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How to Assign Rank in SQL: A Complete Guide to Ranking Functions
Ranking rows in SQL is one of the most practical skills for anyone working with relational databases. Whether you're building leaderboards, paginating results, or isolating the top performer per category, SQL provides dedicated window functions designed exactly for this purpose.
What Does "Ranking" Mean in SQL?
In SQL, ranking assigns a sequential or scored position to each row within a result set — based on the value of one or more columns. Unlike simple ORDER BY, ranking functions attach a numeric rank to each row without collapsing the dataset. You get all your rows back, each labeled with its position.
This is made possible through window functions — a class of SQL functions that operate across a defined "window" of rows related to the current row.
The Three Core SQL Ranking Functions
SQL offers three standard ranking functions, each behaving slightly differently when it encounters ties (duplicate values in the ranked column).
| Function | Ties Handled How | Gaps in Sequence? |
|---|---|---|
| RANK() | Same rank for ties | Yes — skips numbers |
| DENSE_RANK() | Same rank for ties | No — no gaps |
| ROW_NUMBER() | Unique rank for every row | No ties allowed |
RANK()
RANK() assigns the same number to tied rows, then skips ahead. If two rows tie for position 2, the next row gets rank 4 — position 3 is skipped.