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I've read that the most commonly produced LEGO brick is the 1x2 gray plate. I am at the stage in Lego collecting that I'd like to make a Color Chart. This is easier said than done.

My question is this: what LEGO piece is available in the most colors? You'd think it would be the 1x2 plate or brick, but looking at Bricklink, it's confusing.

I think LEGO should offer color charts. I'd be interested in seeing if other collectors have succeeded in making color charts of what exists?

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    I think most people use 2x4 bricks because they're the most emblematic (see here for an example); but according to Bricklink it's only available in 45 colors (51 for 1x1 round plate)
    – Joubarc
    Commented Jun 19, 2017 at 11:46

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Again, Bricklink can help with the answer: When downloading the catalog, you specify "Part and Color Codes". This will give you a list of all part numbers and the color codes they have been produced in. To answer the question, some scripting has to be done to count lines with equal parts, etc.

To make it short, this is the top 10 list:

  1. Duplo Brick 2x2 (53 colours)
  2. Slope 30 1x1x2/3, tile 1x2 with Groove, Brick 1x1 (51 colours each)
  3. Plate 1x2 (50 colours)
  4. Brick 2x2 (49 colours)
  5. Brick 1x2 (47 colours)
  6. Plate 1x1 (44 colours)
  7. Brick 2x4 (43 colours)
  8. Plate, round 1x1 straight side (42 colours)

So, it was a close race with a surprising winner from planet Duplon. Looking at the entries I realise that Chrome colors seem to be missing from some parts. They are probably not listed when they don't appear in regular sets (custom parts).

EDIT The colour number distribution is very skewed. More than 80% of all 16500+ parts come in only one colour. This is because every printed part gets its own number. There are 2248 minifig torsos, most of them numbered 973pb.....

Anyway, it is fun to browse the catalog.

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    Fascinating information! And quite shocking that a Duplo brick would offer the most variety, too. (And in second place, the "cheese" slope!) Thanks also to Joubarc for pointing me to a complete fan-made color chart. It's interesting to see that what I wanted to contain on a baseplate would more likely become a wall of my living room...
    – sampoerna quatrain
    Commented Jun 19, 2017 at 20:48
  • It might be interesting to know that more than 80% of all parts come in only one colour! But I have to look deeper into the matter to see what that means.
    – Metalbeard
    Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 13:27
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BrickLink's statistics in Aziraphale's answer give a good answer if you're only asking about parts that were commercially available in sets. But Lego has made a 2x2 tile in every single color, for their internal color charts. They don't leave Lego's hands very often, but we do have pictures :) Here are some of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmorton/4879215625

And those are just standardized colors that were in Lego's official palette. If we're including test colors that never ended up being used, we're back to the basic 2x4 brick, which Lego's plastic providers like Bayer, BASF, GE, and Borg-Warner (as well as Lego's own factories) produced in thousands of varieties: http://thebrickblogger.com/2011/05/lego-bayer-test-strikes/

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