There is a great, really long, discussion in the new Silm project that I was just reading. However, it doesn't really clear up the answer. It seems clear that Tolkien definatly wanted to limit the number of Balrogs and increase their power, he originally said there were more than a thousand Balrogs at the Fall of Gondolin. In the Silm it is ambiguous about the number of Balrogs in existance. Whenever I read it it feels like 50-100.
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Yet the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.
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