PDC Order of Merit

The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded for performances in ranking tournaments. ^[1]

Methodology

The Professional Darts Corporation adopted an Order of Merit system in 2007, which is based on prize money won over two years for the main Order of Merit and separate one-year rankings for other PDC Pro Tour events.

PDC Order of Merit

PDC Order of Merit as of 12 January 2025. ^[2]

Players ranked 1 - 32
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
1		Luke Humphries	£1,804,250
2		Luke Littler	£1,118,500
3		Michael van Gerwen	£815,500
4		Rob Cross	£551,750
5		Stephen Bunting	£536,000
6		Dave Chisnall	£528,500
7		Jonny Clayton	£494,000
8		Damon Heta	£484,000
9		Gerwyn Price	£480,500
10		Chris Dobey	£480,250
11		Nathan Aspinall	£470,500
12		Peter Wright	£442,500
13		Danny Noppert	£431,750
14		Gary Anderson	£430,500
15		James Wade	£426,750
16		Josh Rock	£405,000
16		Michael Smith	£405,000
18		Dimitri Van den Bergh	£399,250
19		Ryan Searle	£398,250
20		Andrew Gilding	£395,500
21		Ross Smith	£395,000
22		Martin Schindler	£365,000
23		Joe Cullen	£357,250
24		Mike De Decker	£356,000
25		Daryl Gurney	£334,250
26		Dirk van Duijvenbode	£325,750
27		Gian van Veen	£299,000
28		Ritchie Edhouse	£289,250
29		Ryan Joyce	£282,000
30		Ricardo Pietreczko	£280,750
31		Brendan Dolan	£271,500
32		Krzysztof Ratajski	£267,750
*Change since 3 January 2025.

PDC Order of Merit as of 12 January 2025. ^[2]

Players ranked 33 - 64
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
33		Luke Woodhouse	£262,750
34		Raymond van Barneveld	£252,750
35		Jermaine Wattimena	£240,250
36		Scott Williams	£220,750
37		Gabriel Clemens	£219,750
38		Martin Lukeman	£202,500
39		Cameron Menzies	£178,000
40		Callan Rydz	£177,000
41		Kevin Doets	£146,500
42		Madars Razma	£144,750
43		Mickey Mansell	£143,250
44		Ricky Evans	£142,250
45		José de Sousa	£139,000
46		Kim Huybrechts	£136,000
47		Richard Veenstra	£122,750
48		Niels Zonneveld	£121,250
49		Ian White	£116,250
50		Keane Barry	£115,250
51		Jim Williams	£111,250
52		William O'Connor	£107,000
53		Florian Hempel	£103,000
53		Matt Campbell	£103,000
55		Wessel Nijman	£100,000
56	1	Alan Soutar	£85,500
57	1	Dylan Slevin	£80,500
58	1	Robert Owen	£80,250
59	1	Ryan Meikle	£78,500
60	1	Stephen Burton	£78,000
61	1	Connor Scutt	£77,000
62	1	Mensur Suljović	£75,250
63	1	Jeffrey de Graaf	£75,000
64	1	Nick Kenny	£71,750
*Change since 3 January 2025.

Click "show" to view players ranked outside top 64

PDC Order of Merit as of 12 January 2025. ^[2]

Players ranked 65th or lower
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
65	9	Thibault Tricole	£57,250
66	13	James Hurrell	£45,750
67	15	Dom Taylor	£39,500
68	16	Chris Landman	£39,250
69	20	Mario Vandenbogaerde	£31,000
70	20	Rhys Griffin	£28,000
71	24	Andy Baetens	£24,500
72	24	Berry van Peer	£23,500
73	26	Nathan Rafferty	£22,250
74	26	Steve Lennon	£22,000
75	26	Radek Szagański	£21,750
76	26	Lukas Wenig	£21,500
77	31	Patrick Geeraets	£19,000
77	31	Matthew Dennant	£19,000
79	32	Darren Beveridge	£18,750
80	33	Jitse Van der Wal	£18,250
81	33	Benjamin Reus	£18,000
82	34	Danny Lauby	£17,000
83	35	Robert Grundy	£16,500
84	40	George Killington	£14,500
85	40	Owen Bates	£14,000
86	40	Brett Claydon	£13,750
87	40	Martijn Dragt	£13,500
87	40	Adam Hunt	£13,500
89	41	Haupai Puha	£12,500
90	45	Jelle Klaasen	£11,750
91	45	William Borland	£11,500
92	53	Tim Wolters	£7,500
92	53	Joshua Richardson	£7,500
94	69	Michele Turetta	£6,000
95	75	Jules van Dongen	£4,000
*Change since 3 January 2025.

