SQL Use ORDER BY With TOP to Return the Top X Rows Based On a Column’s Value

In this article, we are going to learn how to use ORDER BY with TOP to return the top x rows based on a column’s value. We will use another table to fetch the top value and use that value in another table.

So first we create a database.

Step 1: Create Database

CREATE DATABASE GFG

Step 2: Use this DB

USE GFG

Step 3: Create a table for storing the top value

We will create a table for storing top value so that we can use that to fetch from another table

CREATE TABLE TopValue(
 val varchar (255)
)

Insert some top value data in this table

INSERT INTO TopValue VALUES(3) 

Step 4: Create a data table that is to be fetched

Now we will create a table whose data is to be fetched and will fill dummy data

CREATE TABLE w3wiki(
    ID INT,
    Name varchar(255)
    Age varchar(5),
    Dept varchar(255)
    ) 

Insert some data in this table so that we can fetch this data

INSERT INTO [dbo].[w3wiki]
           ([ID]
           ,[Name]
           ,[Age]
           ,[Dept])
     VALUES (1, 'Devesh', 21, 'CSE')
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[w3wiki]
           ([ID]
           ,[Name]
           ,[Age]
           ,[Dept])
     VALUES (2, 'Aman', 25, 'IT')
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[w3wiki]
           ([ID]
           ,[Name]
           ,[Age]
           ,[Dept])
     VALUES (3, 'Jatin', 25, 'CSE')
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[w3wiki]
           ([ID]
           ,[Name]
           ,[Age]
           ,[Dept])
     VALUES (4, 'GFG', 23, 'CSE')
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[w3wiki]
           ([ID]
           ,[Name]
           ,[Age]
           ,[Dept])
     VALUES (5, 'Para', 22, 'CSE')
GO

Step 5: Now fetch the top data based on the other table value

DECLARE @TopVal INT;
SET @TopVal = (SELECT val from TopValue)
SELECT TOP (@TopVal) * FROM w3wiki ORDER BY Age DESC

Output:

We can see the data is successfully fetched based on the top value from another table and ordered by age descending order.