TopN vs RANKX in Power BI | DAX Deep Dive with Real Examples (When to Use and Why)

Power BI TopN vs RANKX Explained | DAX Simplified for Interviews & Real Projects

If you’ve ever wondered when to use TOPN and when to use RANKX in Power BI, this video is your complete guide!

Understanding the difference between TopN and RankX is one of the most important DAX skills every Power BI developer and data analyst must master — not only for interviews but also for building dynamic dashboards that tell meaningful stories.

🧩 In This Video:

This video is a complete breakdown of how both TOPN() and RANKX() functions work — when they seem similar, where they differ, and how you can use them effectively depending on your business scenario.

We’ll cover:

What is TOPN in DAX — how it returns a table of top results based on expression and sorting order.

What is RANKX in DAX — how it assigns ranking numbers to rows in a table based on an expression.

When to use TopN and when RankX gives better control.

How TopN helps in visual-level filtering.

Why RankX is more flexible and dynamic for visuals and calculations.

Real-world examples:
✅ Top 3 Products by Sales
✅ Ranking Products by Sales
✅ Real Use Case for your projects

Common interview question patterns related to both.

💡 Concept Deep Dive

Both TOPN() and RANKX() are DAX functions used for ranking and sorting, but they behave differently:

TOPN returns the top N rows from a table based on an expression, perfect for scenarios like “Top 10 Customers by Sales.”

RANKX calculates the rank number for each row, allowing you to see all values but with ordered context — perfect for “Show all customers with their rank.”

In this video, I’ve not just shown the syntax but also explained the DAX context behind it — row context vs filter context, and how CALCULATE + FILTER combinations change behavior.

I’ve also linked back to my earlier RANKX video, which you should definitely watch if you want to become a master at dynamic ranking.

🎥 Watch the full RANKX video here (Highly Recommended):    • RANK vs RANKX in Power BI | Complete DAX T...  

🚀 Why This Video Is Important

If you’re preparing for a Power BI interview or working on advanced analytics dashboards, questions like these are common:

“How do you show top 5 products dynamically?”

“What’s the difference between TopN and RankX?”

“Can you rank customers by revenue while still showing all customers?”

“What if two customers have the same rank?”

This video will help you answer all those confidently — with clear examples and practical demonstrations.

⚡ Key Takeaways:

✅ Complete understanding of TOPN and RANKX in DAX
✅ When to use TopN vs when to use RankX
✅ Syntax explanation and real-world logic
✅ How to combine TopN with measures and visuals
✅ Important interview questions and tricks

🧠 Real-Life Use Cases Covered

Displaying Top 10 Customers dynamically based on slicer

Showing Top Performing Products in Dashboard

Ranking Sales by Region or Category

Using RankX inside CALCULATE for performance

Creating TopN measure using DAX

Handling Ties in Ranking

💬 Related Videos to Watch Next

📺 [RANKX in Power BI Explained —    • RANK vs RANKX in Power BI | Complete DAX T...  ]
📺 [Row Context vs Filter Context —    • DAX Row Context vs Filter Context in Power...  ]
📺 [CALCULATE, CALCULATETABLE, FILTER — Explained Together -    • CALCULATE vs CALCULATETABLE vs FILTER Expl...  ]
📺 [Dynamic MTD, QTD, YTD using DAX-    • Dynamic MTD, QTD, YTD in Power BI | DAX wi...  ]

































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