Secondary Orders of Merit

In addition to the main two-year Order of Merit, the PDC also operates secondary Orders of Merit for their different tours. These include the:

• ProTour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in Players Championships and European Tour events over a 12-month rolling period. In addition to qualification for televised tournaments, this ranking determines the seedings for Pro Tour events. ^[3]
• European Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in European Tour events during the calendar year. The top 32 on this ranking list comprise the qualifiers for the European Championship, all seeded, at the end of the year. ^[4]
• Players Championship Order of Merit, which counts money earned in Player Championship events during the calendar year. The top 64 on this ranking list are the seeded qualifiers to the Players Championship Finals. ^[5]
• Challenge Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned on the Challenge Tour (by non Tour Card holders that participated in Q-School) during the calendar year. The top players at the end of the year qualify for the World Championship, UK Open, and receive Tour Cards. ^[6]
• Development Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned on the Development Tour (by Tour Card holders and non Tour Card holders alike, aged 16–23) during the calendar year. The top players at the end of the year qualify for the World Championship, UK Open, and receive Tour Cards. ^[7]
• Women's Series Order of Merit, which was introduced in 2021 after the first women's series events were introduced in 2020. ^[8] The tournament series qualifies two women to the Grand Slam, and World Championship. ^[9]

Player exemptions and seedings

The PDC rankings from all orders of merit determine exemptions from the qualifying competitions and seedings for all televised events. Additionally, the orders of merit are used to offer tour cards for the following year.

PDC Order of Merit Exemptions ^[8]

Tournament	Qualifiers (seeds)
	By Order of Merit							Other
	Main	PT	ET	PC	CT	DT	WS
Ranked televised events
World Championship	32 (32)	32	—		2	2	2	26
World Masters	24 (16) [a]	—			[nb 1]	[nb 1]	[nb 1]	8 [b]
UK Open	TCH	—			8	8	—	16
World Matchplay	16 (16)	16	—
World Grand Prix	16 (8)	16	—
European Championship	—		32 (32)	—
Grand Slam of Darts	0 (8)	—			2	2	2	18
Players Championship Finals	—			64 (64)	—
PDC Pro Tour
European Tour events	16	16 (16)	—					16
Players Championship events	TCH	0 (32)	—
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts	4	—						4
Champions League of Darts	8 (8)	—
Tour Cards	64	—			2	2	—	var

1. The top 8 non-tour card holders will enter at the preliminary round group stage

1. Players Ranked 25–56 will enter at the last 64 of the preliminary round, while Players Ranked 57–88 will be seeded in the preliminary round group stage, and Players Ranked 89–128 will enter at the preliminary rounded group stage non-seeded ^[10]
2. The 8 qualifiers from the preliminary round

Ranking tournaments

The PDC holds a variety of ranked and unranked televised tournaments throughout the year. There are an additional selection of ranked floor and streamed tournaments that comprise the PDC Pro Tour, as well as unranked secondary tours and events such as the Challenge Tour, Development Tour, and event qualifiers. Money earned in all ranking events counts toward the Order of Merit, with none counting from the unranked events. ^[8]

PDC Ranking Tournaments with Payouts ^[8]

