How to Select the First Row in Each GROUP BY Group Database: SQL Operators: ROW_NUMBER PARTITION BY WITH Table of Contents Problem: Example: Solution: Discussion: Problem: You've grouped your data with GROUP BY and would like to display only the first row from each group. Example: Our database has a table named exam_results with data in the following table: first_namelast_nameyearresult JohnKlein202040 EdithBlack202043 MarkJohnson201932 LauraSummer202035 KateSmith201941 JacobBlack201944 TomBennett202038 EmilyKelly202043 For each year, let's find the student with the best result. If there are two students tied for the best in a group, we'll arbitrarily select one of them to display. Solution: WITH added_row_number AS ( SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY year ORDER BY result DESC) AS row_number FROM exam_results ) SELECT * FROM added_row_number WHERE row_number = 1; The result is: first_namelast_nameyearresultrow_number JacobBlack2019441 EmilyKelly2020431 Discussion: First, you need to write a CTE in which you assign a number to each row within each group. To do that, you can use the ROW_NUMBER() function. In OVER(), you specify the groups into which the rows should be divided (PARTITION BY) and the order in which the numbers should be assigned to the rows (ORDER BY). Take a look at the result of the inner query: SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY year ORDER BY result DESC) AS row_number FROM exam_results; first_namelast_nameyearresultrow_number JacobBlack2019441 KateSmith2019412 MarkJohnson2019323 EmilyKelly2020431 EdithBlack2020432 JohnKlein2020403 TomBennett2020384 LauraSummer2020355 You assign the row numbers within each group (i.e., year). Each row has a row number based on the value of the result column. The rows are sorted in the descending order because of the DESC keyword after ORDER BY result. Even if there are multiple rows within a group that have the same value of result, the rows are still given different numbers. Here, Edith Black and Emily Kelly have the same result but different row numbers. To change this behavior and assign the same row number for the same result within a group, use RANK() or DENSE_RANK() instead of ROW_NUMBER(). In the outer query, you select all data from the CTE (added_row_number) and use a WHERE condition to specify which row to display from each group. Here, we want to display the first row, so the condition is row_number = 1. Note that you can easily modify the solution to get, for example, the second row of each group. WITH added_row_number AS ( SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY year ORDER BY result DESC) AS row_number FROM exam_results ) SELECT * FROM added_row_number WHERE row_number = 2; Here's the result: first_namelast_nameyearresultrow_number KateSmith2019412 EdithBlack2020432 On the other hand, if you want to get the row(s) with the second highest value of result within each group, you should use the DENSE_RANK() function. While the ROW_NUMBER() function creates consecutive numbers for each row in a group, resulting in different values assigned to the rows with the same result, the DENSE_RANK() function gives the same number to the rows with the same result. WITH added_dense_rank AS ( SELECT *, DENSE_RANK() OVER(PARTITION BY year ORDER BY result DESC) AS rank FROM exam_results ) SELECT * FROM added_dense_rank WHERE rank = 2; first_namelast_nameyearresultrank KateSmith2019412 JohnKlein2020402 You can see that John Klein has the second highest value of result (40) for the year 2020. John Klein is actually the third person in the group, but the first two students have the same result and they both have rank = 1. Recommended courses: Window Functions Window Functions Practice Set Recommended articles: SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet 11 SQL Window Functions Exercises with Solutions SQL Window Functions vs. GROUP BY: What’s the Difference? SQL Window Function Example With Explanations NULL Values and the GROUP BY Clause What Is the RANK() Function in SQL, and How Do You Use It? GROUP BY and Aggregate Functions: A Complete Overview Top 9 SQL GROUP BY Interview Questions See also: How to Add Rankings with DENSE_RANK() in SQL What’s the Difference Between RANK and DENSE_RANK in SQL? How to Number Rows in SQL Subscribe to our newsletter Join our monthly newsletter to be notified about the latest posts. Email address How Do You Write a SELECT Statement in SQL? What Is a Foreign Key in SQL? Enumerate and Explain All the Basic Elements of an SQL Query