There's an element of smoke and mirrors, or at least of statistical fluke, in this.

The absolute dominance in terms of numbers and title winners cannot be some statistical fluke.

But when the total increase in a number of countries reaches more than 25 per cent over a few decades, it seems like more than a statistical fluke.

More statistically significant results can not be mere statistical flukes but can still result from experimental error or inaccurate estimates of experimental precision.