The Fat Duck, which came first in 2005, slumped to 13th from fifth last year. It was overtaken by the chef’s new venue, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which entered the World’s 50 Best Restaurants chart at ninth. The Ledbury, another London restaurant, surged to 14th from 34th.

The highest US entries were Per Se, New York (sixth); Alinea, Chicago (seventh); and Eleven Madison Park, New York (10th). El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, and fellow Spanish restaurant Mugaritz, San Sebastian, held onto third and fourth places, respectively. D.O.M., Sao Paolo, rose to fourth from seventh.

“There is no doubt the World’s 50 Best Restaurants has changed the history of gastronomy,” El Bulli’s chef, Ferran Adria, said in a message to the organizers. “Today, it is the most important event in world cuisine.” (El Bulli won the best restaurant title five times before closing last year.)

Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Adria and Redzepi were among the chefs who attended the awards ceremony Sunday at the Guildhall in London. Some of the leading chefs, including Brett Graham of the Ledbury and Sat Bains, went to the prime minister’s residence, at 10 Downing Street, before Sunday night’s event. They were supporting “Food Is Great,” part of a campaign to promote Britain overseas.

Being named the world’s best can have a dramatic impact on a restaurant. On Sunday, Redzepi posted a note on Twitter that he had 1,204 people wait-listed for that evening, compared with a total of 14 guests for lunch and dinner exactly two years before.

“We often had empty tables for lunch” before winning, Redzepi said in an interview after his first triumph in 2010. “The day after, we had more than 100,000 people trying to book online, which is an obscene amount. So in one day, we could have filled our restaurant for almost 15 years. It was a crazy thing.”

The Top 50 features eight US restaurants and five from Spain. Six establishments in Asia made the list and the organizers announced plans to start the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, to be held in Singapore in February 2013.

The table is drawn up from the votes of members of 27 panels around the world, each with 30 members and a chairman or chairwoman. Panelists must pick four restaurants from within their region and three from outside, and they must have eaten in the places for which they vote within the previous 18 months. The full list of panel members is published only after the awards.

La Grenouillere in northern France received the 2012 “One to Watch” award. The restaurant placed at 81. Last year’s One to Watch, Frantzen/Lindeberg, Stockholm, rose 37 places to 20.

Elena Arzak from Arzak restaurant, in San Sebastian, Spain, was named Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef; and Keller, who also owns the French Laundry, Yountville, California, won the S. Pellegrino Lifetime Achievement Award.