The PDC Order of Merit, known for sponsorship purposes as the Werner Rankings Ladder,[1] is the world ranking system for professional darts players used by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which ranks players according to the prize money won in PDC ranking tournaments. These world rankings are used to determine qualification and seeding for the televised ranking tournaments as well as the awarding of PDC Tour Cards at the end of the season.[2] The Order of Merit format has been used since the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship, superseding the original PDC World Ranking system established in 1993, where points awarded for performances in tournaments according to their relative prestige.[3][4] Upon the introduction of the rankings, the first player to hold the number one rank was Alan Warriner.[5] Since 1993, twelve other players have held the top spot, including Luke Humphries, the current world number one.[6] Alongside the main Order of Merit, the PDC also operate several secondary Orders of Merit which count prize money won on specific PDC Tours and may also offer qualification to specific televised events.
The PDC World Darts Championship offers the highest amount of prize money of any event contributing to the Order of Merit.
The Professional Darts Corporation adopted the current Order of Merit system in 2007. In this system, the total prize money won in PDC ranking events over the eligibility period is counted. For PDC Tour Card holders, this eligibility period is either the previous two years or since the player was awarded a tour card, whichever is shorter.[4] The PDC World Darts Championship is considered last event of the season, after which the year-end Order of Merit is calculated and players in the top 64 offered a Tour Card for the following year.[4] New Tour Card holders start on £0, even if they held a Tour Card in the previous season but failed to make the top 64, resulting in them having to regain their Tour Card through the qualifying tournament, Q School.[4] Players without Tour Cards who earn money in ranking tournaments (such as Luke Littler in the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship) are eligible to be ranked during the season,[7] though if they fail to reach the top 64 at the end of the year, their ranking money is reset to £0.[4] If two players are tied and need separating for seeding or event qualification, the tie is broken by player with the highest total earnings across the previous four ranking tournaments. If this fails to break the tie, players' prize money is counted back from the most recent event until a tie can be broken, with the possibility of a play-off if this cannot break the tie.[4]
The PDC holds ranked and unranked tournaments. Ranking tournaments are those which all PDC Tour Card holders are eligible to participate in or qualify for, while unranked tournaments are invitational and do not count toward the Order of Merit. Currently, the Premier League, World Series of Darts events and the World Cup of Darts are the only unranked PDC tournaments with Tour Card Holder participation outside of the secondary tours.[4]
Prize money awarded towards 2025 PDC Order of Merit in ranking tournaments (£1000s)[4]
^Prior to 2025, the World Masters was an invitational tournament for 24 players which did not contribute to the Order of Merit.[8][9]
^An additional £3,500 is awarded to the 8 group winners.
^£8,000 and £5,000 are awarded to the third and fourth place finishers respectively in the group stage, which comprise the top 32.
^In 2025, the Pro Tour expanded from 13 European Tour events to 14 and 30 Players Championship events to 34.[9][10]
^Seeded players at European Tour events automatically qualify to the top 32, and do not receive money toward Order of Merit if they lose at this stage.
In addition to the main two-year Order of Merit, the PDC also operates three Orders of Merit for subsets of the PDC Tour and four Orders of Merit for secondary tours. These rankings offer qualification to televised events and are the basis for seeding in tournaments. Additionally, some secondary tours offer Tour Cards. These are secondary Orders of Merit are the:
Pro Tour 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 Players Championship events.[14]
European Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in European Tour events during the calendar year. The top 32 on this ranking list qualify for the European Championship at the end of the year, where all players are seeded according to their European Tour ranking.[15]
Players Championship Order of Merit, which counts money earned in Player Championship events during the calendar year. The top 64 on this ranking qualify for the Players Championship Finals. Similarly to the European Championship, all players are seeded according to their rank.[16]
Challenge Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in a calendar year on the Challenge Tour, a secondary tour open to players without Tour Cards that participated in the most recent Q-School. Top ranked players at the end of the year may qualify for televised tournaments and receive Tour Cards, depending on their rank.[17] The Challenge Tour Order of Merit also acts as a reserve list for Pro Tour events.[4]
Development Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in a calendar year on the Development Tour, a secondary open to some Tour Card holders and players without Tour Card aged 16–23. Top ranked players at the end of the year may qualify for televised tournaments and receive Tour Cards, depending on their rank.[18]
Women's Series Order of Merit, which counts money earned in a calendar year on the Women's Series, a secondary tour for female players.[4] Top ranked players at the end of the year may qualify for televised tournaments and receive Tour Cards, depending on their rank.[19]
Women's World Matchplay Order of Merit, which counts money earned on the Women's Series earned over an approximately 12-month period prior to the Women's World Matchplay, to the which the top 8 players are invited.[4]
Qualification and seedings to PDC events via PDC Orders of Merit[4]
^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[20]
^ abcThe top 8 eligible players from the Secondary Tours holders enter at the preliminary round group stage
^ abCustomarily, up to 2 Tour Card Holders are invited where possible from each nation, with priority for selection given to the highest-ranked players in the main Order of Merit. However, on some occasions (such as John Henderson's defence of Scotland's 2021 title), a lower-ranked player is invited. Where no Tour Card holders are available for a participating nation, players are invited directly by the PDC or through national qualifiers.[4][21]
^Players who have one year remaining of a two-year Tour Card and players qualifying through Q-school.
Prior to 2007, a ranking point system was used where ranking points were awarded according to the stage reached in a tournament and the relative prestige of the tournament.[22] There was no limit on the number of tournaments which counted to the tally, which meant that the top-ranked players were not necessarily the best-performing in the major tournaments. For instance, 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.[23]
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.
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
Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen
Jonny Clayton
1
1
Damon Heta
Josh Rock
Gary Anderson
Martin Schindler
Mike De Decker
Krzysztof Ratajski
Madars Razma
William O'Connor
Jeffrey de Graaf
Matt Campbell
José de Sousa
Mensur Suljović
Thibault Tricole
Karel Sedláček
Danny Lauby
Benjamin Reus
Haupai Puha
Darius Labanauskas
Michele Turetta
Stefan Bellmont
Boris Krčmar
Cor Dekker
Teemu Harju
Benjamin Pratnemer
György Jehirszki