The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships, with five points for the winner, four for the runner-up, three for losing semi-finalists, two for losing quarter-finalists, and one for losers in the last 16 round.

After the 1982 World Snooker Championship, two other tournaments – the International Open and the Professional Players Tournament – which were open to all members of the WPBSA carried points as per the previous system. Points for world championship finishes from 1983 became worth double the previous tariff, with ten points for the winner, eight for the runner up, and so on. In the 1983/84 snooker season, the Lada Classic was added as a ranking tournament. Merit points were awarded to players who were required to compete in qualifying rounds of ranking tournaments and reached the last 32, with a full merit point awarded if this was achieved in the world championship, and half a merit point otherwise. 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.

The tournaments that counted towards the 1984/1985 rankings were those which were open to all professional players, over three seasons. These were the Jameson International Open 1982 and 1983, the Professional Players Tournament 1982 and 1983, the 1984 Lada Classic, and the 1982, 1983 and 1984 Embassy World Championships. The list was published after the 1984 World Championship.

Steve Davis was ranked first with 32 points, ahead of Tony Knowles in second place with 21 points. Cliff Thorburn was third, with 20 points, a point ahead of Kirk Stevens in fourth. Ray Reardon dropped from second to fifth place. The top 16 players in the rankings were seeded into the main event of the 1985 World Snooker Championship, while all other players would need to enter the qualifying rounds. John Virgo, who did not win any ranking points in the 1983/1984 season, was the only player to lose their place in the top 16 from the previous year. Willie Thorne joined the top 16.

After the initial ranking list was published, the board of the WPBSA voted to award merit points, as well as ranking points, to players who had won qualifying groups and then progressed in the main tournament; the initial list had not included merit points for those players. Three pairs of players exchanged positions as a result: Tony Meo moved from eleventh to tenth place, ahead of Dennis Taylor; Dean Reynolds took 22nd place from Cliff Wilson who moved to 23rd; and Patsy Fagan overtook George Scott to be ranked 37th rather than 38th.

Points tariff contributing to the Snooker world rankings 1984/1985

Position	1982 World Championship	1983 and 1984 World Championships	Other ranking tournaments
Champion	5	10	5
Runner-up	4	8	4
Losing semi-finalist	3	6	3
Losing Quarter-finalist	2	4	2
Last 16 Loser	1	2	1
Last 32 Loser	1 merit point	1 merit point	0.5 merit point

The world rankings for the professional snooker players in the 1984/85 season are listed below. In the table, numbers in parentheses indicate that the player earned merit points.

