Ranking Records

World Number Ones

Snooker’s professional world ranking list has operated since 1976 and below we track which players have reached its summit to date and exactly how long they have been able to stay there.

Note that when a player has been ranked at number one for more or less than an exact week, we have rounded up their total.

Number One Players (updated 17/10/2023):

Name From To Weeks
Ray Reardon 3 May 1975 20 April 1981 312
Cliff Thorburn 21 April 1981 16 May 1982 56
Ray Reardon 17 May 1982 2 May 1983 50
Steve Davis 3 May 1983 29 April 1990 365
Stephen Hendry 30 April 1990 4 May 1998 418
John Higgins 5 May 1998 1 May 2000 104
Mark Williams 2 May 2000 6 May 2002 105
Ronnie O’Sullivan 7 May 2002 5 May 2003 52
Mark Williams 6 May 2003 3 May 2004 52
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4 May 2004 1 May 2006 104
Stephen Hendry 2 May 2006 7 May 2007 53
John Higgins 8 May 2007 5 May 2008 52
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6 May 2008 3 May 2010 104
John Higgins 4 May 2010 26 September 2010 21
Neil Robertson 27 September 2010 12 December 2010 11
John Higgins 13 December 2010 2 May 2011 20
Mark Williams 3 May 2011 11 September 2011 19
Mark Selby 12 September 2011 4 November 2012 60
Judd Trump 5 November 2012 9 December 2012 5
Mark Selby 10 December 2012 17 February 2013 10
Judd Trump 18 February 2013 31 March 2013 6
Mark Selby 1 April 2013 9 June 2013 10
Neil Robertson 10 June 2013 5 May 2014 47
Mark Selby 6 May 2014 6 July 2014 9
Neil Robertson 7 July 2014 10 August 2014 5
Mark Selby 11 August 2014 7 December 2014 17
Ding Junhui 8 December 2014 14 December 2014 1
Neil Robertson 15 December 2014 25 January 2015 6
Ding Junhui 26 January 2015 8 February 2015 2
Mark Selby 9 February 2015 24 March 2019 215
Ronnie O’Sullivan 25 March 2019 11 August 2019 20
Judd Trump 12 August 2019 22 August 2021 106
Mark Selby 23 August 2021 17 October 2021 8
Judd Trump 18 October 2021 7 November 2021 3
Mark Selby 8 November 2021 3 April 2022 21
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 April 2022 23 October 2023 81*

Total Weeks Spent As World Number One (updated 17/10/2023):

Name Weeks
Stephen Hendry 471
Steve Davis 365
Ray Reardon 362
Ronnie O’Sullivan 361
Mark Selby 350
John Higgins 197
Mark Williams 176
Judd Trump 120
Neil Robertson 69
Cliff Thorburn 56
Ding Junhui 3

Season-End Number One Ranked Players (updated 31/03/2022):

Season Player
1976/77 Ray Reardon
1977/78 Ray Reardon
1978/79 Ray Reardon
1979/80 Ray Reardon
1980/81 Cliff Thorburn
1981/82 Ray Reardon
1982/83 Steve Davis
1983/84 Steve Davis
1984/85 Steve Davis
1985/86 Steve Davis
1986/87 Steve Davis
1987/88 Steve Davis
1988/89 Steve Davis
1989/90 Stephen Hendry
1990/91 Stephen Hendry
1991/92 Stephen Hendry
1992/93 Stephen Hendry
1993/94 Stephen Hendry
1994/95 Stephen Hendry
1995/96 Stephen Hendry
1996/97 Stephen Hendry
1997/98 John Higgins
1998/99 John Higgins
1999/00 Mark Williams
2000/01 Mark Williams
2001/02 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2002/03 Mark Williams
2003/04 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2004/05 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2005/06 Stephen Hendry
2006/07 John Higgins
2007/08 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2008/09 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2009/10 John Higgins
2010/11 Mark Williams
2011/12 Mark Selby
2012/13 Mark Selby
2013/14 Mark Selby
2014/15 Mark Selby
2015/16 Mark Selby
2016/17 Mark Selby
2017/18 Mark Selby
2018/19 Ronnie O’Sullivan
2019/20 Judd Trump
2020/21 Judd Trump
2021/22 Ronnie O'Sullivan
2022/23 Ronnie O'Sullivan