re: In order, who living has the most legitimate claim to the iron throne?

varys? maybe twyin or Tyrion.

I know to whom they're referring...Robert Baratheon.

Jon
Dany
Gendry
Cercei
Jaime

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Jon will never accept the throne unless forced too. Akin to how he is KITN.

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Which is why I dont get Dany's inability to understand why he wont bend the knee. Jon himself has no problem serving. Its what he does. He knows that he literally can not do it or everything falls apart....and then everyone dies.

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In order, who living has the most legitimate claim to the iron throne?

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right now, Cersei does.

Robert overthrew the Targaryen line, he was recognized as the legitimate king by all parties other than Dany. Even surviving Targaryens and their supporters took the Black. Note that Randyll Tarly says Dany can't make him do that, as she's not his queen... and yet Thorne was at the Wall after Robert won.

So with that, all the various Targaryen bloodlines are irrelevant, as that house has been deposed.

Gendry- he's a bastard. No claim there.

If Cersei has the most legit claim, not sure of the progression. Seems like she'd slide behind Stannis and Renly, but there's no Barathron lineage left, so it then starts with her... would it track back to the other Lannister siblings afterwards, if she left no heir?

Would the Hand have the next claim, without any heirs? If so, that might also favor Cersei, as she is of the line of Tywin, the last Hand that has any surviving heirs.

If not the Hand, then it's really a free-for-all. As I said, a Targaryen has no claim anymore, as that line has been usurped.
Dany has a claim, but based on the strength of her military power (and supported by the Reach and Tyrells, but they're vacuums now).
Jon has a claim by being the highest ranking "Lord" of Westeros... King in the North, basically claiming the Stark banner and supported by the Arryns of the Vale.

Robin Arryn might be next as one of the few remaining legit heads of a major House; he's not pushing a military claim but a male Arryn might be ahead of a female Lannister, if not for the marriage. Heck, you might argue that he's technically the most legal option there is left.

Euron probably somewhere next as King of the Iron Islands,

Even assuming Robert's claim was legitimate (and it was... the man sat on the throne for damn near 20 years), Cersei really has no claim to the throne aside from the fact that she was the most powerful person in the midst of a power vacuum. The wife of a king and then the queen-mother does not entitle her to the line of succession under most every inheritance law that has existed. She herself is a usurper. With Jon's lineage and legitimacy no longer a theory, he's now the rightful head of House Targaryen and has the best bloodline claim to the Iron Throne.

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Prince Rheagar died before being named king. King Aerys II named Viserys as his heir, not Jon. Dany is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne through her brother. Jon has the weaker claim.

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So I started this post to tell you that you were wrong, but I wanted to confirm something and it turns out that you are correct even though your explanation isn't.

Viserys being named the heir over Jon is not especially relevant, as Jon was not known at the time. What is key is that Viserys was named heir over Aegon, Rhaegar's still-living son who was known at the time. Jon's claim through his dead brother (Aegon) does indeed appear to be weaker than Daenerys's claim through her dead brother (Viserys).

There was an article from last year that tried to explain the most legitimate claim to the Iron Throne, and it turned out to be Jaime.

LINK

Robert Baratheon was king when the series started, and upon his death, his children, Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella would inherit the throne in that order. Of course, they're all technically inbred bastards who shouldn't have had a legitimate claim, but that's in the past. After them comes Robert's brother Stannis and his daughter Shireen, followed by Robert's youngest brother, Renly.

This being "Game of Thrones, they're all dead. So now what? We have to do some deep, deep dives to figure it out.

Robert's grandmother was actually a Targaryen. Rhaelle Targaryen was also the aunt of the Mad King Aerys, meaning that, ironically, Viserys (dead) and Daenerys would be next up in line. However, Robert's overthrow of the Targaryens and his effective exile of the surviving children would invalidate this claim most likely.

So who is actually left to inherit the throne? We have to go all the way back to Robert's great-great-great-great-grandfather to find out.

Corwen Baratheon wed a woman named Leyne about 200 years before the show began. They had six children, including Arion, who was Robert's great-great-great grandfather. That bloodline has been snuffed out, but another one of Corwen's children, Elyanna, married Lord Mathin Lannister.

Mathin Lannister was Tywin Lannister's great-great-grandfather. Which means that when Tywin died, the true inheritor of the Iron Throne was... Jaime Lannister.

Jaime is Tywin's firstborn son. However, he was a member of the Kingsguard, and members of that elite force are forbidden from taking lands, marrying, or fathering children. Remember, Tywin was furious that Jamie couldn't legally inherit Casterly Rock due to his vows, which were for life.

But when Tommen released Jaime from his vows as a Kingsguard, it freed him up to be the king.

Serious question: since the Targaryens were deposed, how are any of their claims considered "legit"? I mean, I get the concept of them reclaiming it, but that will likely need to be done with force (hence, Dany has the stronger claim over Jon, since she's the one with the stronger army).

But Robert's claim was that he deposed the Targaryens, right? Or was it that he somehow was next in the Targaryen line, after his rebellion? And all the Houses opposed a returning Targaryen in season 1; the Starks, Baratheons, Arryns, Tyrells etc were in agreement with the Lannisters on this.

If it's not based on bloodlines prior to Robert, then I'd imagine it's got to be either the best option among the great houses (Robin Arryn is the last male of a BIG house still in power, if we exclude Euron since the Greyjoys are despised by the rest), or a transfer to the Hand or someone else powerful like that.

I'm thinking of this during an era of peace, not a raging war, and assuming that Joffrey and Tommen are dead; no heirs from that line.