I could show you a rank 3 one with 10 members after 2-3 months in the world on .no, the tribes over that one had about 65 members (nr 1) and 42 members (nr 2)...It wasnt a huge gap between points either, the rank 1 tribe was a family tribe and changed the members between the tribes so they could be on rank 1 many times to.
The 10 member tribe got powned by another tribe with 11 members later, and they became the rank 1 tribe after a few months (merged with two other small underdogs now, they have about 25-30 members i think at the moment)....Remember that this wansnt even an 40 member limit, so impossible to gety rank 1 with 9 members in an 40 member limit world....nope.
This world is much more challenging due to better competition, but its only a 40 member limit so it can still happen ;o