Best big bang theory characters

Sheldon Cooper wins 69% of his duels and tops The Big Bang Theory ranking ahead of Penny and Leonard Hofstadter.

The physicist with zero social skills claims the top spot with 1348 ELO points after 49 duels, but Penny trails by 95 points at 1253 ELO. Leonard Hofstadter sits just 1 point behind Penny at 1252 ELO, making the fight for second place exceptionally tight. Howard Wolowitz holds fourth with 1209 ELO, while Rajesh Koothrappali rounds out the top 5 at 1185 ELO. The ranking confirms what fans have long suspected: the original roommates and their neighbor dominate affections, while the later additions to the group struggle to match their appeal. Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowski occupy the bottom two spots with 1093 and 1058 ELO respectively, suggesting the community gravitates toward the show's founding characters.

This ranking draws from 1033 duels cast by 82 players across 7 contenders, updated on 11 October 2026. The vote remains open: head to the ranking page to pit your favorite Pasadena physicist, aspiring actress, or aerospace engineer against another member of the friend group. Every duel shifts the standings and sharpens the portrait of which Big Bang Theory character resonates most with the community.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →