List of Top 1 levels (2024)

The hardest level in Geometry Dash refers to the most difficult verified level, based on collective opinions. In the contemporary community, this usually refers to the level at the #1 position on the Geometry Dash Demonlist, colloquially referred to as the Top 1 level. This position is often speculative and, as a result, variable, as nearly all Top 1 levels see only a handful of victors who can provide insight into their relative difficulty during their placement. The history of Top 1 levels before the introduction of the Demonlist is primarily based on conjecture, and early Top 1 levels were frequently ranked retrospectively or as a result of disjointed community discussion.

Top 1 is one of, if not the most influential level type in Geometry Dash. The creation and verification of Top 1s are documented and observed with great interest and often spearhead progress in the community, with levels such as Bloodbath and Sonic Wave having become emblematic of the game as a whole. Others like Cataclysm and Silent Club went on to influence their own hell-themed and Silent genres of levels respectively, while the community-made Insane and Extreme Demon terms for these levels inspired the addition of the ratings in Update 2.1 altogether. Levels formerly Top 1 continue to receive high popularity alongside continuous new interest in current and upcoming Top 1s.

List of Top 1 levels[]

This is a list of levels in chronological order considered by the Geometry Dash community as Top 1 based on collective opinions cross-checked with multiple community figures and, later, Demonlist placement.^[1]

Given the circ*mstances, if a level initially placing Top 1 is later moved below an another former Top 1 level due to players' shifting difficulty opinion, the level is considered to be pseudo- or false Top 1 level. The reigning duration of the former Top 1 that was supposedly dethroned in this manner will be retroactively lengthened accordingly, irrespective of whether they place Top 1 again. Levels that never place at #1 but are eventually deemed harder than their contemporary former Top 1 (e.g. Silent clubstep against Slaughterhouse and Sonic Wave Infinity against Tartarus) are considered retrospective or "robbed" Top 1 levels.

While many of these levels are currently unrated or deleted, some are re-verified, rated and uploaded onto the account of their verifier. Because the subcategories of Demon ratings existed in the 2.1 Update, Top 1 levels that are deleted or unrated before Update 2.1 will use the default Demon rating (). The current Top 1 is marked in boldface.

