Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries fighting for world number one spot at World Darts Championships after Michael Smith's elimination

Michael van Gerwen enters the new year as the virtual number one of the world. Only Luke Humphries can keep 'Mighty Mike' from reclaiming the top spot on the PDC Order of Merit for good.

Michael Smith (last sixteen), Nathan Aspinall (second round) and Gerwyn Price (last 32) also had a chance at the number-one position prior to the World Darts Championship, but were eliminated early in the tournament. Only Van Gerwen and Humphries are still vying for the prestigious number one spot. The two top players are currently in the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship and can meet in the semifinals. The winner of that duel will be number one in the world rankings after the World Darts Championship.

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Rob Cross has moved up to sixth position thanks to his quarterfinal finish. A final or world title will see him rise to fourth. Dave Chisnall has returned to the world's top-10. With a win over Humphries at the last eight, 'Chizzy' moves up to seventh place. A final spot even beckons the top four.

Chris Dobey will make his debut in the top-16 of the world rankings after the World Darts Championship anyway. Should 'Hollywood' reach the final, Dobey will even enter well into the top-10. A world title even puts the Englishman in the top four in the world. Brendan Dolan is also still in the tournament. Remarkably, despite his quarterfinal spot, the Northern Irishman has not moved up one spot in the world rankings. The History Maker will do so if he beats Luke Littler in the quarterfinals. Dolan will then move up to 23rd place.

Scott Williams has made considerable progress anyway. He started the tournament as number 52 in the world and is now virtually in 35th place. With a win over Michael van Gerwen in the quarterfinals, Williams moves up further to 30th place.

Finally, we have 16-year-old prodigy Luke Littler in the tournament. He started the World Darts Championship as number 164 in the world. Meanwhile, Littler rose to 72nd place. However, he needs to get into the top-64 to leave his earned prize money in the world rankings. If he beats Dolan, Littler will end up in spot 50. Looking even further, Littler could end up in the 30th spot upon reaching the final. A world title will put Littler in the top-10 of the world rankings.

Tournament centre PDC World Darts Championship 2024: Schedule, all results, TV Guide and prize money breakdown

