parent array.

$arr = [
    'item1' => [1, 1, 3],
    'item2' => [1, 1, 1, 2, 1],
    'item3' => [1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3]
];

$totals = array_map('array_count_values', $arr);

print_r($totals);

Results in

Array
(
    [item1] => Array
        (
            [1] => 2
            [3] => 1
        )

    [item2] => Array
        (
            [1] => 4
            [2] => 1
        )

    [item3] => Array
        (
            [1] => 1
            [2] => 3
            [3] => 6
        )

)