In e-commerce, why is the number of items a filter returns needed?

For clarity, I'm referring to the faded numbers in parenthesis.

My reasoning is that if a user wants to filter his selection, he will do it based on his/her need and not based on the number of results the filter offers.

I see a good thing in offering clarity of the effect of the filter, but a downside in the noise it adds.

Looking into some of the big players (Amazon, Ebay, Wayfair, Walmart), it seems that this practice has faded away.

Is it safe to say that this is not a necessity anymore or am I missing something?