How can I SELECT a row with MAX(value) from a derived table where the values are all calculated sums?

Question

I have tried the following code but I just get the full table with all the names and sum values instead of one row with the max value:

SELECT stageName, max(total_salary)
FROM (
      SELECT c.*, sum(p.dailySalary) as total_salary        
      from contender as c
      left join participant as p
      on (p.contender = c.idContender)
      group by c.idContender ) b
group by stageName;

output: 
Yellow Jesters  205
TikTok  3073
Teabags 947
Bobbleheads 11840
Reddit  1486

but I just need: Bobbleheads 11840

PS: Please suggest a solution WITHOUT using desc and limit

Answer 1

Here's a solution that should work on any version of MySQL 5.x, using no ORDER BY, LIMIT, window functions, views, or CTEs.

SELECT a.stagename, a.total_salary
FROM (
      SELECT c.*, sum(p.dailySalary) as total_salary        
      from contender as c
      left join participant as p
      on (p.contender = c.idContender)
      group by c.idContender ) AS a
LEFT OUTER JOIN (
      SELECT c.*, sum(p.dailySalary) as total_salary        
      from contender as c
      left join participant as p
      on (p.contender = c.idContender)
      group by c.idContender ) AS b
  ON a.total_salary < b.total_salary
WHERE b.total_salary IS NULL;

Tested on MySQL 5.7.27.

Output:

+-------------+--------------+
| stagename   | total_salary |
+-------------+--------------+
| Bobbleheads |        11840 |
+-------------+--------------+