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. 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.
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
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. 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. 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, 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.
For the 2010–11 snooker season, the world rankings were changed to be updated after each tournament carrying ranking points. This was altered from the 2014–15 snooker season, where ranking points were based entirely on the prize money won from qualifying events. 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. 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).
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. Under the rolling ranking format, Mark Selby holds both the total and consecutive records.
Periods
The snooker players ranked number one in the world are listed below for each period since the introduction of the ranking system.
| No. | Nationality | Player | From | To | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wales | Ray Reardon | 3 May 1975 | 20 April 1981 | |
| 2 | Canada | Cliff Thorburn | 21 April 1981 | 16 May 1982 | |
| Wales | Ray Reardon (2) | 17 May 1982 | 2 May 1983 | ||
| 3 | England | Steve Davis | 3 May 1983 | 29 April 1990 | |
| 4 | Scotland | Stephen Hendry | 30 April 1990 | 4 May 1998 | |
| 5 | Scotland | John Higgins | 5 May 1998 | 1 May 2000 | |
| 6 | Wales | Mark Williams | 2 May 2000 | 6 May 2002 | |
| 7 | England | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 7 May 2002 | 5 May 2003 | |
| Wales | Mark Williams (2) | 6 May 2003 | 3 May 2004 | ||
| England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) | 4 May 2004 | 1 May 2006 | ||
| Scotland | Stephen Hendry (2) | 2 May 2006 | 7 May 2007 | ||
| Scotland | John Higgins (2) | 8 May 2007 | 5 May 2008 | ||
| England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 6 May 2008 | 3 May 2010 | ||
| Scotland | John Higgins (3) | 4 May 2010 | 26 September 2010 | ||
| 8 | Australia | Neil Robertson | 27 September 2010 | 12 December 2010 | |
| Scotland | John Higgins (4) | 13 December 2010 | 2 May 2011 | ||
| Wales | Mark Williams (3) | 3 May 2011 | 11 September 2011 | ||
| 9 | England | Mark Selby | 12 September 2011 | 4 November 2012 | |
| 10 | England | Judd Trump | 5 November 2012 | 9 December 2012 | |
| England | Mark Selby (2) | 10 December 2012 | 17 February 2013 | ||
| England | Judd Trump (2) | 18 February 2013 | 31 March 2013 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (3) | 1 April 2013 | 9 June 2013 | ||
| Australia | Neil Robertson (2) | 10 June 2013 | 5 May 2014 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (4) | 6 May 2014 | 6 July 2014 | ||
| Australia | Neil Robertson (3) | 7 July 2014 | 10 August 2014 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (5) | 11 August 2014 | 7 December 2014 | ||
| 11 | China | Ding Junhui | 8 December 2014 | 14 December 2014 | |
| Australia | Neil Robertson (4) | 15 December 2014 | 25 January 2015 | ||
| China | Ding Junhui (2) | 26 January 2015 | 8 February 2015 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (6) | 9 February 2015 | 24 March 2019 | ||
| England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) | 25 March 2019 | 11 August 2019 | ||
| England | Judd Trump (3) | 12 August 2019 | 22 August 2021 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (7) | 23 August 2021 | 17 October 2021 | ||
| England | Judd Trump (4) | 18 October 2021 | 7 November 2021 | ||
| England | Mark Selby (8) | 8 November 2021 | 3 April 2022 | ||
| England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) | 4 April 2022 | 6 May 2024 | ||
| 12 | Northern Ireland | Mark Allen | 7 May 2024 | 25 August 2024 | |
| England | Judd Trump (5) | 26 August 2024 | Present |
Total time spent at number one
Annual format (1975–2010)
| Rolling format (2010–present)
† as of 28 December 2025 |
Players ranked number one at the start of the season
Per season
| Per frequency
|
See also
- Cue sports portal
wikipedia, wiki, encyclopedia, book, library, article, read, free download, Information about List of world number one snooker players, What is List of world number one snooker players? What does List of world number one snooker players mean?