Deepanshi Singh

How to Select the First Row of Each GROUP BY in SQL?

Deepanshi Singh

Updated on 17-Mar-2025 519 Views

When working with large datasets in SQL, you may often need to retrieve only the first row of each group based on a specific column. For example, you might want to fetch the earliest order for each customer, the highest-paid employee in each department, or the latest transaction per user. Selecting the First Row of Each Group In data analysis and database management, grouping data and extracting specific rows—such as the first or earliest record in each group—is a common and essential task. This technique is beneficial for scenarios like: Finding the first transaction ...