Who are the top 10 greatest snooker players of all time? Where do Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins and Stephen Hendry rank?
Updated 07/06/2025 at 08:17 GMT+1
Stephen Hendry is adamant Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White should be included in an all-time list of greats despite failing to win any of the six world finals he contested in Sheffield. "When you look back, what a player he was. He invented naughty snooker," said Hendry. With the Crucible Theatre set to host its 50th straight World Championship at the end of the new season, we choose our top 10 icons.
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10. Jimmy White (Eng)
World Championship runner-up: 1984, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
There is always an argument to suggest Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and/or Joe Davis should make any all-time top 10 list, but White is worth his place among the elite because of his pioneering natural attacking ability, flair and, crucially, the effect he had on the development of the game during the 1980s televised boom period in the UK.
The Tooting man is best remembered for reaching six world finals between 1984 and 1994, but somehow contriving to lose them all.
At the age of 63, he continues to play on the professional circuit via a wildcard and showed glimpses of his vintage talent with a run to the last 32 of the UK Championship in 2022.
White succumbed in finals to Steve Davis in 1984, John Parrott in 1991, and most memorably, Stephen Hendry in 1990, 1992, 1993, and of course, 1994, the most agonising of his six defeats when he was among the balls in the deciding frame only to "twitch" a black off the spot when finally poised for an 18-17 victory over the heavy-scoring Scotsman.
"When I watch the old school snooker, how this bloke didn't win a world title is beyond me," said former World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn, the manager of Steve Davis during his 1980s pomp.
"I keep watching it still expecting him to win.
"He's in positions where you wonder: 'How can you fail Jim?"
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9. Ray Reardon (Wal)
World champion: 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978
Reardon provided the blueprint for a new generation of professional players to flourish on the old green baize with Steve Davis, a fellow six-time world champion, in particular, appearing to found his ideals on the Reardon percentage approach, and a formidable long game that saw him dominate the 1970s.
The first player to hold the sport's world No. 1 spot in 1975, Reardon remains the oldest winner of a ranking event at the age of 50 years and 14 days, achieved with a 10-5 win over Jimmy White at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, after his fellow lionised Welsh potter Mark Williams lost 18-12 to Zhao Xintong in last month's world final.
"Ray is one of the best sports people ever from Wales and the best snooker player," said Williams after the sad death of Reardon at the age of 91 last year.
"He's one of the reasons why a lot of us started playing. He put snooker on the map, alongside Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Steve Davis.
"Anyone playing now owes them a lot because they brought popularity to the game. He is a real inspiration."
8. Alex Higgins (NI)
World champion: 1972, 1982
Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins was not the heaviest scorer or the most dedicated professional in the history of snooker, but the Northern Irishman's universal popularity as 'The People's champion' beyond his sport, and a sporting hell-raiser of epic proportions, helped snooker to thrive in the UK during its halcyon days of the 1980s.
A cultural phenomenon with cue in hand, his greatest triumph arguably came at the 1983 UK Championship final when he recovered a 7-0 deficit to defeat his old foe Steve Davis 16-15 in Preston.
Higgins would claim two world titles, against John Spencer (37-31) in 1972 and Reardon (18-15) in 1982, but the second was the solitary world trophy he carried off at the Crucible.
In the semi-finals against White, he trailed 15-14 and 59-0 when he came to the table.
The clearance of 69 on his way to a 16-15 win over White continues to be widely regarded as one of the finest at the Crucible before he eclipsed Reardon in the final.
There was a pot on the blue to a baulk bag when he had made only 13 which was particularly audacious for its day and age.
"Alex Higgins brought something to snooker that nobody could bring," said Ronnie O'Sullivan.
"He made snooker what it was, and turned snooker players into rock stars. Looking back at it, if there was one player responsible for making snooker big in the 1980s, it was definitely Alex Higgins.
"If Higgins hadn't been there, snooker wouldn't have been popular on the back of Steve Davis or Stephen Hendry, who were very reserved in comparison. I think people gravitated towards Alex Higgins.
"He was a showman, he had something about him: a charm, an aura - when he walked into the room you felt there was a presence in the room.
"The audience would feed off that."
7. Judd Trump (Eng)
World champion: 2019
A unique generational talent with an awe-inspiring penchant for crowd-pleasing shots as much as White and Higgins back in the day, Trump is the most consistent tournament winner in the modern history of the sport, claiming a record six in one season in 2020.
The undisputed world No. 1 has so far collected 30 ranking titles and is on course to end his career as the game's most decorated champion, with O'Sullivan only 11 clear of him.
Partly due to an increase in events on the calendar, but mainly because the bounding Bristolian has an innate hunger to win every event he enters.
