create table tbl (
id int primary key auto_increment,
item_id int,
likes int
);
insert into tbl (item_id, likes) values
(1, 200), (1, 300), (1, 400), (1, 4), (2, 54), (2, 31), (3, 22);
with n as (
select
id, item_id, likes, row_number() over (partition by item_id) rn
from tbl)
select id, item_id, likes from n where rn < 4
;