>>>What is the easiest way to select the first record based on a single field?
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>>See SELECT TOP 1 ...
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>I should have given a better explanation of what I am looking for.
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>If I have several records for companyA and several records for companyB and several for companyC, what is the easiest way to select the first record for each company?

You've to provide a definition of the first record in terms of the table fields.