List of Top 1 levels

Image	Name	Uploader (Verifier)	Upload date	Level ID	Top 1 duration	Info
	demon park	M2CoL	17 October 2013	10109	Unknown[Note 1]	Inspired the addition of the Demon rating in Update 1.3.
	To the Grave	Darnoc2	19 October 2013	12556	Unknown[Note 2]
	Extreme Park	Rabbitical	19-22 November 2013	56287	Unknown[Note 3]
	demon world	superhexagon	24 November 2013	72540	2 weeks
	BP Night3	RA7	24 November 2013	72558	Unknown[Note 4]
	The Hell zone3	Sohn0924	8 January 2014	142942	7 days	One of the levels in Sohn0924's Hell Series; this was when Sohn0924 hack-verified the original layout version of the level.
	The Hell World3	Sohn0924	12 January 2014	149027	12 days	One of the levels in Sohn0924's Hell Series; this was when Sohn0924 hack-verified the original layout version of the level.
	Heaven And Hell1 3	TheRealZust	24 January 2014	167264	7 days
	The Hell origin3	Sohn0924	31 January 2014	29386981 (re-upload)	3 weeks	One of the levels in Sohn0924's Hell Series; this was when Sohn0924 hack-verified the original layout version of the level; The Hell Origin is the only level in the Hell Series to be completely deleted, being the original layout version.
	Stereo Demoness4	MaJackO	22 February 2014	260693	1 month
	Silent Club1	blackP2Sfull	1 April 2014	462797	Approx. 8 months	Former impossible level. Inspired the Silent levels trend.
	Element 111 Rg3 4 7	DarkX	7 April 2014	498620 (deleted)	6 days[Note 5]
	ICE Carbon Diablo X2 5 6	Roadbose	28 May 2014	814678	Approx. 7 months	The easiest and the oldest former Top 1 level on the Demonlist, created in 1.6; the only former Top 1 being hack-verified and a fully solo level at the same time.
	Cataclysm2 4	Ggb0y (Riot)	3 January 2015	3979721	Approx. 6 months	The first of the classic Apocalyptic Trilogy levels, preceding Bloodbath and aftermath.
	Future demoness4	MaJackO	7 July 2015	9229228	Approx. 2 weeks
	Sonic Wave1 3	Cyclic (original) Sunix (current)	20 July 2015 (Cyclic) 25 November 2016 (Sunix)	9704784 (Cyclic, deleted) 26681070 (Sunix)	Approx. 2 weeks (Cyclic) Approx. 5 months (Sunix)[Note 6]	Was first considered to be Top 1 before Cyclic confessed to hacking the level; this was also a part of the classic RGB Trilogy, along with Yatagarasu and Erebus; Sonic Wave also beat Yatagarasu's record for the longest-standing level on the Demonlist with 2,508 days, and was the last 1.9/2.0 level to be pushed into the Legacy List of the Demonlist after the placement of Instinct (Krazyman50Real) on 8 October 2023.
	Fexty1 4	Ozpectro	7 August 2015	10189562	5 days[Note 7]	Shifted to #1 when Sonic Wave was unrated.
	Bloodbath	Riot	12 August 2015	10565740	1 year	Former longest duration as Top 1, succeeded by its remake Bloodlust. The second of the classic Apocalyptic Trilogy levels, succeeding Cataclysm and preceding aftermath. The former longest-standing level on the Demonlist at 1,997 days.
	Theory of Darkness4	Koopi	17 November 2015	14061353 (deleted)	4 days
	Phobos (unnerfed)1 3 4	Tygrysek	20 November 2015	13612299 (deleted)	5 days[Note 8]
	Sakupen Hell1	TrusTa	14 August 2016	23262780	2 months	The last solo level to first get to Top 1 before Tidal Wave (Sonic Wave would retake its Top 1 spot after being verified by Sunix and be the last solo Top 1 before Tidal Wave); it is also currently the shortest Top 1 level in terms of length, being 50 seconds.
	Athanatos2	Exenity	5 November 2016	26133601	Approx. 3 weeks
	Artificial Ascent6	Viprin (Combined)	12 December 2016	27122654	Unknown	One of the Technology Trilogy levels, along with Digital Descent and Cybernetic Crescent; Cybernetic Crescent was never Top 1. Artifical Ascent also dethrones Bloodbath for the longest-standing level on the Demonlist with being 2,078 days.
	Yatagarasu6	TrusTa	13 January 2017	28220417	Approx. 6 months	One of the classic RGB Trilogy levels along with Erebus and Sonic Wave; ironically, Yatagarasu also beats Erebus' previous record for the longest-standing level with 2,434 days.
	Erebus5 6	BoldStep	19 March 2017[Note 9]	31462941	Approx. 3 months	One of the classic RGB Trilogy levels along with Yatagarasu and Sonic Wave.
	Stalemate Redux6	GDTheTactiq (Zephal)	9 September 2017	37398911	4 days[Note 10]
	Digital Descent4 6	Viprin (Combined)	11 September 2017	37456092	4 days	One of the Technology Trilogy levels, along with Artificial Ascent and Cybernetic Crescent; Cybernetic Crescent was never Top 1.
	Plasma Pulse Finale5	Smokes	29 October 2017	38655495	1 month and 5 days	The fourth and final level in the Plasma Pulse series, and the only one to be Top 1.
	Bloodlust	knobbelboy	21 February 2018	42584142	1 year and 17 days	Former longest duration as Top 1, the record now being held by Tartarus.
	Crimson Planet6	TrueOmega (Wooshi)	19 May 2018	45866767	1 day[Note 11]
	Zodiac2 4	Bianox (Technical)	28 January 2019	52374843	11 months	The only level on the former Top 1 list that is three minutes long before Tidal Wave; it is also currently the longest Top 1 level in terms of length being 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
	Tartarus	Dolphy	6 January 2020	59075347	1 year and 5 months	Longest duration as Top 1; Tartarus was also a part of the New RGB Trilogy along with The Golden and Sonic Wave Infinity; Sonic Wave Infinity was never Top 1. This level is also the first of the levels in Riot's Trilogy along with Acheron and Aeternus; Aeternus has yet to be verified. It was dethroned by The Golden after a 110 day-long reign but returned to the #1 spot a few months later.
	The Golden6	BoBoBoBoBoBoBo (nSwish)	17 April 2020	60978746	3 months and 2 weeks	One of the levels in the New RGB Trilogy along with Tartarus and Sonic Wave Infinity; Sonic Wave Infinity was never Top 1.
	Firework5	Trick	29 October 2021	75206202	18 seconds[Note 12]	Shortest duration as Top 1 on the Demonlist. Due to the exposing of spaceuk's level-completion achievements being illegitimate, Firework was technically the hardest legitimately-verified Demon for 56 days before Doggie verified Slaughterhouse on 19 December 2021.
	Slaughterhouse2	icedcave (Doggie)	19 December 2021[Note 13]	27690100	11 months	Slaughterhouse was moved to the #1 spot multiple times due to spaceuk's difficulty opinions on other former Top 1 levels that were close to Slaughterhouse, especially Abyss of Darkness; Sakupen Circles however, was described as mildly easier than Slaughterhouse nowadays.
	Sakupen Circles6	Diamond	29 December 2021	76962930	2 months and 10 days	Remake of the 1.9 impossible level of the same name.
	Abyss of Darkness6	Exen (Cursed)	3 April 2022	49896559	1 month and 2 weeks
	Acheron5	ryamu (Zoink)	23 August 2022	73667628	1 year and 1 week	The second level of Riot's trilogy, following Tartarus and preceding Aeternus; Aeternus has yet to be verified.
	Avernus5	PockeWindfish (Zoink)	22 March 2023	89496627	4 months and 2 days	The antagonist to The Golden; both Avernus and The Golden are former Top 1s that were moved below the prior Top 1 after some time at Top 1. Avernus was moved below the prior Top 1, Acheron, a few months after Tidal Wave was rated.
	Tidal Wave	OniLink (Zoink)	9 September 2023	86407629	Present	Longest time for a level to get rated after its verification and initially get placed at the #1 spot.

