Oxford was beaten by Cambridge for the eighth year in a row in the Complete University Guide 2019.
Cambridge topped the rankings with Loughborough, UCL, Warwick, and Durham also appearing in the top ten.
The guide ranks universities by their entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality, and graduate prospects.
Chairman of The Complete University Guide, Dr Bernard Kingston, told Metro: “It is a fact that Cambridge and Oxford have usually topped the table.
“But some 20 British universities could be regarded as top world-class institutions – some ancient like Cambridge and Oxford, and some modern like Warwick and Lancaster. All are able to attract faculty and research funding globally.
“This clearly influences the quality of their undergraduate teaching and enables them to recruit high-quality students.
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“All universities strive for continual improvement, and it is conceivable that in the future others may pose a challenge to Cambridge and Oxford.”
The list ranks 131 universities and is updated annually but Cambridge and Oxford have occupied the two top spaces since 2014. The last time Oxford topped the table was in 2011.
LSE, Imperial, and St Andrews took the rest of the places in the top five.
Neither Oxford or Cambridge had a score for Student satisfaction after boycotts rendered the results of the National Student Survey (NSS) unusable.
Staffordshire university climbed the most places since last year’s Guide, rising by 32 places to 72nd.
