Abstract We present an analysis of the distribution of asteroid spin rates vs. size. The existence of significant populations of both slow and fast rotators among asteroids smaller than D=40 km, and especially below 10 km (where our sample is mostly near-Earth asteroids), is shown. We have found that the excess of slow rotators is present at spin rates below ≈0.8 rev/day, and the group of fast rotators occupies the range of spin rates >7 rev/day. The fast rotators show interesting characteristics: The lack of objects rotating faster than 2.2 h period among asteroids with absolute magnitude H