He could also end up holding the record for the most centuries. He is on 1,087 with O'Sullivan up ahead with 1,289, but the pursuit of totting up tons has also become fashionable in recent times when a break over 70 is traditionally enough to win a frame.
Despite outstanding achievements in a leading role, Trump is unlikely to break the top-five ceiling of the all-time GOAT list without adding at least another word title to his talents.
After suffering an 18-9 beating in the 2019 world final, John Higgins, who had claimed his fourth title with an 18-15 win over Trump in 2011, acknowledged the possibilities.
"He does not just overpower the opponent, he overpowers the snooker table," said Higgins after witnessing his opponent produce seven centuries and eight breaks over 50.
The modern metric has decided the Masters, UK and suddenly the Saudi Arabia Masters are a set of majors over the past decade or so, but the World Championship will ultimately define a player's legacy.
That may sound harsh, but winning the game's ultimate prize only once would feel like a massive underachievement for a figure with Trump's shot-making skills.
"You have to put him up there," said O'Sullivan. "He's won a lot of ranking events. He's won a lot of tournaments, a lot of finals, he's played very well consistently.
"But for Judd now, for him to get really up there with the all-time greats, he's going to have to win four world titles."
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Watch the best of Trump in 2024
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6. Mark Selby (Eng)
World champion: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021
Only the sixth man in history to claim a quartet of world titles, Selby is the complete snooker player in terms of his watertight safety supremacy, long potting, scoring prowess and all-round table craft.
The Leicester player seems to know the right shot to play at the right time, and scores heavily enough to make his devastating defensive approach a lethal weapon in itself.
Despite being renowned for fraternising with sluggish play and tactically exacting frames, Selby can also mix it with the very best of the game's attack dogs. And he can also get a move on when he is feeling the flow.
Almost unplayable at his best, Selby fits snugly inside our top 10 and probably has a valid case to suggest that he could merit a spot inside the top five.
"Having just gone toe-to-toe with him for two days, I’ve got him down as the best all-rounder we’ve ever seen," said Masters champion Murphy after losing 18-15 to Selby in the 2021 Crucible final.
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Watch the moment Selby clinches Welsh Open glory in final against Maguire
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5. Steve Davis (Eng)
World champion: 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989
When drawing up lists, it is easy to be afflicted by recency bias.
It is also rather too easy to forget just how dominant Davis was in the 1980s, a decade which saw the man dubbed the 'Master Cueman' appear in every world final between 1981 and 1989 (apart from 1982 and the 10-1 outlier against Tony Knowles) with just two defeats to (18-17) Dennis Taylor in 1985 and (18-12) to Joe Johnson in 1986.
Huge sporting upsets to rival Wimbledon's 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final. Or Lloyd Honeyghan halting the undefeated Don Curry in the sixth round in Atlantic City to become undisputed welterweight champion in 1986.
Such was his pursuit of perfection, Davis apparently spent more time on terrestrial TV in the 1980s than British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Despite being a victim of rising standards due to the emergence of Hendry and younger predators, Davis still basked in some momentous days in the sun.
Most notably when he recovered from 8-4 behind to complete a 10-8 win over O'Sullivan in the 1997 Masters final at the Wembley Conference Centre and an epic 13-11 win over defending champion John Higgins in the last 16 of the 2010 World Championship in Sheffield.
"Listen, Steve Davis played the game as good as anyone, because when you missed against Steve Davis, you went back to your seat. You knew he was going to win the frame," said Taylor.
"You can’t do any more than that in snooker. John Higgins is a very similar player these days.
"Steve was a man who changed snooker, and changed snooker for the good.
"He put in six and seven hours a day practice. He set the standard for the players today.
"We had to adopt his attitude just to try to get near him in the 1980s."
4. Mark Williams (Wal)
World champion: 2000, 2003, 2018
Williams continues to enjoy a remarkable renaissance period in his career, and almost became the first player entering their 50s to make off with the world title at the Crucible last month.
After winning the world title in 2000 and 2003, he delivered his third with an 18-16 win over Higgins in the final in 2018, a year after failing to qualify for the sport's biggest event.
Arguably playing as well as in 2025 as when he turned professional in 1992, Williams, the world No. 3, has won two British Opens, the Tour Championship and Champions of Champions in recent times, in what has been an extended golden autumn of his career.
Stephen Hendry was recently moved to name Williams as his second-best of all time above Higgins.
"It's very close between Mark Williams and John Higgins, I'd prefer to have them joint-second," commented Hendry.
"I'll go with Mark just because of his recent record against John at the Crucible.
"He is a freak of nature. He has the best temperament of any sportsman I have seen.
"He maybe hasn't got the cue power of others, but he has great touch, and he is just a brilliant potter."
