Nicholas Paldino shared a neat way to find the Nth Highest Record from a table in SQL Server 2005 using the ranking function ROW_NUMBER. Here is his query.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – How to Retrieve TOP and BOTTOM Rows Together using T-SQL – Part 3
Part 3 on how to retrieve TOP and BOTTOM rows together: Dave Arthur’s solution uses UNION ALL instead of an OR clause, and it is quite good.
Top and Bottom Rows With a CTE in SQL Server: Part 2
Top and bottom rows with a CTE come from two ordered queries, one for each end of the table. This follow-up tests the reader’s single-CTE version and a two-CTE version on SQL Server 2025. It also compares a ROW_NUMBER version that read 336 pages against 4 for TOP, and shows what ties, empty tables and one-row tables return.
Finding the Most Frequently Run Queries
Most frequently run queries can consume large SQL Server resources even when each call is fast; use plan cache and Query Store to find them.
SQL SERVER – Find Nth Highest Record from Database Table
The fourth Highest Record depends on whether ties occupy separate places. I define the ranking rule before choosing a query.
SQLAuthority News – 500th Post – An Interesting Journey with SQL Server
I am very pleased to write my 500th post on SQLAuthority. Thank you to my family and to all of you, plus a look at the blog’s milestones so far.
ACID Properties Shown With Real Transactions
ACID properties shown With Real Transactions uses short SQL Server scripts to explain atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.
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Pinal Dave is an SQL Server Performance Tuning Expert and independent consultant with over 24 years of hands-on experience. He holds a Masters of Science degree and numerous database certifications.
Pinal has authored 19 books and 125 Pluralsight courses. To freely share his knowledge and help others build their expertise, Pinal has also written more than 5,800 database tech articles on his blog at https://blog.sqlauthority.com.
Pinal is also a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer (CF-L1) and CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2).
Nupur Dave is a social media enthusiast and an independent consultant. She primarily focuses on the database domain, helping clients build short and long-term multi-channel campaigns to drive leads for their sales pipeline.
Shaivi Pinalkumar Dave is a book author and a women’s artistic gymnast.

