Which SQL query would return the top three departments with the highest total salaries from an employees table with columns department , salary , and employee_id ?

Explanation: The correct query uses SQL’s GROUP BY to aggregate data by department , calculates the sum of salary for each department using SUM(salary) , and orders the results in descending order with ORDER BY . Finally, the LIMIT 3 clause retrieves only the top three departments. This approach is efficient and aligns with database query standards, ensuring the highest salaries are calculated accurately and in rank order. Option B: MAX(salary) cannot be used without a GROUP BY clause for the entire table, and the syntax is incorrect. Option C: COUNT(salary) measures frequency, not total salary. Option D: DISTINCT eliminates duplicates but does not aggregate data for rankings. Option E: MAX(salary) sorts by individual highest salaries, not aggregated totals, leading to incorrect results.