Show node hit counts in a VIEW? I have googled and found a few articles:

http://nossdutytask.com/drupal_config/step_by_step_enable_view_post_access_counter_on_drupal

Only I don't want to show the counter as a block but as a field in a VIEW. I followed the above article but when I add fields to my view I cannot find any stat or counter or anything.

Is this possible without writing a custom module or tweaking my template.php and populating this value programmatically?
You need to enable the Statistics module from admin/modules.

Configure what you want to track from admin/config/system/statistics

Then edit your view.  Add a Field.  There will be a category called Content Statistics that you can filter on.  Choose the stat you want, and then configure it.



The above is for Drupal 7 / Views 3.  The steps are mostly the same for Drupal 6 and Views 2 or Views 3, but the labels are a little different.

Just keep in mind that Statistics module can cause performance problems on busy sites.  You may also want to check out Radioactivity, and see if that will work better for you:


  This module provides a field type which can be used as a hotness
  metric or a regular view counter for entities and for much much more.
  In essense, entities receiving attention (views or actions defined by
  Rules) are heated while inactive ones slowly cool down.


Radioactivity does integrate with Views and a few places.