srmark - 2:39 pm on Oct 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

The # of backlinks really doesn't mean anything - I can get thousands of backlinks in a flash. But can I get thousands of quality backlinks? That's the trick.

My guess is that the top two people have higher quality backlinks. Also, there are some (including me) who believe that the age of a link has something to do with its weight. So if you just got linked over from Wikipedia, it may not mean as much right away as it will in 1 year when that link is still there.