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 Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded for performances in ranking tournaments.^[1]

The Order of Merit is not similar to that employed in golf's European Tour. Prize money won during the previous two seasons is calculated and the rankings are determined from this money list. 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 as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 1 - 24
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
1		Luke Humphries	£1,804,250
2	1	Michael Smith	£890,000
3	1	Michael van Gerwen	£815,500
4	1	Luke Littler	£618,500
5	1	Rob Cross	£571,750
6		Dave Chisnall	£538,500
7		Jonny Clayton	£509,000
8		Stephen Bunting	£486,000
9	2	Damon Heta	£484,000
10		Gerwyn Price	£480,500
11	2	Dimitri Van den Bergh	£474,250
12	2	Nathan Aspinall	£445,500
13	1	Danny Noppert	£441,750
14	1	Gary Anderson	£440,500
15		Chris Dobey	£430,250
16		James Wade	£426,750
17		Peter Wright	£417,500
18		Josh Rock	£415,000
19	2	Ross Smith	£405,000
20	1	Ryan Searle	£398,250
21	1	Andrew Gilding	£385,500
22	1	Martin Schindler	£375,000
23	1	Joe Cullen	£367,250
24		Mike De Decker	£356,000
*Change since 17 November 2024.

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 25 - 48
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
25		Dirk van Duijvenbode	£345,750
26		Daryl Gurney	£324,250
27		Gabriel Clemens	£304,750
28		Gian van Veen	£284,000
29		Ritchie Edhouse	£281,750
30	1	Brendan Dolan	£271,500
31	1	Krzysztof Ratajski	£267,750
32		Raymond van Barneveld	£262,750
33	1	Ryan Joyce	£254,500
34	1	Ricardo Pietreczko	£245,750
35		Luke Woodhouse	£242,750
36		Jermaine Wattimena	£222,750
37	1	Scott Williams	£210,750
38	1	Martin Lukeman	£202,500
39		Cameron Menzies	£185,500
40		José de Sousa	£174,000
41		Kim Huybrechts	£163,500
42	1	Mickey Mansell	£143,250
43	1	Callan Rydz	£142,000
44		Madars Razma	£134,750
45		Ricky Evans	£132,250
46		Jim Williams	£128,750
47	3	Richard Veenstra	£115,250
48		William O'Connor	£114,500
*Change since 17 November 2024.

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 49 - 72
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
49	4	Niels Zonneveld	£113,750
50	1	Alan Soutar	£113,000
51		Kevin Doets	£111,500
52	5	Keane Barry	£107,750
53	2	Florian Hempel	£103,000
54		Steve Beaton	£96,500
55	3	Matt Campbell	£95,500
56		Mensur Suljović	£92,750
57	2	Ian White	£91,250
58	2	Wessel Nijman	£85,000
58		Boris Krčmar	£85,000
60	3	Simon Whitlock	£84,250
61	1	Mervyn King	£82,500
62	1	Ryan Meikle	£78,500
63	1	Jamie Hughes	£72,750
64	4	Stephen Burton	£70,500
65	1	Adam Gawlas	£68,750
66	1	Lee Evans	£66,750
67		Dylan Slevin	£65,500
68	2	Karel Sedláček	£63,750
69	3	Vincent van der Voort	£63,500
70	8	Connor Scutt	£62,000
71	2	Rowby-John Rodriguez	£58,750
72	1	Maik Kuivenhoven	£56,500
*Change since 17 November 2024.

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 73 - 96
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
73		Wesley Plaisier	£54,500
74	2	Jeffrey de Zwaan	£51,000
75	1	Daniel Klose	£47,250
76		Nick Kenny	£46,750
77	2	Robert Owen	£45,250
78	1	Keegan Brown	£42,750
79	4	Thibault Tricole	£42,250
80	1	Jeffrey Sparidaans	£41,500
81	5	Jeffrey de Graaf	£40,000
82	2	Graham Hall	£39,500
82	2	Dom Taylor	£39,500
84	2	Arron Monk	£37,750
85	1	Graham Usher	£32,250
85	1	Jurjen van der Velde	£32,250
87		Chris Landman	£31,750
88	3	Mario Vandenbogaerde	£31,000
89	1	James Hurrell	£30,750
90	1	Pascal Rupprecht	£26,500
91		Andy Baetens	£24,500
92	1	Josh Payne	£23,500
92	1	Berry van Peer	£23,500
94	4	Adrian Lewis	£22,500
95		Nathan Rafferty	£22,250
96		Steve Lennon	£22,000
*Change since 17 November 2024.

