Ranking Records: World Number One
In sports such as tennis and golf, one statistic maintained is that of the total weeks spent ranked as world number one by a player.
In snooker this is not something that has traditionally been measured, because of course until as recently as 2010 the rankings were updated on only an annual basis.
With the rankings now being updated after each event however, I will now be keeping a track of both changes at the top of the rankings and an all-time league table of total weeks spent at top spot.
For ease, where a player has been ranked at number one for more or less than an exact week, I have rounded up their total.
Number One Players (updated 24/10/2016):
| 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 |
– | 89* |
Total Weeks Spent As World Number One (updated 24/10/2016):
| Name | Weeks |
| Stephen Hendry |
471 |
| Steve Davis |
365 |
| Ray Reardon | 362 |
| Ronnie O’Sullivan |
260 |
| John Higgins |
197 |
| Mark Selby |
195* |
| Mark Williams |
176 |
| Neil Robertson |
69 |
| Cliff Thorburn |
56 |
| Judd Trump |
11 |
| Ding Junhui |
3 |