1985–86 snooker world rankings

[1] The tournaments that counted towards the 1985/1986 rankings were those which were open to all professional players over the preceding three seasons.

[1][2] No points were awarded to a player who did not win any matches in a given tournament (for example, a top 16 player seeded into the last 32 of the world championship would not win any merit points if they lost their first match).

[3][4] The journalist Janice Hale commented in March 1985 that as the ranking list was updated only annually, players such as John Spencer who had won only one match in the year since the 1984 World Championship, and Bill Werbeniuk, who had not won any, were at an advantage over other players who had performed better in that time, as the top 16 received direct entry to the last-32 round of the 1985 World Snooker Championship, meaning that their minimum guaranteed prize money was higher.

[5] Steve Davis retained the number one position that he had held in the previous two ranking lists, while Cliff Thorburn moved up from second to third, exchanging places with Tony Knowles.

[7] Of the top 16 players from the previous year, the largest drops were by Eddie Charlton, from sixth to 12th, and by Spencer, who went from 13th to 20th.