FORMULA & SQL / TOTALS

Top N rows by a value.
Tested, not guessed.

The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗

The example rows

Row	A: Region	B: Rep	C: Amount	D: Order Date	E: Status	F: Customer
2	North	Ana	1,200	2026-03-01	Paid	Jo Smith
3	South	Ben	450	2026-03-15	Open	Raj Patel
4	North	Cy	300	2026-04-02	Paid	Lee Wong
5	East	Ana	980.50	2026-04-20	Paid	Mia Ross
6	North	Ben	75	2026-05-05	Open	Jo Smith
7	West	Dee	1,640	2026-05-18	Paid	Sam Okoro

Excel

=TAKE(SORT(A2:F7,3,-1),5)

Google Sheets

=SORTN(A2:F7,5,0,3,FALSE)

TAKE(the range A2:F7, sorted, 5) — which keeps the first rows.

Spills the top rows. Needs Excel 365 or Google Sheets.

Run on the example rows:

PostgreSQL

SELECT *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC
LIMIT 5

Run on the example rows:

region	rep	amount	order_date	status	customer
West	Dee	1640	2026-05-18	Paid	Sam Okoro
North	Ana	1200	2026-03-01	Paid	Jo Smith
East	Ana	980.5	2026-04-20	Paid	Mia Ross
South	Ben	450	2026-03-15	Open	Raj Patel
North	Cy	300	2026-04-02	Paid	Lee Wong

Other databases

MySQL

SELECT *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC
LIMIT 5

SQL Server

SELECT TOP 5 *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC

SQLite

SELECT *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC
LIMIT 5

BigQuery

SELECT *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC
LIMIT 5

Snowflake

SELECT *
FROM sales
ORDER BY amount DESC
LIMIT 5

Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