Reading only one column from SQL output as a numerical array in PHP -

i run following query:

  select tagid,           count(*) totaloccurrences     coupon_tags group tagid order totaloccurrences desc     limit 10 

it returns output this:

tagid  totaloccurrences  ------------------------ 7      9 2      8 1      3 6      2 3      1 4      1 5      1 8      1 

i can't mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($thatquery); because has 2 columns of data , array pulled looks garbage. how can further streamline query single column of still-sorted data, it's easier work in array? or maybe using wrong php/mysql function (although looked through them all)?

edit: i've found out query work fine in phpmyadmin fails when try query mysql_query().

my php code:

$tagsql = mysql_query($selectorsql);         if (!$tagsql) die("query failed");  //fails here             while ($tsrow = mysql_fetch_assoc($tagsql)) {                 var_dump($tsrow);             } 

you can "streamline query single column of still-sorted data".

select tagid             coupon_tags group tagid order count(tagid) desc  limit 10 

just make sure use count on single column instead of counting everything, affect performance.