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 97 - 120
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
97		Radek Szagański	£21,750
98		Lukas Wenig	£21,500
99		Owen Roelofs	£21,000
100		Danny van Trijp	£20,500
101		Callum Goffin	£20,250
102		Christian Kist	£19,750
103		Adam Warner	£19,500
104		Patrick Geeraets	£19,000
104		Matthew Dennant	£19,000
104		Geert Nentjes	£19,000
107		Darren Beveridge	£18,750
107		Adam Smith-Neale	£18,750
109		Jitse Van der Wal	£18,250
110		Benjamin Reus	£18,000
111		Ronny Huybrechts	£17,750
112		Andy Boulton	£17,000
112		Danny Lauby	£17,000
114		Robert Grundy	£16,500
115		Robbie Knops	£16,250
116		Christian Perez	£15,500
117		George Killington	£14,500
118		Owen Bates	£14,000
119		Brett Claydon	£13,750
120		Martijn Dragt	£13,500
120		Adam Hunt	£13,500
*Change since 17 November 2024.

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 121 - 144
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
122		Darryl Pilgrim	£13,000
122		Rhys Griffin	£13,000
124		Stefan Bellmont	£12,500
124		Danny Jansen	£12,500
124		Haupai Puha	£12,500
127		Jelle Klaasen	£11,750
128		William Borland	£11,500
128		Leighton Bennett	£11,500
130		Leonard Gates	£10,500
130		Franz Rötzsch	£10,500
132		Lee Cocks	£10,000
132		Cameron Crabtree	£10,000
134		John Henderson	£8,500
135		Jacques Labre	£8,250
135		Kai Gotthardt	£8,250
137		Richie Burnett	£7,500
137		Paul Krohne	£7,500
137		Tim Wolters	£7,500
137		Joshua Richardson	£7,500
141		Justin Hood	£7,000
142		Michele Turetta	£6,000
143		Jamie Atkins	£5,500
144		Beau Greaves	£5,000
144		Lourence Ilagan	£5,000
144		Noa-Lynn van Leuven	£5,000
144		Jimmy van Schie	£5,000
144		Sebastian Białecki	£5,000
*Change since 17 November 2024.

Click "show" to view players ranked outside top 144

PDC Order of Merit as of 24 November 2024.^[2]

