List of world number one snooker players

The sport of snooker has utilised a world rankings system since 1975, used to seed players on the World Snooker Tour for tournaments. Originally, rankings were published once a year at the conclusion of a season. Since 2010, however, the rankings were changed so that they would be updated after every ranking tournament.^[1] The number one ranking has been held by twelve players; Ray Reardon was the first to hold the position, and was followed by Cliff Thorburn, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen.

Judd Trump is the current world number one.

Hendry held the number one position for the longest time under the annual format, holding it for nine years in total. Since it changed to a rolling format in 2010, Selby has held the rank longer than anyone else.

History

Stephen Hendry ended the season ranked at number one on nine occasions; more season finishes in the top spot than any other player.

The sport of professional snooker first adopted a ranking system for the 1975–76 season, which saw Ray Reardon ranked in the top position. An Order of Merit was published in the 1975/76 season to determine the seedings for events, and the first set of official rankings the following year used the same criteria.^[2][3] Certain events carried ranking points, and at the end of the season, they were tallied. The World Snooker Championship originally was the only event to offer ranking points, until the 1982 International Open.^[4] Over the next 22 seasons, five men held the first position; Reardon (1976/77 to 1980/81), Cliff Thorburn (1981/82), Reardon again for 1982/83^{[note 1]}, Steve Davis (1983/84 to 1989/90) and Stephen Hendry (1990/91 to 1997/98). From 1998/99 to 2009/10, the title was shared by Ronnie O'Sullivan (five seasons), John Higgins (three seasons) and Mark Williams (three seasons), while Hendry regained the position for the 2006/07 season. In the first 34 years of the world rankings, only seven players held the number one position.^[2]

For the 2010–11 snooker season, the world rankings were changed to be updated after each tournament carrying ranking points.^[7] This was altered from the 2014–15 snooker season, where ranking points were based entirely on the prize money won from qualifying events.^[8] Since the introduction of the new system, Higgins, Neil Robertson, Williams, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, and O'Sullivan have all attained the number one rank.^[3] Selby has also seven seasons ranked in first place, putting him in joint third place overall with Reardon and Davis, O'Sullivan is in second with (eight times) and behind Hendry (nine times).^[3][9]

List of players

Hendry holds the record for most seasons at number one under the traditional system, with nine seasons (1990/1991–1997/1998 and again in 2006–07). His first spell of eight consecutive seasons in this position is also a record.^[10] Under the rolling ranking format, Mark Selby holds both the total and consecutive records.^[3]

Periods

The snooker players ranked number one in the world are listed below for each period since the introduction of the ranking system.^[11][12]

Number one players

No.	Nationality	Player	From	To	Ref
1	Wales	Ray Reardon	3 May 1975	20 April 1981	[3][13]
2	Canada	Cliff Thorburn	21 April 1981	16 May 1982	[3]
	Wales	Ray Reardon (2)	17 May 1982	2 May 1983	[3][note 1]
3	England	Steve Davis	3 May 1983	29 April 1990	[3]
4	Scotland	Stephen Hendry	30 April 1990	4 May 1998	[3]
5	Scotland	John Higgins	5 May 1998	1 May 2000	[3]
6	Wales	Mark Williams	2 May 2000	6 May 2002	[3]
7	England	Ronnie O'Sullivan	7 May 2002	5 May 2003	[3]
	Wales	Mark Williams (2)	6 May 2003	3 May 2004	[3]
	England	Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)	4 May 2004	1 May 2006	[3]
	Scotland	Stephen Hendry (2)	2 May 2006	7 May 2007	[3]
	Scotland	John Higgins (2)	8 May 2007	5 May 2008	[3]
	England	Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)	6 May 2008	3 May 2010	[3]
	Scotland	John Higgins (3)	4 May 2010	26 September 2010	[14]
8	Australia	Neil Robertson	27 September 2010	12 December 2010	[15][16]
	Scotland	John Higgins (4)	13 December 2010	2 May 2011	[17][18]
	Wales	Mark Williams (3)	3 May 2011	11 September 2011	[19][20]
9	England	Mark Selby	12 September 2011	4 November 2012	[21][22]
10	England	Judd Trump	5 November 2012	9 December 2012	[23][24]
	England	Mark Selby (2)	10 December 2012	17 February 2013	[25][26]
	England	Judd Trump (2)	18 February 2013	31 March 2013	[27][28]
	England	Mark Selby (3)	1 April 2013	9 June 2013	[29][30]
	Australia	Neil Robertson (2)	10 June 2013	5 May 2014	[31][32]
	England	Mark Selby (4)	6 May 2014	6 July 2014	[33][34]
	Australia	Neil Robertson (3)	7 July 2014	10 August 2014	[35][36]
	England	Mark Selby (5)	11 August 2014	7 December 2014	[37][38]
11	China	Ding Junhui	8 December 2014	14 December 2014	[39][40][41]
	Australia	Neil Robertson (4)	15 December 2014	25 January 2015	[42][43]
	China	Ding Junhui (2)	26 January 2015	8 February 2015	[44][45]
	England	Mark Selby (6)	9 February 2015	24 March 2019	[46]
	England	Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)	25 March 2019	11 August 2019	[3]
	England	Judd Trump (3)	12 August 2019	22 August 2021	[3]
	England	Mark Selby (7)	23 August 2021	17 October 2021	[3]
	England	Judd Trump (4)	18 October 2021	7 November 2021	[47]
	England	Mark Selby (8)	8 November 2021	3 April 2022	[48]
	England	Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)	4 April 2022	6 May 2024	[49]
12	Northern Ireland	Mark Allen	7 May 2024	25 August 2024	[50]
	England	Judd Trump (5)	26 August 2024	Present	[51]

