I have scripted FileAgeSummary.bat to count the number of files on a drive, or folder, by year.

The syntax for using FileAgeSummary.bat is:

FileAgeSummary DriveOrFolder \[DIR Switches like /S /TC\]

Where DriveOrFolder is the drive or folder you wish to enumerate, and DIR Switches like /S /TC are optional DIR switchs, like /S to enumerate sub-folders, and /TC to use the file Creation date instead of the default Last Written date, per the following from DIR /?:

/T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
timefield   C  Creation
            A  Last Access
            W  Last Written

To count all the files on the C: drive, by year of creation, use:

FileAgeSummary C: /S /TC

The output is displayed on the CMD.EXE console, and might look like:

1980 31
1995 17
1996 102
1997 32
1998 822
1999 290
2000 523
2001 910
2002 7973
2003 41833
2004 19004

NOTE: See How can I find files that were created, or written, or accessed, in a given year?

FileAgeSummary.bat contains:

@echo off
if \{%1\}
\{\} @echo Syntax: FileAgeSummary DriveOrFolder \[DIR Switches like /S /TC\]&goto :EOF
if not exist %1 @echo FileAgeSummary - %1 NOT found.&goto :EOF
setlocal
set folder=%1
set $tok=1-3
for /f "tokens=1 delims=.:/-, " %%u in ('date /t') do set $d1=%%u
if "%$d1:~0,1%" GTR "9" set $tok=2-4
for /f "tokens=%$tok% delims=.:/-, " %%u in ('date /t') do (
 for /f "skip=1 tokens=2-4 delims=/-,()." %%x in ('echo.^|date') do (
    set %%x=%%u
    set %%y=%%v
    set %%z=%%w
    call set year=%%%%z%%
    set $d1=
    set $tok=))
set low=%year%
set d1=dir %folder% /a /a-d
:swloop
if \{%2\}
\{\} goto swend
set d1=%d1% %2
shift
goto swloop
:swend
set f1=findstr /L /C:"/"
for /f "Tokens=3 Delims=/ " %%a in ('%d1%^|%f1%') do (
 call :age %%a
)
for /l %%a in (%low%,1,%year%) do (
 if defined Y%%a call :report %%a
) 
endlocal
goto :EOF
:age
if not defined Y%1 set /a Y%1=0
call set /a Y%1=%%Y%1%% + 1
if "%1" LSS "%low%" set low=%1
goto :EOF
:report
call set /a work=%%Y%1%%
@echo %1 %work%