Eight snooker greats from Davis to Trump — peak-year totals, US CPI present value to 2024, and how BBC, China and Crucible purses rewired the sport.
Snooker's money history runs through three rooms: the BBC studio that made Davis and Hendry famous, the Crucible that still pays the world champion a mid-six-figure cheque, and the Chinese arena circuit that turned Ding Junhui into a commercial industry. Comparing Steve Davis's 1980s living with Ronnie O'Sullivan's exhibition-heavy peaks only works in 2024 dollars.
Every player below is pinned to a documented peak year of total earnings: ranking-event prize money plus major exhibitions and endorsements reported for that season. Bars scale inside this list only.
BBC audiences and the Alex Higgins rivalry made snooker a British prime-time business.
World Championship purses rose with ratings while exhibitions filled the calendar. Steve Davis became the first player whose annual income looked like a mainstream UK sports star's.
Stephen Hendry's seven Worlds coincided with rising ranking-event money.
The 1990s professional circuit thickened. Hendry's prize-money leadership and Jimmy White's popularity premiums showed results and personality could both pay.
Chinese venues and Ronnie's fame multiplied what a season could earn beyond the Crucible.
Ding Junhui's domestic commercial value and O'Sullivan's global draw pushed totals past anything the 1980s BBC era paid, even when ranking prize money alone looked smaller than golf or tennis.
Judd Trump and peers cleared multimillion seasons from a denser world ranking calendar.
More televised ranking events, Saudi and Far East promotions, and sustained Chinese demand kept top earners in the low-to-mid single-digit millions USD.
Mid-1980s world No. 1: ranking prize money plus British exhibitions
Pay eras →
People's Champion commercial peak: exhibitions outrunning his title drought
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Seven-time World Champion peak: ranking money plus UK commercial deals
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World Champion season: Crucible purse plus global exhibition demand
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China's commercial king: domestic endorsements and exhibitions atop tour prize money
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World Champion and world No. 1 peak: dense ranking calendar earnings
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Judgement Day peak: record-chasing ranking prize money plus deals
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Breakthrough Chinese star: ranking titles plus domestic commercial income
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Present value restates each peak year's USD total using US CPI-U annual averages rebased to 2024. Totals mean World Snooker prize money plus major Chinese/UK exhibitions and endorsements reported for that year. Sterling/RMB converted to USD millions. Rounded estimates, not audited tax returns.