What spreadsheet preceded lotus 123?

The major spreadsheet that existed before Lotus 123 did, and the very first spreadsheet of all, was VisiCalc, first released in 1979. Lotus 123 was first released in 1983. There were other released between VisiCalc and Lotus 123, but it was Lotus 123 that took over from VisiCalc as the best selling spreadsheet application at the time.