1986–87 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. The list for the 1986–87 snooker season was the first to only take account of results over two seasons.

Steve Davis retained first place in the rankings, with a lead described by the snooker historian Clive Everton as a "massive margin of 18 points". Also retaining his position, in second, was Cliff Thorburn, while Dennis Taylor overtook Tony Knowles for third place. The 1986 world champion Joe Johnson rose from 16th to 8th, and six-time world champion Ray Reardon fell from 6th to 15th.

Liam Kelly of the Evening Herald commented that although the WPBSA's ranking system was intended to be fair, it was "cumbersome and complicated". He noted that WPBSA chairman Rex Williams was ranked 16th instead of John Parrott, who had the same number of ranking points as Williams but more merit points, and argued that this "called into question [the] entire system." Players in the top 16 of the rankings were seeded into the last-32 round of the 1987 World Snooker Championship, and received invitations to the 1987 Masters; in the 1985–86 snooker season the top 16 players were guaranteed at least £11,773.50 in prize money, while players ranked 17th to 32nd were only guaranteed to earn £4,570.50. Williams had been ranked 27th the previous season. Neal Foulds, ranked in the top 16 for the first time for 1986–87, moved up to 13th from 23rd place. The two players who lost their places in the top 16 were Eddie Charlton, who dropped from 12th to 25th, and David Taylor who went from 14th to 21st.

The highest-ranked of the players who had been competing professionally for only one season were Barry West (30th), Tony Drago (37th) and Stephen Hendry (51st). Among the players who changed their ranking significantly from the previous year were Peter Francisco (59th to 26th), Steve Duggan (70th to 35th), and Roger Bales (100th to 66th).

Points tariff and basis of ranking
Ranking was determined as follows:
 * By number of ranking points;
 * If players had an equal number of ranking points, precedence was given to the player with the better performances in the 1985–86 season;
 * If players were still equal, merit points were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given to the player with the better performances in the 1985–86 season;
 * If players were still equal, A points were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given to the player with the better in the 1985–86 season;
 * If players were still equal, frames won were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given the player with the better in the 1985–86 season.