Players ranked 65th or lower
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
65	1	Adam Gawlas	£68,750
66	1	Lee Evans	£66,750
67		Dylan Slevin	£65,500
68	2	Karel Sedláček	£63,750
69	3	Vincent van der Voort	£63,500
70	8	Connor Scutt	£62,000
71	2	Rowby-John Rodriguez	£58,750
72	1	Maik Kuivenhoven	£56,500
73		Wesley Plaisier	£54,500
74	2	Jeffrey de Zwaan	£51,000
75	1	Daniel Klose	£47,250
76		Nick Kenny	£46,750
77	2	Robert Owen	£45,250
78	1	Keegan Brown	£42,750
79	4	Thibault Tricole	£42,250
80	1	Jeffrey Sparidaans	£41,500
81	5	Jeffrey de Graaf	£40,000
82	2	Graham Hall	£39,500
82	2	Dom Taylor	£39,500
84	2	Arron Monk	£37,750
85	1	Graham Usher	£32,250
85	1	Jurjen van der Velde	£32,250
87		Chris Landman	£31,750
88	3	Mario Vandenbogaerde	£31,000
89	1	James Hurrell	£30,750
90	1	Pascal Rupprecht	£26,500
91		Andy Baetens	£24,500
92	1	Josh Payne	£23,500
92	1	Berry van Peer	£23,500
94	4	Adrian Lewis	£22,500
95		Nathan Rafferty	£22,250
96		Steve Lennon	£22,000
97		Radek Szagański	£21,750
98		Lukas Wenig	£21,500
99		Owen Roelofs	£21,000
100		Danny van Trijp	£20,500
101		Callum Goffin	£20,250
102		Christian Kist	£19,750
103		Adam Warner	£19,500
104		Patrick Geeraets	£19,000
104		Matthew Dennant	£19,000
104		Geert Nentjes	£19,000
107		Darren Beveridge	£18,750
107		Adam Smith-Neale	£18,750
109		Jitse Van der Wal	£18,250
110		Benjamin Reus	£18,000
111		Ronny Huybrechts	£17,750
112		Andy Boulton	£17,000
112		Danny Lauby	£17,000
114		Robert Grundy	£16,500
115		Robbie Knops	£16,250
116		Christian Perez	£15,500
117		George Killington	£14,500
118		Owen Bates	£14,000
119		Brett Claydon	£13,750
120		Martijn Dragt	£13,500
120		Adam Hunt	£13,500
122		Darryl Pilgrim	£13,000
122		Rhys Griffin	£13,000
124		Stefan Bellmont	£12,500
124		Danny Jansen	£12,500
124		Haupai Puha	£12,500
127		Jelle Klaasen	£11,750
128		William Borland	£11,500
128		Leighton Bennett	£11,500
130		Leonard Gates	£10,500
130		Franz Rötzsch	£10,500
132		Lee Cocks	£10,000
132		Cameron Crabtree	£10,000
134		John Henderson	£8,500
135		Jacques Labre	£8,250
135		Kai Gotthardt	£8,250
137		Richie Burnett	£7,500
137		Paul Krohne	£7,500
137		Tim Wolters	£7,500
137		Joshua Richardson	£7,500
141		Justin Hood	£7,000
142		Michele Turetta	£6,000
143		Jamie Atkins	£5,500
144		Beau Greaves	£5,000
144		Lourence Ilagan	£5,000
144		Noa-Lynn van Leuven	£5,000
144		Jimmy van Schie	£5,000
144		Sebastian Białecki	£5,000
149		Romeo Grbavac	£4,750
150		Ted Evetts	£4,500
150		Oskar Lukasiak	£4,500
152		Pavel Drtil	£4,000
152		Jules van Dongen	£4,000
154		Marko Kantele	£3,750
154		Cor Dekker	£3,750
154		Johan Engström	£3,750
154		Kevin Troppmann	£3,750
154		Michael Unterbuchner	£3,750
159		Jiri Brejcha	£2,500
159		Anton Östlund	£2,500
159		Bruno Stöckli	£2,500
159		Roger Hertig	£2,500
159		Shane McGuirk	£2,500
159		Alberto Bezjian	£2,500
159		Max Hopp	£2,500
159		Niko Springer	£2,500
159		Matthias Ehlers	£2,500
159		Jan Dueckers	£2,500
159		Marvin van Velzen	£2,500
159		Moreno Blom	£2,500
159		Moritz Hilger	£2,500
159		Darius Labanauskas	£2,500
159		Andreas Harrysson	£2,500
159		Scott Mitchell	£2,500
175		Dragutin Horvat	£2,250
175		René Eidams	£2,250
177		Aden Kirk	£2,000
177		Thomas Lovely	£2,000
179		Jarred Cole	£1,500
179		Joe Croft	£1,500
179		Michael Taylor	£1,500
182		Daniel Markovsky	£1,250
182		Michal Smejda	£1,250
182		Patrik Kovács	£1,250
182		Alex Fehlmann	£1,250
182		Marcel Walpen	£1,250
182		Nándor Prés	£1,250
182		András Csóka	£1,250
182		György Jehirszki	£1,250
182		János Végső	£1,250
182		Brian Raman	£1,250
182		François Schweyen	£1,250
182		Jody Tobback	£1,250
182		Luc Bogaert	£1,250
182		Krzysztof Kciuk	£1,250
182		Benjamin Pratnemer	£1,250
182		Nico Blum	£1,250
182		Damian Mol	£1,250
182		Teemu Harju	£1,250
182		Christopher Toonders	£1,250
182		Daniel Larsson	£1,250
182		Christian Gödl	£1,250
182		Dominik Haberl	£1,250
182		Hannes Schnier	£1,250
182		Zoran Lerchbacher	£1,250
182		Arno Merk	£1,250
182		Alexander Mašek	£1,250
182		Patrick Klingelhöfer	£1,250
182		Oliver Mueller	£1,250
182		Viktor Tingström	£1,250
182		Vítězslav Sedlák	£1,250
182		Born Van Put	£1,250
182		Geert De Vos	£1,250
182		Jeroen Caron	£1,250
182		Steven Strobbe	£1,250
216		Dominik Grüllich	£1,000
216		Alexander Merkx	£1,000
216		Stefaan Henderyck	£1,000
216		Reece Colley	£1,000
216		Bradley Brooks	£1,000
216		Harry Lane	£1,000
216		Jack Male	£1,000
216		Jenson Walker	£1,000
216		Johnny Haines	£1,000
216		Ron Meulenkamp	£1,000
216		Tom Lonsdale	£1,000
*Change since 17 November 2024.

