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The official MHA hero rankings are the Hero Billboard Chart, an in-universe ranking of licensed Japanese professional heroes compiled by the Hero Public Safety Commission — and the definitive post-All Might top 10 is Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Mirko, Crust, Kamui Woods, Wash, Yoroi Musha, and Ryukyu, in that order. Placements are not decided by combat power: the chart weighs cases resolved, social contribution, and public approval, which is why fan-made power rankings and reader popularity polls produce completely different names at the top.
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The official chart at a glance
The list below reflects the chart announced in the manga after All Might’s retirement at Kamino Ward — the point at which the No. 1 seat changed hands for the first time in decades. All Might had held No. 1 for years with Endeavor as the perennial runner-up, so this was the first genuinely open chart in the story’s present day.
| Rank | Hero | Base / agency | Quirk | Why they sit there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Endeavor (Enji Todoroki) | Endeavor Agency, Tokyo | Hellflame | Decades as No. 2; inherits the top seat on case count and seniority |
| 2 | Hawks (Keigo Takami) | Fukuoka, Kyushu | Fierce Wings | Described in the manga as the youngest hero ever to break into the top 10, at 18 |
| 3 | Best Jeanist (Tsunagu Hakamada) | Best Jeanist Agency | Fiber Master | Long-running top-five mainstay; held rank through a long injury absence |
| 4 | Edgeshot (Shinya Kamihara) | Edgeshot Agency | Foldabody | Top-10 veteran built on rescue and infiltration, not raw offense |
| 5 | Mirko (Rumi Usagiyama) | Solo — no sidekicks | Rabbit | Highest-ranked solo hero; combat-first record |
| 6 | Crust | — | Shield | Defensive specialist; killed in action during the Paranormal Liberation War |
| 7 | Kamui Woods (Shinji Nishiya) | Tokyo | Arbor | Young climber promoted into the top 10 by the post-Kamino reshuffle |
| 8 | Wash | — | Wash | Top 10 despite a comic public image — consistency and approval carry it |
| 9 | Yoroi Musha | — | — | Veteran of the previous era; retired after the Paranormal Liberation War |
| 10 | Ryukyu (Ryuko Tatsuma) | Ryukyu Agency | Dragon | Senior hero and internship mentor; steady rather than spectacular numbers |
Two caveats on the table: several heroes’ civilian names and quirks are only partially documented in the source material, and the chart shown above is a snapshot. The manga’s epilogue, set years later, presents a rebuilt chart with a new generation of pros near the top — it is a different list from the one above, not a correction of it.
How the Hero Billboard Chart is actually scored
According to the chart’s announcement in the manga, placements are compiled by the Hero Public Safety Commission from three weighted inputs. It is a bureaucratic index, not a tournament result.
- Cases resolved. Arrests, rescues, disaster response, and incident closures. This is the closest thing the chart has to a volume metric, and it rewards heroes who work constantly in populated areas.
- Social contribution. Community programs, safety campaigns, disaster relief, and public-facing work. A hero who spends two days a week at schools and shelters can out-earn a stronger hero on this factor alone.
- Public approval. The popularity term. This is why Wash — whose quirk is essentially cleaning — holds a top-10 seat while more fearsome heroes sit outside it.
Two gates you must pass before you are ranked at all
First, you need a full professional hero license; a provisional license is not enough. Second, you need an active agency or a registered solo practice. That combination is why Class 1-A never appears on the chart no matter how strong its members become, and why villains never appear at all — the ranking is a register of licensed public servants, not a power index. Country-level charts exist elsewhere; Star and Stripe is identified in the manga as the United States’ No. 1 hero, but there is no complete published global ranking.