Legends

¹ The level was re-verified and published by a different uploader later on, and possibly rated after.

² The level was hack-verified but remained rated due to having a first victor.

³ The level was either unrated or deleted, though possibly re-uploaded by the original creator or a different player.

⁴ The level was buffed or nerfed at some point in time after being uploaded and taking the Top 1 spot.

⁵ The level was initially placed somewhere below #1, usually at #2 before being moved right to the #1 spot.

⁶ The level became a Top 1 temporarily under a technicality, either due to being deemed harder initially, but being moved down nonetheless, or the former Top 1 was later moved down. This may not have been reflected on the Demonlist as an actual #1 placement.

⁷ Because Element 111 Rg was deleted and forever lost in time, the currently uploaded version is the theoretical version that Stormfly and the Restoration Union have created in hopes of restoring the level.

List of upcoming Top 1 levels[]

This is a list of notable upcoming levels considered to be candidates for Top 1 with active progress being made on their creation or verification, in order of their date of first preview. These levels are often remakes of previous levels and far surpass the difficulty of the present Top 1.

List of upcoming Top 1 levels

Image	Name	Host/Uploader (Tentative verifier)	First Previewed	Info
	Amethyst	Mist (Trick)	27 June 2021[2]	Amethyst/Crystal-themed level inspired by The Golden. Originally set to be verified by Beastular, but Trick took over as the new verifier following his drama surrounding The Apocalyptic Trilogy.
	Vehemence	Yuko (wPopoff)	21 August 2021[3]	Sequel to Anahita. A level based off the Terraria Calamity mod.
	GRIEF	icedcave (Doggie)	15 April 2022[4]	Prequel to former Top 1 Slaughterhouse and based on icedcave's 2015 impossible level of the same name.
	Silent Acropolis	Phantom7Ks (SerVax)	29 January 2023[5]	Silent remake of Acropolis, featuring detailed decoration and buffed difficulty.
	Aeternus	ryamu (open verification)	27 April 2023[6]	Third in a trilogy of hell-themed levels hosted by Riot, following Tartarus and Acheron.
	KOCMOC UNLEASHED	Cherry Team (Arshadow)	12 November 2023[7]	Remake of KOCMOC, based on the original unnerfed version.

List of retrospective Top 1 levels[]

This is a list of rated levels that, while never achieving the Top 1 spot officially, were at some point shifted above their contemporary Top 1 level, meaning that the level would have been Top 1 based on later difficulty opinions.