3. John Higgins (Sco)
World champion: 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011
There is very little to split Selby, Davis, Williams or Higgins in terms of style, success in the sport, their approach to winning matchplay and similarities in displaying an inner strength, and an indomitable will to win.
Like Williams, Higgins at 50 seems to be fighting off the ravages of time by unearthing peak form under intense scrutiny.
Having gone four years without winning a major title since the 2021 Players Championship, Higgins ended the season by winning the World Open and Tour Championship.
The Scotsman produced a 10-6 win over Joe O'Connor in the World Open final in Yushan in March, but astonishingly found room for improvement against Mark Selby, an uncompromising opponent who had tortured his soul in recent times.
He trailed Selby 8-5 in the Tour Championship final, witnessing his nemesis recover from 5-1 behind with breaks of 112, 136, 68, 55, 77 and 119, but steeled himself to reel off five straight frames for victory.
Selby would be restricted to only 18 points in the final five frames as Higgins regained his trademark bounce with breaks of 110, 67, 80 and 132, completing a 10-8 triumph that had to be seen to be believed.
It is difficult to recall that the Scot briefly dropped out of the top 16 for a week for the first time since April 1995 last September, such is the levels of brilliance and bottle, both in scoring and in his all-round game, that he has discovered.
He has also won more matches than any other player in the sport with a remarkable 1346 victories and counting.
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2. Stephen Hendry (Sco)
World champion: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999
Like Davis in the 1980s, it is convenient to forget the state of utopia which Hendry reached during his domination of the sport a decade later.
Jimmy White would have won a world title if he had not ran into Davis and Hendry when they were both riding roughshod over the competition.
While longevity eluded him due to technical difficulties in delivering a consistent cue action, Hendry remains a very strong second on the all-time list.
It was the Scotsman who spawned the generation of the attacking players we witness today.
He revelled in 36 ranking titles, won over £8m in prize money, became the sport's youngest world champion at 21 and amassed 777 century breaks since 1985.
His seventh world victory, achieved with an 18-11 win in 1999 against Mark Williams, looked like it might stand alone for several decades until O'Sullivan won the final four of his seven inside a decade between 2012 and 2022.
"When he was only 13 or 14, he came to practice with me and Alex Higgins," said Jimmy White. "We knew then that he was going to be about for a long time.
"Even at that age, you could tell he was a character with a special talent.
"I’ve always had the highest respect for him as a man because he went to Higgins’ funeral.
"Once you’ve potted a ball, getting in and clearing up, the way snooker should be played.
"Alex always had great respect for him.
"We always knew what a talent he was going to be."
- 'He invented naughty snooker' – Hendry names most underrated player ever
- Why Hendry rates Williams as second-greatest of all time
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1. Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng)
World champion: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, 2022
Any debate about O'Sullivan's status as the snooker GOAT surely dissipated when he claimed his seventh world title to equal the modern-day record with an 18-13 win over Trump in 2022.
He holds all the major records in the sport, including eight Masters and UK crowns, and could yet win an eighth world crown if he can unearth a reliable cue that works in harmony with his technical proficiency.
That he managed to reach the semi-finals of the sport's biggest event struggling with his form and inner confidence before losing 17-7 to Zhao suggests there is scope for improvement if the hunger remains strong.
As it is, O'Sullivan could retire tomorrow and be content with his contribution to snooker since turning professional alongside Higgins and Williams in 1992.
Watching the golden years of Davis in the 1980s and the outset of Hendry’s stranglehold in the 1990s helped develop O’Sullivan’s passion for potting balls to such an extent that he has gone beyond them both to become the greatest player of all time.
Neither Hendry nor Davis won the world title beyond their early thirties, but the longevity of O'Sullivan is startling.
A figure who transcends snooker, O’Sullivan has captured the imagination of the public like Alex Higgins and White due to his unpredictability on and off the table, but is on a different plane as an entertainer and winner.
His control of the white ball continues to captivate millions of onlookers beyond the sport, with his 15 maximum breaks also a record in the game.
His 147 in five minutes and eight seconds against Mick Price in the first round in 1997 is a world record feat that is unlikely to be bettered.
When he made his 1000th career century in his 10-4 win over Neil Robertson at the Players Championship final in March 2019, writer, actor, comedian and raconteur Stephen Fry quickly paid tribute to O’Sullivan.
"I know you must get tired of hearing this, Mozart, genius at work and all that, probably bores you rigid, but I wish you knew, perhaps you do, just how much pleasure you've given to millions of us who adore snooker, and who find watching you play one of the most thrilling sights in all of sport," said Fry.
"It's been a privilege to be alive at the same time as you, Ronnie, it's a wonderful thing.
"So thank you, as well as congratulations."
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