1984–85 snooker world rankings

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships, with five points for the winner, four for the runner-up, three for losing semi-finalists, two for losing quarter-finalists, and one for losers in the last 16 round.

After the 1982 World Snooker Championship, two other tournaments – the International Open and the Professional Players Tournament – which were open to all members of the WPBSA carried points as per the previous system. Points for world championship finishes from 1983 became worth double the previous tariff, with ten points for the winner, eight for the runner up, and so on. In the 1983/84 snooker season, the Lada Classic was added as a ranking tournament. Merit points were awarded to players who were required to compete in qualifying rounds of ranking tournaments and reached the last 32, with a full merit point awarded if this was achieved in the world championship, and half a merit point otherwise. No points were awarded to a player who did not win any matches in a given tournament: for example, a top 16 player seeded into the last 32 of the world championship would not win any merit points if they lost their first match.

The tournaments that counted towards the 1984/1985 rankings were those which were open to all professional players, over three seasons. These were the Jameson International Open 1982 and 1983, the Professional Players Tournament 1982 and 1983, the 1984 Lada Classic, and the 1982, 1983 and 1984 Embassy World Championships. The list was published after the 1984 World Championship.

Steve Davis was ranked first with 32 points, ahead of Tony Knowles in second place with 21 points. Cliff Thorburn was third, with 20 points, a point ahead of Kirk Stevens in fourth. Ray Reardon dropped from second to fifth place. The top 16 players in the rankings were seeded into the main event of the 1985 World Snooker Championship, while all other players would need to enter the qualifying rounds. John Virgo, who did not win any ranking points in the 1983/1984 season, was the only player to lose their place in the top 16 from the previous year. Willie Thorne joined the top 16.

After the initial ranking list was published, the board of the WPBSA voted to award merit points, as well as ranking points, to players who had won qualifying groups and then progressed in the main tournament; the initial list had not included merit points for those players. Three pairs of players exchanged positions as a result: Tony Meo moved from eleventh to tenth place, ahead of Dennis Taylor; Dean Reynolds took 22nd place from Cliff Wilson who moved to 23rd; and Patsy Fagan overtook George Scott to be ranked 37th rather than 38th.

Rankings
The world rankings for the professional snooker players in the 1984/85 season are listed below. In the table, numbers in parentheses indicate that the player earned merit points.