List of roller coaster rankings explained

Roller coasters are amusement rides developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. Early iterations during the 16th and 17th centuries, which were popular in Russia, were wooden sleds that took riders down large slides made from ice. The first roller coasters that attached a train to a wooden track appeared in France in the early 1800s.^[1] Although wooden roller coasters are still being produced, steel roller coasters, introduced in the mid-20th-century, became more common and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.^[2]

Amusement parks often compete to build the tallest, fastest, and longest rides to attract thrill seekers and boost overall park attendance.^[3] Ranked by height, speed, length, and number of inversions, roller coasters often became the focal point for competing parks. Computer-simulated models led to new innovations that produced more intense thrills while improving quality and durability. The debut of Magnum XL-200 in 1989 at Cedar Point introduced the first complete-circuit roller coaster to exceed,^{[4] [5]} marking a pivot point in the industry. The new era, sometimes referred to as the Coaster Wars,^[6] saw increasing competition as parks sought to be the latest to break world records, with some only lasting a year or less.^[7]

The pace of competition eventually slowed, however. Record holder Kingda Ka, the tallest coaster in the world at,^[8] has held onto its record since 2005. Other notable coasters include Formula Rossa, the world's fastest, which reaches a top speed of 149mph,^[9] Steel Dragon 2000, the world's longest, measuring,^[10] and The Smiler which features fourteen inversions.^[11]

Key

Key

Key	Meaning
1	Record holder
	Under construction
	Still exists but not operating

Height rankings

Tallest steel roller coasters

Tallest steel roller coasters^[12]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Height	Manufacturer	Record held
	Falcon's Flight	Six Flags Qiddiya		640 ft (195.072 m)^[13]	Intamin
1	Kingda Ka	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN456	Intamin	data-sort-value="2005-05"	May 2005 – present
2	Top Thrill 2	Cedar Point		NaN420	Intamin/Zamperla	data-sort-value="2003–05"	May 2003 – May 2005
3		Six Flags Magic Mountain		NaN415	Intamin	data-sort-value="1997-03"	March 1997 – May 2003
4	Red Force	Ferrari Land		NaN367.3	Intamin
5	Fury 325	Carowinds		NaN325	Bolliger & Mabillard
6	Steel Dragon 2000	Nagashima Spa Land		NaN318.3	Morgan
7	Millennium Force	Cedar Point		NaN310
8	Leviathan	Canada's Wonderland		NaN306	Bolliger & Mabillard
9	Project 305	Kings Dominion		NaN305	Intamin
10	Orion	Kings Island		NaN287	Bolliger & Mabillard

Longest steel roller coaster drops

Longest steel roller coaster drops^[14]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Drop length	Manufacturer	Record held
data-sort-file="0.5"		Falcon's Flight	Six Flags Qiddiya		NaN519	Intamin
1	Kingda Ka	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN418	Intamin	data-sort-value="2005–05"	May 2005 – present
2	Top Thrill 2	Cedar Point		NaN400	Intamin/Zamperla	data-sort-value="2003–05"	May 2003 – May 2005
3	Red Force	Ferrari Land		data-sort-value="345"	~345feet	Intamin
4		Six Flags Magic Mountain		NaN328.1	Intamin	data-sort-value="1997-03"	March 1997 – May 2003
5	Fury 325	Carowinds		NaN320	Bolliger & Mabillard
6	Steel Dragon 2000	Nagashima Spa Land		NaN306.8	D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
7	Leviathan	Canada's Wonderland		NaN306	Bolliger & Mabillard
8	Project 305	Kings Dominion		NaN300	Intamin
	Millennium Force	Cedar Point		NaN300	Intamin
	Orion	Kings Island		NaN300	Bolliger & Mabillard

Tallest wooden roller coasters

Tallest wooden roller coasters^[15]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Height	Manufacturer	Record held
1	T Express	Everland		NaN183.8	Intamin	data-sort-value="2009-06"	June 2009 – present
	Wildfire	Kolmården Wildlife Park		NaN183.8	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="2016-06"	June 2016 – present
3	El Toro	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN181	Intamin
4	Goliath	Six Flags Great America		NaN165	Rocky Mountain Construction
5	Colossos - Kampf der Giganten	Heide Park		NaN164	Intamin
6	The Voyage	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari		NaN159	The Gravity Group
7	Hades 360	Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park		NaN136	The Gravity Group
8	Wodan Timbur Coaster	Europa-Park		NaN131.2	Great Coasters International
9	Le Monstre	La Ronde		NaN130.9	Martin & Vleminckx	data-sort-value="1985-07"	July 1985 – March 1990
10	American Eagle	Six Flags Great America		NaN127	Intamin	data-sort-value="1981-05"	May 1981 – July 1985

