Serena Williams was ranked WTA world No. 1 for 319 total weeks.
That total placed Williams third on the all-time list when her ranking record was complete. Only Steffi Graf, with 377 weeks, and Martina Navratilova, with 332 weeks, had spent longer at No. 1. Williams’s 319 weeks were spread across eight separate periods at the top of the rankings.
Williams first reached No. 1 on 8 July 2002 after overtaking her sister Venus. She held the position for 57 weeks during that first spell, and the sisters were briefly ranked No. 1 and No. 2 at the same time. Williams later returned to the summit repeatedly, including a dominant run beginning in February 2013.
The number 319 is a career total, not a single uninterrupted streak. That distinction matters because Williams’s longest continuous reign lasted 186 weeks. Her final stint at No. 1 ended in May 2017, after which she remained one of the sport’s most successful players despite no longer leading the rankings.