There are no rumours - On Pages factors make less than 5% importance.
Off Page factors - the rest of it.
It's not HOW MANY links have pointed to your site BUT:
* The authority level of that site pointing to you;
* Relevancy;
* Anchor text;
* Keyword density;
If you'll only focus on On Page factors, you'll never achieve great SEO results for competitive keywords UNLESS your content is really cool, it gets viral and everyone is talking about you in news blogs, podcast, video sites etc.