PDC Order of Merit as of Dec. 31, 2023

Rank	Name	Prize money
1	Michael van Gerwen	1132.25
2	Michael Smith	1106.25
3	Luke Humphries	1045.5
4	Nathan Aspinall	637.5
5	Gerwyn Price	637.25
6	Rob Cross	540.5
7	Danny Noppert	527.75
8	Peter Wright	511.25
9	Jonny Clayton	490
10	Dave Chisnall	489.5
11	Damon Heta	478.25
12	Joe Cullen	440.75
13	Dirk van Duijvenbode	438.75
14	Dimitri Van den Bergh	408
15	Chris Dobey	378.75
16	Stephen Bunting	371.25
17	Ross Smith	371
18	Andrew Gilding	358
19	James Wade	349
20	Ryan Searle	334.75
21	Josh Rock	324.5
22	Gabriel Clemens	321
23	Martin Schindler	300.25
24	Krzysztof Ratajski	298.5
25	Jose de Sousa	274
26	Daryl Gurney	269.25
27	Gary Anderson	267.25
28	Brendan Dolan	259
29	Raymond van Barneveld	230.5
30	Kim Huybrechts	186.75
31	Madars Razma	175.75
32	Callan Rydz	170.75
33	Martin Lukeman	163.5
34	Ricardo Pietreczko	157.25
35	Scott Williams	155.75
36	Ryan Joyce	151.25
37	Luke Woodhouse	150.25
38	Mike De Decker	139
39	Jim Williams	137.75
40	Keane Barry	128.5
41	William O'Connor	128.25
42	Gian van Veen	122.5
43	Simon Whitlock	120.25
44	Alan Soutar	118.5
45	Ricky Evans	115.5
46	Jermaine Wattimena	113.5
47	Matt Campbell	113.25
48	Rowby-John Rodriguez	111.5
49	Steve Beaton	111.25
50	Boris Krcmar	101.75
51	Adrian Lewis	101.25
52	Vincent van der Voort	97
53	Cameron Menzies	94.5
54	Mensur Suljovic	94
55	Mickey Mansell	93.5
56	Jamie Hughes	91.25
57	Ritchie Edhouse	89.5
58	Ryan Meikle	87
59	Florian Hempel	86.75
60	Adam Gawlas	86.5
61	Kevin Doets	83.5
62	Mervyn King	81.75
63	Ian White	80.75
64	Martijn Kleermaker	80
65	Steve Lennon	78
66	Mario Vandenbogaerde	75
67	Radek Szaganski	74
68	Connor Scutt	70.25
69	Nathan Rafferty	69.25
70	Richard Veenstra	67.5
71	Danny Jansen	59.25
72	Luke Littler	52.5
73	Niels Zonneveld	51.5
74	Darius Labanauskas	51.25
75	Scott Waites	49.5
76	Richie Burnett	48.5
77	John O'Shea	47.75
78	Jules van Dongen	46
79	Berry van Peer	45.75
80	Lee Evans	45
81	Ted Evetts	43.5
82	Dylan Slevin	42.75
82	Jeff Smith	42.75
84	Rusty-Jake Rodriguez	41.75
85	Lewy Williams	40.25
86	Krzysztof Kciuk	40
87	Christian Kist	38.75
88	George Killington	38.5
89	Brian Raman	36.75
90	Jimmy Hendriks	36.5
91	Stowe Buntz	36
92	Bradley Brooks	35.75
93	Jose Justicia	35.5
94	Keegan Brown	32.75
95	Joe Murnan	32
96	Maik Kuivenhoven	29.75
97	James Wilson	28.75
98	Jeffrey De Zwaan	28.5
99	Jeffrey de Graaf	27.5
100	Stephen Burton	27.25
101	Daniel Klose	26
102	Ross Montgomery	25.25
103	Chris Landman	24.25
104	Tony Martinez	23.5
105	Darren Webster	22.5
105	Shaun Wilkinson	22.5
107	Andy Boulton	22.25
108	Karel Sedlacek	22
109	Owen Bates	21.5
109	Devon Petersen	21.5
111	Damian Mol	21.25
112	Thibault Tricole	21
113	Arron Monk	20
114	Jurjen van der Velde	19.75
115	Luc Peters	18.5
116	Robert Owen	18
116	Jeffrey Sparidaans	18
116	Pascal Rupprecht	18
119	Cam Crabtree	17
120	Kevin Burness	16.75
121	Jamie Clark	16
122	Graham Usher	15.75
123	Fallon Sherrock	15.5
123	Josh Payne	15.5
123	Graham Hall	15.5
126	Darren Penhall	15
126	Man Lok Leung	15
126	Tomoya Goto	15
129	Marko Kantele	13.75
129	Nick Kenny	13.75
129	Adam Smith-Neale	13.75
132	Geert Nentjes	13.5
133	Wesley Plaisier	13.25
134	Darryl Pilgrim	12.75
135	Haruki Muramatsu	12.5
136	Ronny Huybrechts	12.25
137	Dom Taylor	11.25
138	Owen Roelofs	11
139	Nick Fullwell	10.25
140	Dragutin Horvat	10
140	Adam Warner	10
142	Danny van Trijp	9.5
142	Vladimir Andersen	9.5
144	Jelle Klaasen	9
145	Robbie Knops	8.75
146	Beau Greaves	8
147	Callum Goffin	7.75
147	Nico Kurz	7.75
149	Alex Spellman	7.5
149	Ben Robb	7.5
149	Bhav Patel	7.5
149	David Cameron	7.5
149	Haupai Puha	7.5
149	Lourence Ilagan	7.5
149	Mikuru Suzuki	7.5
149	Norman Madhoo	7.5
149	Paolo Nebrida	7.5
149	Reynaldo Rivera	7.5
149	Sandro Eric Sosing	7.5
149	Simon Adams	7.5
149	Wessel Nijman	7.5
149	Xiao Chenzong	7.5
149	Stefan Bellmont	7.5
149	Liam Maendl-Lawrance	7.5
165	John Henderson	7.25
166	Robert Grundy	7
167	Niko Springer	6.5
168	Danny Lauby	5.5
169	Martijn Dragt	5.25
170	Nathan Girvan	5
170	Vitezslav Sedlak	5
172	Scott Mitchell	4.75
172	Jacques Labre	4.75
172	Lukas Wenig	4.75
175	James Hurrell	4.25
176	Andy Baetens	4
177	Patrik Kovacs	3.75
177	Roman Benecky	3.75
177	Dalibor Smolik	3.75
180	Roy van de Griendt	3.25
181	Jarred Cole	3
181	Christian Perez	3
183	Ron Meulenkamp	2.75
184	Anton Ostlund	2.5
184	Nandor Major	2.5
184	Sebastian Bialecki	2.5
184	Dennis Nilsson	2.5
184	Hannes Schnier	2.5
184	Jeroen Mioch	2.5
184	Rene Eidams	2.5
184	Filip Sebesta	2.5
184	Thomas Banks	2.5
193	Conan Whitehead	2.25
194	Alexander Merkx	2
195	James Richardson	1.75
196	Conor Heneghan	1.5
196	Dan Read	1.5
196	Lewis Gurney	1.5
199	Marcus Kirchmann	1.25
199	Gabor Jagicza	1.25
199	Mihaly Vida	1.25
199	Danny Tessmann	1.25
199	Fabian Herz	1.25
199	Marcel Walpen	1.25
199	David Pisek	1.25
199	Jani Laurila	1.25
199	Francois Schweyen	1.25
199	Sven Hilling	1.25
199	Marcel Hausotter	1.25
199	Dmitry Zukovs	1.25
199	Marcus Haider	1.25
199	Oskar Lukasiak	1.25
199	Tytus Kanik	1.25
199	Paavo Myller	1.25
215	Christopher Holt	1
215	Gary Davey	1
215	Jim McEwan	1
215	Jim Moston	1
215	Jitse Van der Wal	1
215	Joshua Richardson	1
215	Michael Flynn	1
222	Peter Jacques	0.75
222	Wayne Jones	0.75
222	Eddie Lovely	0.75