Tournament	Prize money
	Total	Champion	Runner-up	Semi-finalists	Top 8	Top 16	Top 32	Top 64	Top 96	Top 128
Ranked televised events
World Championship	£2,500,000	£500,000	£200,000	£100,000	£50,000	£35,000	£25,000	£15,000	£7,500	—
UK Open	£600,000	£110,000	£50,000	£30,000	£15,000	£10,000	£5,000	£2,500	£1,500	£1,000
World Matchplay	£800,000	£200,000	£100,000	£50,000	£30,000	£15,000	£10,000	—
World Grand Prix	£600,000	£120,000	£60,000	£40,000	£25,000	£15,000	£7,500	—
European Championship	£600,000	£120,000	£60,000	£40,000	£25,000	£15,000	£7,500	—
Grand Slam of Darts [A]	£650,000	£150,000	£70,000	£50,000	£25,000	£12,250	£5,000 [B]	—
Players Championship Finals	£600,000	£120,000	£60,000	£30,000	£20,000	£10,000	£6,500	£3,000	—
PDC Pro Tour [C]
13 European Tour events	£175,000	£30,000	£12,000	£8,500	£6,000	£4,000	£2,500 [D]	£1,250 [E]	—
30 Players Championship events	£125,000	£15,000	£10,000	£5,000	£3,500	£2,500	£1,500	£1,000	—
Total yearly ranking payouts	£11,625,000	£2,070,000	£996,000	£1,141,000	£1,432,000	£1,822,000	£2,208,000	£1,636,000	£288,000	£32,000

1. The Grand Slam pays an additional £3,500 to the 8 group winners.
2. The Grand Slam pays £8,000 and £5,000 for third and fourth place finishers respectively in the group stage, which comprise the top 32.
3. The 2020 PDC Pro Tour was reduced to 4 European Tour events and 23 Players Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. The 16 seeded players at a European Tour event do not receive money toward OoM for a top 32 finish.
5. European Tour events pay out to 48 players (the complete field).

Unranked tournaments

The PDC operates additional unranked tournaments for tour card holders and occasional qualifiers throughout the year. This includes five televised premier invitational events comprising the Premier League, Champions League of Darts, World Series of Darts Finals, The Masters, and the World Cup of Darts pairs event. ^{[11] [12]} Although none of these events count toward the Order of Merit, they all award some number of tournament spots based on Order of Merit position. Additionally there are usually five to seven World Series of Darts events scheduled across the globe each year with eight top PDC players seeded over eight local qualifiers. ^[8]

Secondary tours and tournaments

The PDC also offers secondary tours that do not count toward the main Order of Merit, but do each include their own confined orders of merit. The Challenge Tour is open to any players who played at the most recent Q-School but failed to earn a tour card. Throughout the year, the top players on the Challenge Tour OoM are invited to fill openings on the Pro Tour, receive invitations to the World Championship and UK Open, and at the end of the year receive tour cards for the next two years. ^[8]

The Development Tour is open to players outside of the top 32 on the main Order of Merit who are between the ages of 16 and 23. Similarly to the Challenge Tour, the top players on the Development Tour order of merit receive tour cards and invitations to the UK Open and World Championship. Additionally, 96 players - comprising 16 invitations, tour card holders of the appropriate age, and Development Tour competitors - partake in the World Youth Championship. Although this championship does not count toward any order of merit, there is a £60,000 payout, and the finalists receive tour cards as well as berths in the Grand Slam and World Championship. ^[8]

Previous world ranking system

Under the previous ranking points system, Colin Lloyd was the world number one player in the PDC for most of 2005 and 2006, despite most of the major titles being shared between Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld and John Part. Although Lloyd also won two major titles, he often accumulated ranking points in the less prestigious non-televised events, in which Taylor did not always compete. Similarly, Alan Warriner was world number one on four occasions before ever winning his first and only PDC major, the 2001 Grand Prix, while Taylor won eight world championships and a host of other titles during that period.

