Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are locked in an epic battle for darts’ most coveted prize – and it shows no sign of slowing down. ‘The Nuke’ narrowed the gap at the summit of the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder on Sunday after demolishing his rival 6-1 in the World Grand Prix final.
Littler, 18, cruised to glory in Leicester at the weekend, claiming his fourth major crown of the year after his victories at the World Championship, UK Open and World Matchplay. Humphries, though, still sits at the top the world rankings.
To dethrone ‘Cool Hand Luke’ from his throne, Littler must overcome roughly a £100,000 gap in prize money from ranking competitions. With the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship looming, though, the 18-year-old has his chance to seize the number one position.
Speaking to the media following his World Grand Prix final triumph over Humphries, Littler revealed his blueprint for becoming world number one. Last week, he said: “This is my time and I’ve got just got to keep going. Obviously, until I get that world number one spot, I will never call myself the best in the world. Whoever’s number one, they’re the best.
“But knowing I’m only £70,000 in prize money behind Luke, and then he’s got to defend all of his prize money from the Grand Prix, the Players Championships and the World Championship. I don’t want to think about it too much, but I could be world number one before that World Championship. I’ve just got to keep chucking away and put as much pressure as I can on Luke.”
Below are the full PDC World Rankings.
1. Luke Humphries – £1,736,250.
Humphries is aiming to regain his world champion title later this year after a memorable victory over Littler in the 2024 final. This year, he’s clinched the World Masters, the Premier League and the US Masters, as well as the Czech Darts Open.
2. Luke Littler – £1,665,500.
Littler is just a European Championship, Players’ Championship and World Masters win away from securing all major titles. Despite being the current world champion and having his sights set on the world No.1 spot, he’s suffered losses in his last two matches, falling to Beau Greaves in the World Youth Championship and Ritchie Edhouse in the first round of the Players Championship 31.
3. Michael van Gerwen – £726,250.
Van Gerwen recently revealed that he’s ‘recharging his batteries’ ahead of the World Championships later this year. Speaking to Darts World, The Green Machine expressed his desire to spend time with his family following a ‘tough year’.
Four to 10.
Stephen Bunting (£656,000), James Wade (£616,500), Jonny Clayton (£564,500), Rob Cross (£518,750), Josh Rock (£511,250), Chris Dobey (£504,500), and Danny Noppert (£495,500) occupy the fourth to 10th spots respectively, but they’re all hoping to break into the top three in the coming months.
11 to 20.
From 11th to 20th: Gerwyn Price (£491,750), Damon Heta (£483,500), Gary Anderson (£475,000), Ross Smith (£466,750), Gian van Veen (£441,750), Martin Schindler (£418,250), Dave Chisnall (£414,250), Peter Wright (£406,750), Ryan Searle (£406,500) and Mike De Decker £405,500).
21 to 50.
From 21st to 50th: Dimitri Van den Bergh, Jermaine Wattimena, Nathan Aspinall, Ryan Joyce, Daryl Gurney, Ritchie Edhouse (£317,250), Michael Smith (£315,250); Luke Woodhouse (£311,250), Cameron Menzies (306,750), Dirk van Duijvenbode (£302,250), Andrew Gilding (£298,000) Joe Cullen (£293,500), Ricardo Pietreczko (£280,750), Raymond van Barneveld (£268,250), Krzysztof Ratajski (£252,750), Scott Williams (£247,000), Wessel Nijman (£242,000), Brendan Dolan (£233,500), Martin Lukeman (£223,000), Gabriel Clemens (£179,500), Kevin Doets (£174,750), Callan Rydz (£169,000), Niels Zonneveld (£164,000), Mickey Mansell (£162,000), William O’Connor (£156,250), Madars Razma (£152,000), Ricky Evans (£150,000), Richard Veenstra (£124,500), Kim Huybrechts (£121,000), Ian White (£120,000).
51 to 100.
