The 1971 season of the Soviet Top League saw Dynamo Kyiv clinching their title after three unsuccessful seasons. This season was also unique for successful performances of non-RSFSR clubs: Ararat Yerevan from the Armenian SSR took the second place, while bronze medals were awarded to Dinamo Tbilisi.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dynamo Kyiv (C)	30	17	10	3	41	17	+24	44	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Ararat Yerevan	30	13	11	6	37	28	+9	37	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Dinamo Tbilisi	30	14	8	8	33	33	0	36
4	Zarya Voroshilovgrad	30	11	11	8	29	23	+6	33
5	Dynamo Moscow	30	9	13	8	35	22	+13	31
6	Spartak Moscow	30	9	13	8	35	31	+4	31	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Torpedo Moscow	30	4	20	6	27	27	0	28
8	Kairat Alma-Ata	30	9	10	11	36	40	−4	28
9	Neftchi Baku	30	9	10	11	30	34	−4	28
10	Karpaty Lviv	30	5	18	7	30	35	−5	28
11	Dinamo Minsk	30	8	12	10	36	43	−7	28
12	CSKA Moscow	30	7	12	11	34	36	−2	26
13	Zenit Leningrad	30	8	10	12	29	32	−3	26
14	SKA Rostov-on-Don	30	9	8	13	35	43	−8	26
15	Pakhtakor Tashkent (R)	30	8	10	12	29	46	−17	26	Relegation to First League
16	Shakhtar Donetsk (R)	30	10	4	16	31	37	−6	24

16 goals

• Eduard Malofeyev (Dinamo Minsk)

14 goals

• Eduard Markarov (Ararat)

10 goals

• Anatoliy Banishevskiy (Neftchi)
• Viktor Kolotov (Dynamo Kyiv)
• Vitaliy Shevchenko (Neftchi)

9 goals

• Valery Yaremchenko (Shakhtar)
• Aleksei Yeskov (SKA Rostov-on-Don)

8 goals

• Berador Abduraimov (Pakhtakor)
• Anzor Chikhladze (SKA Rostov-on-Don)
• Boris Kopeikin (CSKA Moscow)
• Eduard Kozinkevich (Shakhtar)
• Anatoliy Puzach (Dynamo Kyiv)
• Pavel Sadyrin (Zenit)

• Soviet Union - List of final tables (RSSSF)