Previous World Number Ones

PDC Ranking Leaders Timeline ^{[13] [14]}

13 players have held the position of World Number One since the World Darts Council started new rankings in 1993. Seven different players held the position in the old points system, and seven players have held the position since the PDC switched to the two-year earnings based Order of Merit system in 2007, with Phil Taylor being the only player to have been number one in both eras.

Player	#	Years in which player stood Number 1
Phil Taylor	13	1996 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Michael van Gerwen	7	2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Alan Warriner	6	1993 1994 1997 1998 2001 2002
Rod Harrington	5	1995 1996 1998 1999 2000
Colin Lloyd	3	2005 2006 2007
Dennis Priestley	2	1994 1995
Peter Manley	2	2000 2001
Gerwyn Price	2	2021 2022
Luke Humphries	2	2024 2025
Raymond van Barneveld	1	2008
John Part	1	2003
Peter Wright	1	2022
Michael Smith	1	2023
Italic indicates the player was reigning world champion that year Bold indicates the player stood number one at the conclusion of that year's world championship

Periods

No.	Player(s)	From		Length	Ref.
1	Alan Warriner-Little	January 1993	Incarnation of the WDC	674 days [A]	[13]
2	Dennis Priestley	6 November 1994	1994 Lada UK Masters	155	[13] [15]
3	Rod Harrington	10 April 1995	1995 UK Matchplay	479 days [A]	[13] [15]
4	Phil Taylor	August 1996		31 days [A]	[13] [15]
	Alan Warriner-Little (2)	September 1996		699 days [A]	[13] [15]
	Rod Harrington (2)	1 August 1998	1998 World Matchplay	728 days	[13] [15]
	Phil Taylor (2)	29 July 2000	2000 World Matchplay	57 days	[13] [15]
5	Peter Manley	24 September 2000	2000 Windy City Open	399 days	[13] [15]
	Alan Warriner-Little (3)	28 October 2001	2001 World Grand Prix	69 days	[13] [15]
	Alan Warriner-Little (4) and Phil Taylor (3)	5 January 2002	2002 World Championship	28 days	[13] [15]
	Alan Warriner-Little (5)	2 February 2002	2002 Eastbourne Open	88 days [A]	[13] [15]
	Phil Taylor (4)	May 2002		248 days [A]	[13] [15]
6	John Part	4 January 2003	2003 World Championship	203 days	[13] [15]
	Phil Taylor (5)	26 July 2003	2003 Bobby Bourn Memorial Trophy	582 days	[13] [15]
7	Colin Lloyd	27 February 2005	2005 West Tyrone Open	469 days	[16] [15]
	Phil Taylor (6)	11 June 2006	2006 UK Open	7 days	[17] [18]
	Colin Lloyd (2)	18 June 2006	2006 Players Championship 3	197 days	[18] [15]
	Phil Taylor (7)	1 January 2007	2007 World Championship	365 days	[13] [15]
8	Raymond van Barneveld	1 January 2008	2008 World Championship	159 days	[19] [15]
	Phil Taylor (8)	8 June 2008	2008 UK Open	2,033 days	[19] [20]
9	Michael van Gerwen	1 January 2014	2014 World Championship	2,559 days	[20] [21]
10	Gerwyn Price	3 January 2021	2021 World Championship	427 days	[21] [22]
11	Peter Wright	6 March 2022	2022 UK Open	140 days	[22] [23]
	Gerwyn Price (2)	24 July 2022	2022 World Matchplay	77 days	[23]
	Peter Wright (2)	9 October 2022	2022 World Grand Prix	21 days	[24]
	Gerwyn Price (3)	30 October 2022	2022 European Championship	65 days	[24] [25]
12	Michael Smith	3 January 2023	2023 World Championship	365 days	[25]
13	Luke Humphries	3 January 2024	2024 World Championship	387 days	[26] [27]

1. Uses 1st of month where exact date unknown.

Key

Before January 2007	Used old points system
Current	Reigning number one on Order of Merit

Total Days at No. 1

No.	Player	Total Days at No 1	Longest Consecutive Run
1	Phil Taylor	3323	2033
2	Michael van Gerwen	2559	2559
3	Alan Warriner-Little	1558	699
4	Rod Harrington	1207	728
5	Colin Lloyd	666	469
6	Gerwyn Price	569	427
7	Peter Manley	399	399
8	Luke Humphries	387	387
9	Michael Smith	365	365
10	John Part	203	203
11	Peter Wright	161	140
12	Raymond van Barneveld	159	159
13	Dennis Priestley	155	155
Active players in bold.

