Luke Littler has moved up to second in the PDC's Order of Merit after lifting the World Darts Championship for the first time. The 17-year-old sensation won the Sid Waddell Trophy - 12 months after losing to Luke Humphries in the final - on Friday, beating Michael van Gerwen 7-2 at Alexandra Palace.

Littler's run to becoming world champion was not straightforward. He fended off spirited performances from Ryan Meikle and Ian White to reach the last 16 before edging past Ryan Joyce in a seven-set thriller. Next up for 'The Nuke' was Nathan Aspinall, and he made light work of him, winning 5-2.

The same outcome followed against Stephen Bunting with Littler thrashing his opponent 6-1 to progress through to the final for the second successive year. But the Runcorn-born arrowsmith made sure there was no heartbreak in 2025 as he beat Van Gerwen in comfortable fashion to win the tournament.

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In the process, Littler collected £500,000 in prize money to take his total PDC collection to a whopping £1,118,500 since his breakthrough on the tour just over a year ago. It means Littler is now ranked second in the world behind Humphries, who has pocketed £1,804,250 during the last two years.

Van Gerwen (£815,500) is third, while Rob Cross (£551,750) and Liverpool-born Bunting (£536,000) make up the top-five. Dave Chisnall (£528,500), Jonny Clayton (£494,000), Damon Heta (£484,000), Gerwyn Price (£480,250) and Chris Dobey (£480,250) make up a congested top-10 in the PDC's new Order of Merit.

Littler's rise to the top has been astronomical and 'The Nuke' is expected to start his defence of the Premier League next month. The line-up for 17-week event is set to announced on Monday afternoon at 4:30pm, with Littler almost certain to be included alongside seven of his darting peers.

Having won the Premier League in 2024, beating Humphries in the final, Littler will be hoping to win the tournament for the second time. Alongside that, Littler has the Bahrain Masters, the Dutch Masters and the World Masters to contain with throughout January and into February.