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Rank changes, movement status, and legends

ggrank has two primary visual questions:

Both use the same ranks. The change chart is not a second ranking algorithm.

How rank change is calculated

For each adjacent comparison:

rank_change = rank_from - rank_to

Rank 7 to rank 3 is +4: the category rose four positions. Rank 2 to rank 5 is -3: it fell three positions. Rank 3 to rank 3 is zero. Competition ties remain statistical ties; display_position only prevents tied categories from overlapping in ggrank().

library(ggrank)

changes <- ggrank_table(
  ggrank_products, product, year, sales,
  top_n = 5,
  show_transitions = "all"
)

changes[c("category", "from", "to", "rank_from", "rank_to",
          "rank_change", "status")]
#>     category from   to rank_from rank_to rank_change  status
#> 1  Product B 2022 2023         2       1           1   riser
#> 2  Product A 2022 2023         1       2          -1  faller
#> 3  Product D 2022 2023         4       3           1   riser
#> 4  Product F 2022 2023         6       4           2 entrant
#> 5  Product C 2022 2023         3       5          -2  faller
#> 6  Product H 2022 2023         8       6           2   riser
#> 7  Product E 2022 2023         5       7          -2    exit
#> 8  Product G 2022 2023         7       8          -1  faller
#> 9  Product B 2023 2024         1       1           0  stable
#> 10 Product D 2023 2024         3       2           1   riser
#> 11 Product E 2023 2024         7       3           4 entrant
#> 12 Product A 2023 2024         2       4          -2  faller
#> 13 Product H 2023 2024         6       5           1 entrant
#> 14 Product C 2023 2024         5       6          -1    exit
#> 15 Product F 2023 2024         4       7          -3    exit
#> 16 Product G 2023 2024         8       8           0  stable

What each status means

ggrank_table() preserves boundary and data-availability information:

Status Meaning
riser Rank improved and the category did not cross into the selected top N.
faller Rank worsened and the category did not cross out of the selected top N.
stable Statistical rank did not change.
entrant Moved from outside the top-N boundary to inside it.
exit Moved from inside the top-N boundary to outside it.
new No earlier-period rank is available.
absent No later-period rank is available.
missing A non-finite value was supplied for either side.

The ggrank_change() colour is intentionally simpler. It uses the sign of rank_change: an entrant moving 6 to 4 is shown as a riser; an exit moving 3 to 7 is shown as a faller. The original status remains in the plot data.

Latest, all, and explicit comparisons

The default focuses on the latest consecutive comparison and removes stable categories:

ggrank_change(changes, top = 5)

top = 5 means the five largest absolute rank changes in the selected comparison—not five risers plus five fallers.

ggrank_change(changes, top = 5, comparison = "all")

Select a comparison already represented in the table with from and to:

ggrank_change(changes, from = 2022, to = 2023, top = 5)

Stable categories are optional:

ggrank_change(changes, top = 8, show_stable = TRUE)
#> Warning: Removed 2 rows containing missing values or values outside the scale range
#> (`geom_point()`).

Detailed labels and long names

ggrank_change(
  changes,
  top = 5,
  change_label = "ranks",
  label_wrap = 24
)

Use change_label = "change" for +4 and -3, "ranks" for 7 → 3 (+4), or "none" for no bar-end annotation.

Customise movement colours and legend text

movement_colours <- c(
  riser = "#0072B2",
  faller = "#D55E00",
  stable = "#667085"
)

movement_labels <- c(
  riser = "Moved towards rank 1",
  faller = "Moved away from rank 1",
  stable = "No rank change"
)

ggrank_change(
  changes,
  top = 5,
  palette = movement_colours,
  legend_title = "Movement",
  legend_labels = movement_labels
)

Set show_legend = FALSE when direction, labels, and explanatory text make the legend unnecessary. Because the result is a ggplot, standard scale and theme functions remain available for further refinement.

Customise group legends in ggrank()

When group is supplied, colour_by = "auto" uses its values. Palette and legend-label names must match those values exactly.

cause_colours <- c(
  "Communicable" = "#009E73",
  "Injuries" = "#0072B2",
  "Non-communicable" = "#D55E00"
)

cause_labels <- c(
  "Communicable" = "Communicable diseases",
  "Injuries" = "Injuries",
  "Non-communicable" = "Non-communicable diseases"
)

ggrank(
  ggrank_causes, cause, year, rate,
  rank = rank, label = display_value, group = cause_group,
  periods = c(1990, 2021), top_n = 10,
  palette = cause_colours,
  legend_title = "Cause group",
  legend_labels = cause_labels
)

To use movement rather than group colours, choose colour_by = "movement". To hide the legend, use show_legend = FALSE.

For a chart containing three or four periods, movement colour in ggrank() is a summary of the net movement between the first and last displayed period. A category can therefore fall and later recover while finishing with a stable net rank. Use ggrank_change(comparison = "all") when the individual adjacent changes are important.

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.
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