Jeffrey De Graaf (£116,750), Keane Barry (£106,750), Connor Scutt (£105,500), Alan Soutar (£103,750), Florian Hempel (£103,250), Matt Campbell (£100,750), Rob Owen (£96,000), Jim Williams (£94,500). Nick Kenny (£94,000), Mensur Suljovic (£93,250), Niko Springer (£89,500), Thibault Tricole (£87,750), Ryan Meikle (£86,500), Stephen Burton (£85,000), Dylan Slevin and Jose De Sousa (both £78,750), Dom Taylor (£75,000), James Hurrell (£74,500), Mario Vandenbogaerde (£74,250), Chris Landman (£61,250), Bradley Brooks (£54,750), Lukas Wenig (£52,750), Andy Baetens (£52,000), Karel Sedlacek (£50,750), Darren Beveridge (£49,250), Matthew Dennant (£48,250), Steve Lennon (£47,250), Sebastian Bialecki (£42,250), Owen Bates and Berry van Peer (both £39,750), Jitse Van der Wal (£38,750), Rhys Griffin (£38,000), Patrick Geeraets (£37,750), Adam Hunt (£37,000), Nathan Rafferty (£36,750), Cam Crabtree (£36,500), Robert Grundy (£35,750), Radek Szaganski (£35,500), Jelle Klaasen (£31,250), Danny Lauby (£30,750), Martijn Dragt (£30,500), Darius Labanauskas, Haupai Puha, and Justin Hood (all £29,500), Adam Lipscombe and Dominik Gruellich (both £29,250), Benjamin Reus (£28,000), Brett Claydon (£27,500), Max Hopp (£27,250), Wesley Plaisier (£26,750).
101 to 218.
William Borland, £26,500; George Killington, £25,000; Cor Dekker, £22,250; Andy Boulton, £22,000; Darryl Pilgrim, £21,250; Maik Kuivenhoven, £21,000; Leon Weber, £18,750; Michele Turetta, £18,500; Tom Bissell, £18,000; Jamai van den Herik, £17,500; Christian Kist, £16,500; Marvin van Velzen, Thomas Lovely, and Joshua Richardson, all £16,250; Andreas Harrysson, £14,250; Jim Long, £13,750; Adam Warner, £13,500; Stefan Bellmont, £12,750; Mervyn King, Jimmy van Schie, and Carl Sneyd, all £12,500; Greg Ritchie and Alexander Merkx, both £11,500; Viktor Tingstrom, £11,000; Maximilian Czerwinski, £10,000; Oskar Lukasiak and Kevin Burness, both £9,500; Danny van Trijp, Ted Evetts, and Boris Krcmar, all £9,000; Stefaan Henderyck, Tavis Dudeney, and Tim Wolters, all £8,500; Michael Unterbuchner and Tytus Kanik, both £8,250; Beau Greaves, £8,000; Adam Paxton, £7,750; Graham Hall and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, both £7,500; Dennie Olde Kalter and Tommy Lishman, both £6,500; Jack Tweddell and Tom Sykes, both £5,500; Pero Ljubic, £5,250; Joe Hunt, Johan Engstrom, Kai Gotthardt, Jarno Bottenberg, Jeffrey Sparidaans, Daniel Klose, and Jurjen van der Velde, all £5,000; Henry Coates, £4,250; Jules van Dongen, £4,000; Dragutin Horvat, Benjamin Pratnemer, and Aden Kirk, all £3,750; Michael Flynn, £3,500; Nathan Girvan, £3,250; Scott Campbell, £3,000; Scott Waites, Andras Borbely, Sam Spivey, Francois Schweyen, David Davies, Arno Merk, Petr Krivka, Kevin Knopf, Teemu Harju, Paul Krohne, and Graham Usher, all pocketing £2,500; Martin Thomas, with £2,000; Charlie Manby and Sietse Lap, both securing £1,500; Rocco Fulciniti, Denis Schnetzer, Ansh Sood, Andreas Toft Jorgensen, Nandor Major, Nandor Pres, Andreas Hyllgaardhus, Levente Sarai, Jiri Brejcha, Filip Manak, Lukas Unger, Xanti Van den Bergh, Adam Gawlas, Liam Maendl-Lawrance, Kevin Troppmann, Martin Kramer, Miroslaw Grudziecki, Yorick Hofkens, Joshua Hermann, Moritz Bohrmann, Jerry Hendriks, Jeffrey De Zwaan, Marcel Erba, Zoran Lerchbacher, Gyorgy Jehirszki, Christian Goedl, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Finn Behrens, Rene Eidams, Michael Rosenauer, Paul Goyer, Patrick Klingelhoefer, Laurin Welk, Marko Kantele, Patrick De Backer, Cedric Waegemans, and Sybren Gijbels, all earning £1,250; Lee Cocks, Jenson Walker, Ron Meulenkamp, Tommy Morris, Simon Stevenson, Shaun Fox, and Paul Rowley, all receiving £1,000; and Ryan Branley, with £750.