Total time spent at number one

Annual format (1975–2010) Annual format[3] Years Longest consecutive period Nationality Player 9 8  Scotland Stephen Hendry 7 7  England Steve Davis 6  Wales Ray Reardon 5 2  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 3 2  Wales Mark Williams 2  Scotland John Higgins 1 1  Canada Cliff Thorburn

Rolling format (2010–present) Rolling format[3] Days Longest consecutive period Nationality Player 2449 1505  England Mark Selby 1178 † 742  England Judd Trump 904 764  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 484 330  Australia Neil Robertson 287 146  Scotland John Higgins 132 132  Wales Mark Williams 111 111  Northern Ireland Mark Allen 21 14  China Ding Junhui † as of 29 July 2025

Players ranked number one at the start of the season

Per season Seasons held[3] Season Nationality Player 1975–1976  Wales Ray Reardon (1) 1976–1977  Wales Ray Reardon 1977–1978  Wales Ray Reardon 1978–1979  Wales Ray Reardon 1979–1980  Wales Ray Reardon 1980–1981  Wales Ray Reardon 1981–1982  Canada Cliff Thorburn (2) 1982–1983  Wales Ray Reardon 1983–1984  England Steve Davis (3) 1984–1985  England Steve Davis 1985–1986  England Steve Davis 1986–1987  England Steve Davis 1987–1988  England Steve Davis 1988–1989  England Steve Davis 1989–1990  England Steve Davis 1990–1991  Scotland Stephen Hendry (4) 1991–1992  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1992–1993  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1993–1994  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1994–1995  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1995–1996  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1996–1997  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1997–1998  Scotland Stephen Hendry 1998–1999  Scotland John Higgins (5) 1999–2000  Scotland John Higgins 2000–2001  Wales Mark Williams (6) 2001–2002  Wales Mark Williams 2002–2003  England Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 2003–2004  Wales Mark Williams 2004–2005  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2005–2006  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2006–2007  Scotland Stephen Hendry 2007–2008  Scotland John Higgins 2008–2009  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2009–2010  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2010–2011  Scotland John Higgins 2011–2012  Wales Mark Williams 2012–2013  England Mark Selby (8) 2013–2014  England Mark Selby 2014–2015  England Mark Selby 2015–2016  England Mark Selby 2016–2017  England Mark Selby 2017–2018  England Mark Selby 2018–2019  England Mark Selby 2019–2020  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2020–2021  England Judd Trump (9) 2021–2022  England Judd Trump 2022–2023  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2023–2024  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 2024–2025  Northern Ireland Mark Allen (10) 2025–2026  England Judd Trump

Per frequency Number of times held[3] Seasons Longest consecutive period Nationality Player 9 8  Scotland Stephen Hendry 8 2  England Ronnie O'Sullivan 7 7  England Steve Davis 7  England Mark Selby 6  Wales Ray Reardon 4 2  Scotland John Higgins 2  Wales Mark Williams 3 2  England Judd Trump 1 1  Canada Cliff Thorburn 1  Northern Ireland Mark Allen

See also

• Cue sports portal

Notes

1. Alex Higgins would have been ranked number one in the 1982–83 season, but had ranking points deducted as a result of disciplinary action after assaulting a press officer.^[5][6]