thumb|alt=Steve Davis playing snooker|Steve Davis (pictured in 2018) retained his top place in the rankings from the previous list.
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. 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.
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. In the table, numbers in parentheses indicate that the player earned merit points.
thumb|alt=Jimmy White playing snooker|[[Jimmy White (pictured in 2016) was the losing finalist at the 1984 World Snooker Championship; he advanced from eleventh to seventh place in the rankings.