4628 — Ahmad ibn Salih narrated to us, ʿAnbasah narrated to us, Yunus narrated to us, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah said:

Ibn ʿUmar said: We used to say while the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — was still alive: "The most virtuous of the Prophet's community — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — after him is Abu Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUthman, may Allah be pleased with them."(1)

4629 — Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us, Sufyan informed us, Jamiʿ ibn Abi Rashid narrated to us, Abu Yaʿla narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, who said:

I said to my father: Who is the best of people after the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace? He said: Abu Bakr. I said: Then who? He said: Then ʿUmar. Then I feared to say: Then who? — lest he say —————————————————————————————
= Al-Bukhari also transmitted it (3698) via the route of Aswad ibn ʿAmir Shadhan, with this chain of transmission.
Al-Tirmidhi transmitted it (4040) via the route of al-Harith ibn ʿUmayr, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar, with it, with the wording: "We used to say while the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — was alive: Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthman."
Al-Bukhari transmitted it (3655) via the route of Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Ansari, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said: We used to choose among the people in the time of the Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and we would choose Abu Bakr, then ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, then ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan.
Ibn Haniʾ transmitted it in "Masaʾil al-Imam Ahmad" (1938), and through him al-Khallal in "al-Sunnah" (541), via the route of Abu Salih, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: We used to count, while the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — was alive and his companions were numerous, Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthman, then we would remain silent.
See what follows it.

(1) Authentic, and this chain of transmission is weak due to the weakness of ʿAnbasah — and he is Ibn Khalid al-Ayli — and he has been followed up.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal transmitted it in "Fadaʾil al-Sahabah" (64), and through him ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad in "al-Sunnah" (1353), and Ibn Haniʾ al-Naysaburi in "Masaʾil al-Imam Ahmad" (1943), and Abu Bakr al-Khallal in "al-Sunnah" (546) and (553), and al-Khallal transmitted it (547) from Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Khalī, both of them (Ahmad and Muhammad ibn Khalid) from Bishr ibn Shuʿayb ibn Abi Hamzah, from his father, from al-Zuhri, with it.
See what precedes it.