Longest wooden roller coaster drops

Longest wooden roller coaster drops^[16]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Drop length	Manufacturer	Record held
1	Goliath	Six Flags Great America		NaN180	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="2014-06"	June 2014 – present
2	El Toro	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN176	Intamin	data-sort-value="2009-06"	June 2009 – June 2014
3	Outlaw Run	Silver Dollar City		NaN162	Rocky Mountain Construction
4	Wildfire	Kolmården Wildlife Park		NaN160.8	Rocky Mountain Construction
5	Colossos - Kampf der Giganten	Heide Park		NaN159.1	Intamin
6	The Voyage	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari		NaN154	The Gravity Group
7	T Express	Everland		NaN150.9	Intamin
8	The Boss	Six Flags St. Louis		NaN150	Custom Coasters International
9	American Eagle	Six Flags Great America		NaN147	Intamin	data-sort-value="1981-05"	May 1981 – May 1991
10	The Beast	Kings Island		NaN141	Kings Island	data-sort-value="1979-04"	April 1979 – May 1981

Gallery

Speed rankings

Fastest steel roller coasters

Fastest steel roller coasters^{[17] [18]}

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Speed	Manufacturer	Record held
data-sort-file="0.5"		Falcon's Flight	Six Flags Qiddiya		NaN155.3	Intamin
1	Formula Rossa	Ferrari World Abu Dhabi		NaN149.1	Intamin	data-sort-value="2010–11"	November 2010 – present
2	Kingda Ka	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN128	Intamin	data-sort-value="2005–10"	May 2005 – November 2010
3	Top Thrill 2	Cedar Point		NaN120	Intamin	data-sort-value="2003–05"	May 2003 – May 2005
4	Red Force	Ferrari Land		NaN111.8	Intamin
data-sort-value="3.5"		Do-Dodonpa	Fuji-Q Highland		NaN111.8	S&S	data-sort-value="2001–12"	December 2001 – May 2003
5		Six Flags Magic Mountain		NaN100	Intamin	data-sort-value="1997-03"	March 1997 – December 2001
data-sort-value="4.5"		Ring Racer	Nürburgring		NaN99.4	S&S
6	Steel Dragon 2000	Nagashima Spa Land		NaN95	Morgan
		Carowinds		NaN95	Bolliger & Mabillard
8	Millennium Force	Cedar Point		NaN93	Intamin
9	Leviathan	Canada's Wonderland		NaN92	Bolliger & Mabillard
10	Orion	Kings Island		NaN91	Bolliger & Mabillard

Fastest wooden roller coasters

Fastest wooden roller coasters^[19]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Speed	Manufacturer	Record held
1	Goliath	Six Flags Great America		NaN72	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="2014-06"	June 2014 – June 2016 September 2020 – present
2	Wildfire	Kolmården Wildlife Park		NaN71.5	Rocky Mountain Construction
3	El Toro	Six Flags Great Adventure		NaN70	Intamin	data-sort-value="2009-06"	June 2009 – June 2014
4	Colossos - Kampf der Giganten	Heide Park		NaN68.4	Intamin
5	Outlaw Run	Silver Dollar City		NaN68	Rocky Mountain Construction
6	The Voyage	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari		NaN67	The Gravity Group
7	The Boss	Six Flags St. Louis		NaN66.3	Custom Coasters International	data-sort-value="2000–04"	April 2000 – May 2000
8	American Eagle	Six Flags Great America		NaN66	Intamin	data-sort-value="1981-05"	May 1981 – April 2000
9	The Beast	Kings Island		NaN64.8	Kings Island	data-sort-value="1979-04"	April 1979 – May 1981
10	T Express	Everland		NaN64.6	Intamin

Gallery

Length rankings

Longest steel roller coasters

Longest steel roller coasters^[20]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Length	Manufacturer	Record held
data-sort-value="0.5"		Falcon's Flight	Six Flags Qiddiya		NaN13,944	Intamin
1	Steel Dragon 2000	Nagashima Spa Land		NaN8133	D. H. Morgan Manufacturing	data-sort-value="2000–08"	August 2000 – present
2	Formula Rossa	Ferrari World Abu Dhabi		NaN6805	Intamin
3	Fujiyama	Fuji-Q Highland		NaN6709	TOGO
4	Fury 325	Carowinds		NaN6602	Bolliger & Mabillard
5	Millennium Force	Cedar Point		NaN6595	Intamin
6	Incredicoaster	Disney California Adventure		NaN6072	Intamin
data-sort-value="6.5"		Desperado	Buffalo Bill's		NaN5843	Arrow Dynamics
7	Steel Vengeance	Cedar Point		NaN5740	Rocky Mountain Construction
8	Mamba	Worlds of Fun		5600sigfig=4NaNsigfig=4	D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
	Steel Force	Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom		5600sigfig=4NaNsigfig=4	D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
10	Superman El Último Escape	Six Flags México		5577.4sigfig=4NaNsigfig=4	D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
	Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind	Epcot		5577.4sigfig=4NaNsigfig=4	Vekoma