Snooker world rankings 1984/1985

Ranking	Name	1982	1982/83 season			1983/84 season				Ranking points	Merit points
		WC	IO	PPT	WC	IO	PPT	Cl	WC
1	Steve Davis (ENG)	0	2	–	10	5	(0.5)	5	10	32	(0.5)
2	Tony Knowles (ENG)	2+(1)	5	(0.5)	6	1	5+(0.5)	2	0	21	(2)
3	Cliff Thorburn (CAN)	0	1	1+(0.5)	8	4	2+(0.5)	0	4	20	(1)
4	Kirk Stevens (CAN)	2	3	(0.5)	4	–	2+(0.5)	2	6	19	(1)
5	Ray Reardon (WAL)	4	1	5+(0.5)	2	1	1+(0.5)	0	4	18	(1)
6	Eddie Charlton (AUS)	3	0	3+(0.5)	4	3	1+(0.5)	2	2	18	(1)
7	Jimmy White (ENG)	3+(1)	1	4+(0.5)	0	0	(0.5)	1	8	17	(2)
8	Terry Griffiths (WAL)	0	2	2+(0.5)	2	3	1+(0.5)	2	4	16	(1)
9	Alex Higgins (NIR)	5	1	(0.5)	6	0	0	1	0	13	(0.5)
10	Tony Meo (ENG)	(1)	0	1+(0.5)	4+(0.5)	0	3+(0.5)	4	0	12	(3)
11	Dennis Taylor (NIR)	0	2	1+(0.5)	2	1	0	0	6	12	(0.5)
12	Willie Thorne (ENG)	2+(1)	0	(0.5)	2	2+(0.5)	3+(0.5)	0	2+(1)	11	(3.5)
13	John Spencer (ENG)	1	1	1+(0.5)	2	2	(0.5)	1	2	10	(1)
14	Bill Werbeniuk (CAN)	1	1	2+(0.5)	4	0	(0.5)	0	2	10	(1)
15	Doug Mountjoy (WAL)	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	4	9	(0)
16	David Taylor (ENG)	0	4	(0.5)	2	0	(0.5)	0	2	8	(1)
17	Silvino Francisco (RSA)	2+(1)	–	–	(1)	2+(0.5)	1+(0.5)	1+(0.5)	2+(1)	8	(4.5)
18	John Virgo (ENG)	1	3+(0.5)	3+(0.5)	(1)	0	(0.5)	0	0	7	(2.5)
19	Joe Johnson (ENG)	0	0	2+(0.5)	0	(0.5)	4+(0.5)	(0.5)	(1)	6	(3)
20	John Parrott (ENG)	–	–	–	–	–	(0.5)	3+(0.5)	2+(1)	5	(2)
21	Mark Wildman (ENG)	0	(0.5)	1+(0.5)	(1)	(0.5)	1+(0.5)	3+(0.5)	0	5	(3.5)
22	Dean Reynolds (ENG)	1+(1)	1+(0.5)	2+(0.5)	(1)	(0.5)	(0.5)	(0.5)	0	4	(4.5)
23	Cliff Wilson (WAL)	(1)	2+(0.5)	1+(0.5)	(1)	0	1+(0.5)	(0.5)	0	4	(4)
24	Perrie Mans (RSA)	1	1	(0.5)	2	0	–	–	0	4	(0.5)
25	Mike Hallett (ENG)	(1)	0	(0.5)	(1)	0	1+(0.5)	1+(0.5)	(1)	2	(4.5)
26	Dave Martin (ENG)	(1)	0	(0.5)	(1)	1+(0.5)	1+(0.5)	0	0	2	(3.5)
27	Eugene Hughes (IRL)	0	(0.5)	0	(1)	(0.5)	2+(0.5)	(0.5)	0	2	(3)
28	John Campbell (AUS)	–	–	–	(1)	0	2+(0.5)	(0.5)	0	2	(2)
29	Murdo MacLeod (SCO)	0	0	1+(0.5)	0	(0.5)	0	1+(0.5)	0	2	(1.5)
30	Neal Foulds (ENG)	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	2+(1)	2	(1)
31	Rex Williams (ENG)	(1)	(0.5)	(0.5)	(1)	0	(0.5)	1+(0.5)	(1)	1	(5)
32	Graham Miles (ENG)	1	0	0	(1)	(0.5)	(0.5)	0	(1)	1	(3)
33	Eddie Sinclair (SCO)	0	(0.5)	1+(0.5)	0	(0.5)	0	(0.5)	(1)	1	(3)
34	Mike Watterson (ENG)	0	(0.5)	(0.5)	0	1+(0.5)	(0.5)	0	0	1	(2)
35	Mario Morra (CAN)	0	0	0	0	1+(0.5)	0	0	(1)	1	(1.5)
36	Jim Donnelly (SCO)	(1)	0	0	0	1+(0.5)	0	0	0	1	(1.5)
37	Patsy Fagan (IRL)	(1)	0	0	0	0	0	(0.5)	0	1	(1.5)
38	George Scott (ENG)	–	(0.5)	–	–	1+(0.5)	(0.5)	0	0	1	(1.5)
39	Colin Roscoe (WAL)	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	1+(0.5)	0	1	(1)
40	Jim Meadowcroft (ENG)	(1)	(0.5)	(0.5)	(1)	–	(0.5)	(0.5)	0	0	(4)
41	Jim Wych (CAN)	0	(0.5)	(0.5)	–	–	–	–	(1)	0	(2)
42	Mick Fisher (ENG)	–	(0.5)	–	(1)	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	(2)
43	Les Dodd (ENG)	–	(0.5)	–	(1)	0	0	0	0	0	(1.5)
44	Jack Fitzmaurice (ENG)	(1)	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	(1.5)
45	Marcel Gauvreau (CAN)	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	(1)	0	(1)
46	Fred Davis (ENG)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	(1)	0	(1)
47	Roy Andrewartha (WAL)	–	–	–	0	0	0	0	(1)	0	(1)
48	Warren King (AUS)	–	–	–	0	0	0	0	(1)	0	(1)
49	Paul Mifsud (MLT)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	(1)	0	(1)
50	Ray Edmonds (ENG)	0	(0.5)	0	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	(1)
51	Ian Black (SCO)	0	0	0	(1)	0	0	0	0	0	(1)
52	John Dunning (ENG)	(1)	0	0	–	0	0	0	0	0	(1)
53	John Bear (CAN)	(1)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0	(1)
54	Eddie McLaughlin (SCO)	0	0	0	0	0	0	(0.5)	0	0	(0.5)
55	Tommy Murphy (NIR)	0	0	0	0	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	(0.5)
56	Frank Jonik (CAN)	0	0	(0.5)	0	–	0	0	0	0	(0.5)
57	Steve Duggan (ENG)	–	–	–	–	–	(0.5)	0	0	0	(0.5)
58	Paddy Morgan (AUS)	0	–	0	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	(0.5)
59	Billy Kelly (IRL)	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	(0.5)
60	Clive Everton (WAL)	0	0	(0.5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	(0.5)
61	Jackie Rea (NIR)	–	–	(0.5)	–	0	–	0	–	0	(0.5)

Preceded by 1983/1984

1984/1985

Succeeded by 1985/1986

Citations

Books

• Everton, Clive, ed. (1984a). Benson and Hedges Snooker Year (First ed.). London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-86369-051-8.
• Everton, Clive (1985). Snooker: The Records. Enfield: Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 978-0-85112-448-3.
• Hayton, Eric; Dee, John (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
• Morrison, Ian (1987). The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker (Revised ed.). Twickenham: Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-600-55604-6.