Why a busier hero can rank below a less busy one: a worked example
The three factors offset each other, so raw case count alone does not decide a placement. The numbers below are illustrative — they are not official figures — but they show the shape of the maths.
| Hero (illustrative) | Case index (×0.5) | Approval (×0.3) | Contribution (×0.2) | Weighted total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hero A — high volume, abrasive | 90 → 45.0 | 48 → 14.4 | 50 → 10.0 | 69.4 |
| Hero B — moderate volume, beloved | 70 → 35.0 | 88 → 26.4 | 75 → 15.0 | 76.4 |
| Hero C — low volume, high visibility | 45 → 22.5 | 92 → 27.6 | 90 → 18.0 | 68.1 |
Hero A closes more cases than Hero B and still finishes behind, because a weak approval term drags the total down. This is the mechanism the manga leans on repeatedly: the chart measures public trust and paperwork as much as it measures heroism, and Endeavor’s uncomfortable first year at No. 1 is the story’s clearest demonstration that a top placement does not confer the symbolic authority All Might held.
Official placements vs. fan rankings: pick the list that answers your question
Three different things get called “MHA hero rankings,” and they are not interchangeable.
| What you want to know | Use this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Who is officially No. 1 in Japan in-story? | Hero Billboard Chart | In-universe, Commission-compiled, licensing-gated |
| Who would win a fight? | Fan tier lists built on feats | The chart deliberately ignores raw combat power |
| Who is most popular with readers? | Publisher-run character popularity polls | Real-world reader votes; students and villains are eligible |
| Where do students rank? | Nowhere — no chart exists for them | Full professional licence required |
| Who leads outside Japan? | Country-level No. 1s only | No complete official global chart is published |
The single most common mistake is treating the Billboard Chart as a strength ranking. It is a public-trust ranking with a casework term bolted on, which is why Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki can be stronger than several ranked pros and still be absent from it, and why a hero like Wash outranks fighters who would beat him one-on-one.
What actually changes a placement over time
Charts churn for mundane reasons before dramatic ones. The Paranormal Liberation War is the clearest stress test: Crust was killed in action, Yoroi Musha retired publicly, Mirko returned to duty with prosthetic limbs after losing limbs in the fighting, and Endeavor lost an arm in the Final War. Beyond casualties, the ordinary levers are agency closures, long injury absences, relocation out of a high-incident city, and approval damage from a single bad press cycle — the collapse in public trust after the war pushed several heroes out of the profession entirely, which reshuffled the lower half of the top 10 without anyone losing a fight.
The practical takeaway: read the chart as a dated snapshot with a named compiler and three stated inputs. When a fan list and the Billboard Chart disagree, they are usually answering different questions rather than one of them being wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the No. 1 hero in My Hero Academia?
Endeavor holds No. 1 on the Hero Billboard Chart shown after All Might’s retirement, following years in the No. 2 seat. All Might had held the top spot for decades before that, which is why the post-Kamino chart is treated as the first genuinely open one. In the manga’s epilogue, set years later, the chart has been rebuilt around a newer generation.
Are the MHA hero rankings based on strength?
No. Per the chart’s explanation in the manga, placements come from cases resolved, social contribution, and public approval, compiled by the Hero Public Safety Commission. Combat power is not a scored category. That is why fan tier lists and the official chart disagree so consistently — they are measuring different things.
Where does Deku rank in the hero rankings?
He does not appear on the Hero Billboard Chart, because it only lists heroes holding full professional licences and active agencies. Provisional licences, which is what Class 1-A holds for most of the story, do not qualify. Students and villains are therefore excluded from the chart entirely, regardless of ability.
What are the criteria for the Hero Billboard Chart?
Three weighted factors: number of incidents resolved, social contribution such as community and relief work, and public approval rating. Two eligibility gates sit in front of them — a full pro licence and an active agency or registered solo practice. The Commission compiles and publishes the result.
Why did the top 10 change so much after the Paranormal Liberation War?
Because the war removed heroes from the board through every route at once: death, retirement, career-ending and life-changing injuries, and a collapse in public trust that pushed others out of the profession. Crust was killed, Yoroi Musha retired, and Mirko continued with prosthetics. The chart’s lower ranks shifted without any of those heroes losing a head-to-head fight.
Is the Hero Billboard Chart the same as the character popularity polls?
No, and this is the most common mix-up. The Billboard Chart is in-universe and ranks licensed pro heroes by the Commission’s criteria. Popularity polls are real-world votes run by the publisher, where readers rank any character they like — students, villains, and supporting cast included. The two lists routinely share almost no names at the top.