Longest wooden roller coasters

Longest wooden roller coasters^[21]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Length	Manufacturer	Record held
1	The Beast	Kings Island		NaN7361	Kings Island	data-sort-value="1979-04"	April 1979 – present
2	The Voyage	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari		NaN6442	The Gravity Group
3	T Express	Everland		NaN5383.8	Intamin
4	Shivering Timbers	Michigan's Adventure		NaN5383	Custom Coasters International
5	Jupiter	Kijima Amusement Park		NaN5249	Intamin
6	Python in Bamboo Forest	Nanchang Wanda Theme Park		NaN5111	Great Coasters International
7	Wood Coaster	Knight Valley		NaN4817	Great Coasters International
8	Hades 360	Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park		NaN4746	The Gravity Group
9	Boulder Dash	Lake Compounce		NaN4725	Custom Coasters International
10	American Eagle	Six Flags Great America		NaN4650	Intamin

Gallery

Inversion rankings

This listing contains all types of roller coaster inversions.

Steel roller coasters

Most inversions on a steel roller coaster^[22]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Inversions	Manufacturer	Record held
1	The Smiler	Alton Towers		14	Gerstlauer	data-sort-value="2013-05"	May 2013 – present
data-sort-value="1.5"		Eleventh Roller Coaster	Great Xingdong Tourist World		11	Hebei Zhongye
2	10 Inversion Roller Coaster	Chimelong Paradise		10	Intamin	data-sort-value="2006-02"	February 2006 – May 2013
	Altair	Cinecittà World			Intamin
	Colossus	Thorpe Park			Intamin	data-sort-value="2002–03"	March 2002 – May 2013
	Crazy Coaster	Locajoy Holiday			Intamin
	Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat-2	Wonder Island			Intamin
	Sik	Flamingo Land			Intamin
data-sort-value="2.5"		LightSpeed	Wonderland Eurasia		10	Intamin
8	Avalancha	Xetulul		8	Intamin
	Dragon Khan	PortAventura Park			Bolliger & Mabillard	data-sort-value="1995-05"	May 1995 – March 2002
data-sort-value="8.5"		Steel Curtain	Kennywood		8	S&S - Sansei Technologies
data-sort-value="8.6"		unknown (formerly known as Monte Makaya)	Mirabilandia		8	Intamin	data-sort-value="1998-01"	January 1998 – March 2002

Wooden roller coasters

Most inversions on a wooden roller coaster^[23]

data-sort-type="number" scope="col"	Rank	Name	Park	Country	Inversions	Manufacturer	Record held
1	Outlaw Run	Silver Dollar City		3	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="02"	March 2013 – present
	Wildfire	Kolmården Wildlife Park			Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="01"	June 2016 – present
3	Goliath	Six Flags Great America		2	Rocky Mountain Construction
4	Hades 360	Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park		1	The Gravity Group
	Jungle Trailblazer	Oriental Heritage, Ningbo			Martin & Vleminckx Rides
	Jungle Trailblazer	Oriental Heritage, Wuhu			Martin & Vleminckx Rides
	Jungle Trailblazer	Oriental Heritage, Jinan			Martin & Vleminckx Rides
	Mine Blower	Fun Spot America: Kissimmee			The Gravity Group

Drop angle rankings

Steel roller coasters

Rank! scope="col"