First WDC/PDC rankings

Following the World Darts Council split from the British Darts Organisation between 1992 and 1994, the WDC drew up its first ranking list in the run-up to its inaugural 1994 World Championship. Mike Gregory and Chris Johns later went back to the BDO set up, and Bobby George and many of the non-UK players never competed in the early days of the WDC.^{[ citation needed ]}

Ranking	Player		Ranking	Player
1	Alan Warriner		16	Jann Hoffmann
2	Rod Harrington		=	Chris Johns
3	Phil Taylor		=	Roland Scholten
4	John Lowe		19	Raymond van Barneveld
5	Mike Gregory		=	Keith Deller
6	Peter Evison		21	Bobby George
7	Kevin Spiolek		22	Per Skau
=	Dennis Priestley		23	Bernd Hebecker
9	Bob Anderson		=	Andree Welge
10	Jocky Wilson		=	Pascal Rabau
11	Jamie Harvey		26	Leo Laurens
12	Eric Bristow		=	Bert Vlaardingerbroek
13	Cliff Lazarenko		=	Tom Kirby
14	Magnus Caris		=	Wayne Weening
=	Steve Beaton		=	Mauro Levy

References

1. "PDC Rankings". Global Darts. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
2. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 12 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
3. "ProTour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
4. "2020 European Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
5. "Players Championship Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
6. "Challenge Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
7. "Development Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
8. "PDC Order of Merit Rules". PDC. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
9. "2024 PDC Women's Series Order of Merit" . Retrieved 15 October 2023.
10. Gill, Samuel (25 December 2024). "Format confirmed for 2025 Winmau World Masters including much-loved sets returning". Darts News. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
11. "Champions League of Darts: BBC to broadcast inaugural tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
12. "2015 Masters held in Milton Keynes". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
13. "World Number 1 (PDC)". Professional Dart Players Association . Retrieved 10 October 2020.
14. Nicholson, Paul (29 November 2023). "World number ones in darts: Michael Smith joins illustrious list of 12 players to reach the top of the PDC rankings including Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price". Sporting Life. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
15. "Darts Database Player Stats". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
16. "Lloydy on top of the World". PDC. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
17. "Taylor Regains Number One Spot". PDC. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
18. "Lloyd Confirmed As Number One". PDC. 20 June 2006.
19. "Taylor Back on Top". PDC. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
20. Walters, Mike (1 January 2014). "Michael van Gerwen is Ladbrokes PDC World Darts Champion after beating Peter Wright". Mirror. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
21. Allen, Dave (4 January 2021). "A number one hit! Price joins exclusive list to top rankings". PDC.
22. "Peter Wright is world number one darts player after Gerwyn Price fails to reach UK Open final". Sporting Life. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
23. Gorton, Josh (22 July 2022). "Price denies De Sousa in Winter Gardens thriller to seal semi-final spot". PDC . Retrieved 24 July 2022.
24. Gill, Samuel (31 October 2022). "Price regains World Number One spot, Ross Smith into top 20 after maiden major win in updated PDC Order of Merit after European Championship". Darts News. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
25. "Michael Smith beats Michael van Gerwen to win first world title with 'best leg of darts ever'". ESPN. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
26. Wood, Kieran (3 January 2024). "Luke Humphries the new world number one after World Darts Championships". Darts News. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
27. Gill, Samuel (4 January 2025). "PDC Order of Merit Update: Luke Littler passes Michael van Gerwen but World Number One out of reach for now". Darts News. Retrieved 5 January 2025.

External links

• Official PDC Order of Merit