Darts world rankings

The Darts World Rankings are systems designed to determine a list of the best darts players in the world based on their performances in past tournaments.

In 1993, a group of former world champions and other high-profile players separated from the British Darts Organisation, meaning there were several major governing bodies in the sport. Each organization has its own players, and each has its own ranking system.

After the British Darts Organisation folded in 2020, the two main rankings are now maintained by the World Darts Federation and the Professional Darts Corporation.

The ranking systems are used to arrange tournament seedings, which are so arranged, that the number one player in the world will not face the number two player until the final of a tournament, providing they both reach that final.

PDC World Rankings
The Professional Darts Corporation's Ranking is based on the amount of prize money won in ranking tournaments on a two year cycle.

WDF World rankings
The rankings are based on a cumulative points system, calculated on a rolling one-year basis. When a tournament is played, the previous year's results are removed from the rankings and the new tournament scores are used. This list is used to determine seeds for some of the WDF Opens. The World Darts Federation ranking system is designed to provide a measure of the global activities of darts players in every WDF recognized darts event. It used to be very similar to the BDO system but was revised in January 2007 to include categories by country and by events, and the distribution of ranking points reflect the levels of prize money on offer and the numbers of entries in a tournament. Players gain points in six levels of categorized events and prize money and at the end of the season the leading players receive monetary bonus rewards from the WDF.

Current points distribution
Points are currently awarded as follows:

Previous World Number Ones (Men's, WDF)
The following is a list of players who ended the year ranked number one in the WDF.

• 1976 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Harry Crane

• 1977 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Lowe

• 1978 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Leighton Rees

• 1979 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Lowe (2)

• 1980 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow

• 1981 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow (2)

• 1982 Jocky Wilson

• 1983 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow (3)

• 1984 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow (4)

• 1985 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow (5)

• 1986 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Lowe (3)

• 1987 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Anderson

• 1988 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Lowe (4)

• 1989 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Anderson (2)

• 1990 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Bristow (6)

• 1991 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Phil Taylor

• 1992 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rod Harrington

• 1993 🇧🇪 Leo Laurens

• 1994 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Beaton

• 1995 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Richie Burnett

• 1996 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Adams

• 1997 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Adams (2)

• 1998 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ronnie Baxter

• 1999  Raymond van Barneveld

• 2000  Raymond van Barneveld (2)

• 2001 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mervyn King

• 2002 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Walton

• 2003 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Adams (3)

• 2004  Raymond van Barneveld (3)

• 2005  Raymond van Barneveld (4)

• 2006 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Adams (4)

• 2007  Gary Anderson

• 2008 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Scott Waites

• 2009 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony O'Shea

• 2010 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Adams (5)

• 2011 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Scott Waites (2)

• 2012 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stephen Bunting

• 2013 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James Wilson

• 2014 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Norris

• 2015 🇱🇹 Darius Labanauskas

• 2016 🇱🇹 Darius Labanauskas (2)

• 2017 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Scott Mitchell

• 2018

• 2019

• 2020

• 2021

• 2022

• 2023

BDO rankings
The BDO Invitational Table relates only to registered playing members of the BDO, who comply with BDO and World Darts Federation (WDF) eligibility rules, including terms and conditions of the 1997 Tomlin Order.

The BDO awards points depending on a player's performances within each of its events and other BDO-recognised qualifying events. Forty-nine points are awarded to the champion of each of its three Major Events – The Lakeside World Professional Championship, The Bavaria World Darts Trophy and the Winmau World Masters and A+ events. Lower points are awarded for each round of the tournament reached. Other events are placed into Category A, B, C, and D based on the prize pool and number of payouts, with points for placings slowly decreasing. Only the best 12 placings are added for a player's ranking.

Final rankings
Following a cease in tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BDO stopped publishing rankings on 18 March 2020. The BDO having entered liquidation in September of that year, what follows are the final published rankings by the organisation.