Name	Park	Country	Drop angle	Manufacturer	Record held
1	TMNT Shellraiser	Nickelodeon Universe		121.5°	Gerstlauer	data-sort-value="2019–10"	October 2019 – present
2	Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland		121.0°	Gerstlauer	data-sort-value="2011–07-15"	15 July 2011 – October 2019
3	Green Lantern Coaster	Warner Bros. Movie World		120.5°	S&S Worldwide
4	Crazy Bird	Happy Valley Tianjin		120.0°	S&S Worldwide
5	Cannibal	Lagoon		116.0°	ART Engineering GmbH
6	Timber Drop	Fraispertuis City		113.0°	S&S Worldwide	data-sort-value="2011–07-02"	2 July 2011 – 14 July 2011
7	Mumbo Jumbo	Flamingo Land Resort		112.0°	S&S Worldwide	data-sort-value="2009–07"	July 2009 – 1 July 2011
8	Steel Hawg	Indiana Beach		111.0°	S&S Worldwide	data-sort-value="2008–07"	July 2008 – July 2009
9	Defiance	Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park		102.3°	Gerstlauer
10	Monster	Adventureland		101.0°	Gerstlauer
	Toutatis	Parc Astérix			Intamin

Wooden roller coasters

Rank! scope="col"

Name	Park	Country	Drop angle	Manufacturer	Record held
1	Switchback	ZDT's Amusement Park		87.0°	Gravitykraft Corporation	data-sort-value="2015–10"	October 2015 – present
2	Goliath	Six Flags Great America		85.0°	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="2014–06"	June 2014 – October 2015
3	Wildfire	Kolmården Wildlife Park		83.0°	Rocky Mountain Construction
4	Outlaw Run	Silver Dollar City		81.0°	Rocky Mountain Construction	data-sort-value="2013–03"	March 2013 – June 2014
5	T Express	Everland		77.0°	Intamin	data-sort-value="2008–03"	March 2008 – March 2013
6	El Toro	Six Flags Great Adventure		76.0°	Intamin	data-sort-value="2006–06"	June 2006 – March 2008
7	Balder	Liseberg		70.0°	Intamin	data-sort-value="2003–04"	April 2003 – June 2006
8	Voyage	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari		66.0°	Gravitykraft Corporation
9	Hades 360	Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park		65.0°	Gravitykraft Corporation
	Cú Chulainn	Emerald Park			Gravitykraft Corporation

External links

• Roller coaster census at the Roller Coaster DataBase
• Top 100 roller coasters on CoasterBuzz

Notes and References

1. Web site: Harris. Tom. How Roller Coasters Work. Discovery Communications. December 26, 2012.
2. Roller Coaster Census Report. November 9, 2012. http://rcdb.com/census.htm.
3. News: Martín . Hugo . Thrill ride designers compete to push the limits . November 11, 2012 . . March 13, 2012.
4. News: It's opening weekend for Cedar Point . December 26, 2012 . . May 15, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090518140419/http://www.cantonrep.com/ohio/x1194175018/It-s-opening-weekend-for-Cedar-Point . May 18, 2009 .
5. News: Magnum XL–200 20th anniversary ceremony. PointBuzz. September 8, 2012.
6. Web site: Top Thrill Dragster: The Inside Track on Cedar Point's Landmark Coaster and Potential Final Lap . Theme Park Tourist . June 19, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220325150434/https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20220325/32490/top-thrill-dragster-inside-track-cedar-points-landmark-coaster-and . March 25, 2022 . March 25, 2022 . live.
7. Web site: Miller . Danny . Battle Resurgence: Are the Coaster Wars back? . COASTER-net . June 19, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201001134129/https://www.coaster-net.com/blogs/battle-resurgence-are-the-coaster-wars-back . October 1, 2020 . July 29, 2013 . live.
8. Kingda Ka. Six Flags Great Adventure. 2832. November 9, 2012.
9. Formula Rossa. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. 4485. November 9, 2012.
10. Steel Dragon 2000. Nagashima Spa Land. 1173. November 9, 2012.
11. The Smiler. Alton Towers. 11062. June 19, 2022.
12. Web site: Steel Record Holders – Height. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. September 20, 2010.
13. Web site: astilwell . 2023-11-14 . Intamin Reveals Falcon's Flight Details - Coaster101 . 2024-03-28 . en-US.
14. Web site: Steel Record Holders – Drop. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. May 2, 2012.
15. Web site: Wood Record Holders – Height. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. May 2, 2012.
16. Web site: Wood Record Holders – Drop. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. May 2, 2012.
17. Web site: Record Holders – Steel – Speed. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. November 4, 2010.
18. Web site: Record Holders . 2024-05-08 . rcdb.com.
19. Web site: Wood Record Holders – Speed. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. May 2, 2012.
20. Web site: Record Holders – Steel – Length. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. November 6, 2010.
21. Web site: Wood Record Holders – Length. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. May 2, 2012.
22. Web site: Steel Record Holders – Most Inversions. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. November 11, 2012.
23. Web site: Wood Record Holders – Most Inversions. Marden. Duane. Roller Coaster DataBase. November 11, 2012.