Maybe this would work for you.

A
B
C
D
1
 ITEM VALUE HELPER RANK
2
 Pears
1
1
7
3
 bears
2
2
6
4
 apples
3
5
 oranges
4
4
4
6
 peaches
5
5
3
7
 apples
6
8
 bananas
14
14
1
9
 grapes
3
3
5
10
 bananas
11
11
2
11
12
13
 HELPER
14
 =IF(A2="apples","",B2)
15
16
 RANK
17
 =IFERROR(RANK(C2,$C$2:$C$10,0),"")