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]

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.

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

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.^[10][11] 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]

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.

PDC Ranking Leaders Timeline^[12]

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
Raymond van Barneveld	1	2008
John Part	1	2003
Peter Wright	1	2022
Michael Smith	1	2023
Luke Humphries	1	2024
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

No.	Player(s)	From		Length	Ref.
1	Alan Warriner-Little	January 1993	Incarnation of the WDC	674 days[A]	[12]
2	Dennis Priestley	6 November 1994	1994 Lada UK Masters	155	[12][13]
3	Rod Harrington	10 April 1995	1995 UK Matchplay	479 days[A]	[12][13]
4	Phil Taylor	August 1996		31 days[A]	[12][13]
	Alan Warriner-Little (2)	September 1996		699 days[A]	[12][13]
	Rod Harrington (2)	1 August 1998	1998 World Matchplay	728 days	[12][13]
	Phil Taylor (2)	29 July 2000	2000 World Matchplay	57 days	[12][13]
5	Peter Manley	24 September 2000	2000 Windy City Open	399 days	[12][13]
	Alan Warriner-Little (3)	28 October 2001	2001 World Grand Prix	69 days	[12][13]
	Alan Warriner-Little (4) and Phil Taylor (3)	5 January 2002	2002 World Championship	28 days	[12][13]
	Alan Warriner-Little (5)	2 February 2002	2002 Eastbourne Open	88 days[A]	[12][13]
	Phil Taylor (4)	May 2002		248 days[A]	[12][13]
6	John Part	4 January 2003	2003 World Championship	203 days	[12][13]
	Phil Taylor (5)	26 July 2003	2003 Bobby Bourn Memorial Trophy	582 days	[12][13]
7	Colin Lloyd	27 February 2005	2005 West Tyrone Open	469 days	[14][13]
	Phil Taylor (6)	11 June 2006	2006 UK Open	7 days	[15][16]
	Colin Lloyd (2)	18 June 2006	2006 Players Championship 3	197 days	[16][13]
	Phil Taylor (7)	1 January 2007	2007 World Championship	365 days	[12][13]
8	Raymond van Barneveld	1 January 2008	2008 World Championship	159 days	[17][13]
	Phil Taylor (8)	8 June 2008	2008 UK Open	2,033 days	[17][18]
9	Michael van Gerwen	1 January 2014	2014 World Championship	2,559 days	[18][19]
10	Gerwyn Price	3 January 2021	2021 World Championship	427 days	[19][20]
11	Peter Wright	6 March 2022	2022 UK Open	140 days	[20][21]
	Gerwyn Price (2)	24 July 2022	2022 World Matchplay	77 days	[21]
	Peter Wright (2)	9 October 2022	2022 World Grand Prix	21 days	[22]
	Gerwyn Price (3)	30 October 2022	2022 European Championship	65 days	[22][23]
12	Michael Smith	3 January 2023	2023 World Championship	365 days	[23]
13	Luke Humphries	3 January 2024	2024 World Championship	328 days

Key

Following the World Darts Council (now PDC) split from the British Darts Organisation during 1992-94 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

• Professional Darts Corporation

• Official PDC Order of Merit