Methods and apparatus for dynamic acknowledgement list selection in detection of uplink control channel formats. In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes a dynamic acknowledgement (ACK) list allocation circuit that generates a dynamic ACK list that includes one or two most likely ACK candidates, and a top-Q candidate CQI bits detector that dynamically allocates a detection branch to each of the one or two most likely ACK candidates to detect top-Q candidate CQI bits. The apparatus also includes a merger circuit that mergers the top-Q candidate CQI bits detected for the one or two most likely ACK candidates to generate a merged list, a top-Q CQI symbol generator that generates top-Q CQI symbols for the top-Q candidate CQI bits detected for the one or two most likely ACK candidates, and a joint detector that detects transmitted CQI bits and ACK bits.