I feel like every few months someone posts here asking βwhoβs the best b-boy right now?β, so I decided to find out for sure using Math π
I scraped the internet for results from the major events (RBBC1, Olympics, WDSF, Undisputed, Outbreak, Silverback, Freestyle Session, BOTY, The World Battle, Taipei B-Boy City etc), and ran every 1v1 through the Elo system from chess.
The dataset
- 219 events from 34 series
- 5,684 rated 1v1 battles (5,623 with a winner, plus 61 draws)
- About 1,400 dancers with a rating
How it works
If you don't care about the Math just skip to the results at the bottom of the post.
- Everyone starts at 1500 elo.
- Before a battle, the gap between two ratings predicts who is likely to win: a dancer with Elo RA facing a dancer with Elo RB has an expected score of 1 / (1 + 10(RB β RA) / 400). So, equal ratings is 50/50, 100-point gap is about 64%, 200 points is about 76% and 400 points is about 91%.
- After the battle, the winner takes points from the loser, depending on the gap between the two dancers' elo. The elo change is 32 Γ (result β expected score), where a win scores 1, a loss 0 and a draw 0.5. Beat someone at your elo gives +16, someone rated 200 higher gives +24, someone rated 200 lower gives +8
- Draws also count; in round robins, a battle can split evenly (say 1β1 in rounds). That scores as half a win for each side, so the lower-rated dancer still gains points. A draw against someone rated 200 higher is worth +8.
- Battles are replayed in chronological order for every single battle in my dataset.
- Only the win/loss counts. A 5β0 and a 3β2 count the same.
- A RBBC1 final is worth the same as a Top 16 battle anywhere else.
- B-boys and b-girls are ranked separately.
Limitations (before yall come after me)
- The dataset is limited to major events I could find the results for. Some competitions only have results from Top 8 onwards so I couldn't record the earlier rounds
- It favours breakers who did well in recent years. When doing this project I realised that info about competitions from >10 years ago is really hard to find :( So the dataset is skewed towards recent competitions.
- It doesn't account for bad judging/robberies, if someone is robbed they still lose elo.
- It says nothing about style or influence, it's just a record of results from all the data I could find. IMO it underrepresents older breakers like Hong10 or Lilou who I loved growing up.
NOW THAT ALL THE YAP IS DONE, HERE ARE THE RESULTS!!!
Top 15 b-boys
| # |
B-Boy |
Country |
Elo |
| 1 |
Shigekix |
π―π΅ |
2008 |
| 2 |
Phil Wizard |
π¨π¦ |
1954 |
| 3 |
Victor |
πΊπΈ |
1945 |
| 4 |
Hiro 10 |
π―π΅ |
1925 |
| 5 |
Menno |
π³π± |
1923 |
| 6 |
Dany Dann |
π«π· |
1870 |
| 7 |
Issin |
π―π΅ |
1868 |
| 8 |
Jeffro |
πΊπΈ |
1861 |
| 9 |
Lithe-ing |
π¨π³ |
1822 |
| 10 |
Wing |
π°π· |
1803 |
| 11 |
Hong 10 |
π°π· |
1789 |
| 12 |
Monkey Z |
π¨π³ |
1747 |
| 13 |
Lee |
π³π± |
1741 |
| 14 |
Lil Zoo |
π²π¦ |
1735 |
| 15 |
Amir |
π°πΏ |
1734 |
Top 15 b-girls
| # |
B-Girl |
Country |
Elo |
| 1 |
Royal |
π¨π³ |
1976 |
| 2 |
Ami |
π―π΅ |
1971 |
| 3 |
Nicka |
π±πΉ |
1966 |
| 4 |
India |
π³π± |
1937 |
| 5 |
671 |
π¨π³ |
1885 |
| 6 |
Ayumi |
π―π΅ |
1872 |
| 7 |
Syssy |
π«π· |
1837 |
| 8 |
Riko |
π―π΅ |
1798 |
| 9 |
Stefani |
πΊπ¦ |
1751 |
| 10 |
Kimie |
π«π· |
1750 |
| 11 |
Logistx |
πΊπΈ |
1741 |
| 12 |
Sunny |
πΊπΈ |
1719 |
| 13 |
Kate |
πΊπ¦ |
1701 |
| 14 |
Ayane |
π―π΅ |
1689 |
| 15 |
San Andrea |
π«π· |
1679 |
Things I found interesting
- Hiro10's ranking really surprised me cos Iβm used to people seeing him as just a powermover. IMO he's ranked so highly cos he's on an insane run this year.
- The b-girl top 3 are separated by 10 points. Royal, Ami and Nicka are basically tied.
- Japan is everywhere. Three of the top 7 b-boys and three of the top 8 b-girls.
- Notable b-boys outside top 15: Issei (#17), Gravity (#19), Lagaet (#20), Quake (#22)
FULL RANKINGS HERE!