List of retrospective Top 1 levels

Image	Name	Uploader (Verifier)	Upload date	ID	Retrospective Top 1 duration	Info
	Phobos (current)	KrmaL	12 May 2016	19759411	3 months	This is the nerfed version of Phobos legitimately verified and uploaded by KrmaL; the unnerfed version hack-verified by Tygrysek that was unrated was a proper Top 1. Was initially placed below the then-Top 1 Bloodbath before both were moved several times after Sakupen Hell was rated, with Phobos ending up above Bloodbath.
	Sonic Wave Infinity	APTeamOfficial (Xanii)	30 May 2021	69685815	5 months	Was initially placed below then-Top 1 Tartarus before Tartarus was moved below this level on 10 May 2023.
	Trueffet	SyQual (Baeru)	16 July 2021	71434979	None (3 months 2 weeks at peak placement)	Was initially placed below then-Top 1 Tartarus before being moved above Tartarus after Firework and Slaughterhouse were rated; would later be moved back below Tartarus, making this level no longer a retrospective Top 1.
	Hard Machine	Komp (Varium)	19 August 2021	72744364	None (2 months 2 weeks at peak placement)	Was initially placed below then-Top 1 Tartarus before being moved above Tartarus after Firework and Slaughterhouse were rated; would later be moved back below Tartarus, making this level no longer a retrospective Top 1.
	Silent clubstep	Sailent (paqoe)	17 July 2022	4125776	1 month 1 week	Was initially placed below the then-Top 1 Slaughterhouse before being moved above Slaughterhouse on 23 April 2023. Abyss of Darkness, which would have been Top 1 at the time of Silent clubstep's verification based on modern difficulty opinions but avoids a retrospective Top 1 title due to having been initially placed there before being moved down, would also end up below Silent clubstep's new placement.

Trivia[]

• Completing all of the former Top 1 levels since 2013 legitimately by a single player is the current challenge unbeaten by anyone in the community.^[8]
• Element 111 Rg is currently the only Top 1 not beaten as no known copies of the level exist; however, a restored version of the level was verified by paqoe on 11 April 2024.
• Digital Descent and Bloodlust are the only Top 1 levels that are Epic-rated.
• Bloodbath is the first Top 1 to reign as the hardest level for over a year, followed by Bloodlust, which reigns as a Top 1 for 383 days, later on by Tartarus with a total of 527 days (418 consecutive days), and Acheron with a total of 374 days.
  • All four levels were either hosted by Riot or a remake of a level hosted by Riot.
  • Based on modern difficulty opinions, Bloodbath would have lost its spot at Top 1 after roughly nine months to Phobos.
• Bass Cave was moved above the level that was Top 1 at the time of its release, but this was due to a buff-date that made the level harder. The unbuffed version was deemed too easy to be Top 1.
• arcturus was rated and placed alongside Firework and Slaughterhouse, both projected to be Top 1. Collectively, these levels are known as the '3 top 1', despite arcturus initially placing below Tartarus.
  • arcturus was later moved above Tartarus, but due to being rated simultaneously with Firework and Slaughterhouse, it would not have been top 1 if it was placed there originally.
    • It was, however, the first to be verified of the three, meaning if it had been rated soon after its verification, it would have indeed been a retrospective top 1 had it placed below Tartarus, or a proper top 1 if it was placed above.
• Arctic Lights and Devil Vortex were once accidentally placed as the Top 1 of the Demonlist at some point but did not count as the hardest level.
• Avernus is currently the Top 1 level that took the longest to have its first victor, taking over 8 months and surpassing Bloodbath's 7 months.
• Three different versions of Sonic Wave have been Top 1: Cyclic's original version, Cyrillic's version that RobTop accidentally rated, and Sunix's legitimately verified version which is the current one rated to this day.
• Two different versions of Phobos have been rated: Tygrysek's hack-verified unnerfed version that was Top 1 before it was updated to the nerfed version and then deleted, and KrmaL's copy of the nerfed version which was legitimately verified and is still rated. Both were Top 1 upon their rating based on modern difficulty opinions, but only the first was ever actually placed there.
• Two different versions of Tartarus have been Top 1: Mullsy's version after he became the first victor, and Dolphy's version that was rated after his verification was proven legitimate.
• With his verification of Tidal Wave, Zoink became the first and the only player to have verified the latest 3 Top 1 levels, as well as the then Top 3, having also verified Avernus and Acheron.

See also[]

• Geometry Dash Demonlist
• Geometry Dash Challenge List

Videos[]

• List of hardest levels

• Timeline of hardest levels

Notes[]

References[]