The sport of snooker has utilised a world rankings system since 1975, used to

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

players on the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

for tournaments. Originally rankings were published once a year, at the culmination of the season, however, since 2010, the rankings have been changed to be updated after every ranking tournament. The number one rank has been held by eleven players;

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

was the first to hold the position, and was followed by

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

, Mark Williams,

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

and

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

. 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 title longer than anyone else.

History

The sport of professional snooker first adopted a ranking system for the 1975–76 season, which saw

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 The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it ...

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),

( 1981/82), Reardon again for 1982/83,

( 1983/84 to 1989/90) and

( 1990/91 to 1997/98). From 1998/99 to 2009/10, the title was shared by

(five seasons),

(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 2010–11 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 20 May 2010 and 2 May 2011. The German Masters was the first ranking tournament in Germany since the 1997/1998 season. The Grand Prix was renamed to World ...

, the world rankings were changed to be updated after each tournament carrying ranking points. This was altered from the

2014–15 snooker season The 2014–15 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 8 May 2014 and 4 May 2015. The Riga Open was the first professional snooker tournament held in Latvia. The season also saw the first professional ...

, where ranking points were based entirely on the prize money won from qualifying events. Since the introduction of the new system, Higgins,

, Williams,

, and O'Sullivan have all attained the number one rank. Selby has also seven seasons ranked in first place, putting him in joint second place overall with Reardon, Davis and O'Sullivan (seven times each) 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.

Total time spent at number one

Annual format (1975–2010)

Rolling format (2010–present)

† as of

Players ranked number one at the start of the season

Per season

Per frequency

Notes

References

External links

Ranking Records: Number One
at Pro Snooker Blog
Official list
{{DEFAULTSORT:World number-one snooker players, List of Number-one players Lists of sports superlatives