Rankings Ahead Of 2019 Campaign

Nathan Aspinall (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

AS the dust settles on the 2018/19 William Hill World Darts Championship, we take a look at which players were the biggest risers and fallers following darts' biggest-ever event and how the Order of Merit is looking ahead of the 2019 campaign.

Despite defeat in the final, Michael Smith was the biggest winner in terms of ranking money, with his £175,000 increase moving him up four places to sixth.

Three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen remains top of the pile, with an additional £150,000 on his impressive £1.6 million two-year total.

Nathan Aspinall's dream Ally Pally debut saw him add a life-changing £100,000 to his tally, while Ryan Joyce and Ryan Searle also enjoyed impressive first World Championship performances, moving up 23 and 11 places respectively.

Luke Humphries (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Rising star Luke Humphries, who ended Rob Cross' reign as World Champion, was not defending prize money from two years' previously, with his £50,000 winnings moving him up 33 places.

Cross was also not defending prize money from the 2016/17 World Championship, meaning he added £35,000 to his total to cement his place as world number two.

Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright were the joint-biggest fallers in ranking money, with £65,000 falling off their totals following their second round exits.

Raymond van Barneveld (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Wright remains third in the world, while Van Barneveld has dropped 11 places down to 28th.

A number of players, including eight-time televised finalist Terry Jenkins, suffered significant losses in ranking money due to not qualifying for the event and subsequently failing to defend money from the 2016/17 event.

The first chance for players to work their way up the rankings will come on February 9 at Players Championship 1 in Wigan, with all the action streamed live on PDCTV-HD.

Full list of ranking changes below, courtesy of Christopher Kempf (Official Statistical Analyst of the PDC).

Ranking changes following 2018/19 World Championship (PDC)

Click here to see the full PDC Order of Merit (as of January 9, 2019)

NB The PDC Order of Merit is adjusted following Qualifying School, when Tour Card Holders in the Top 64 and from the 2018 Qualifying School retain their totals, with other players reverting to £0.