How to add gradient effect to background color of TextView in a ListView?

You just need to create a drawable resource (see an example below), and add it to the layout you created for your ListItem.

The drawable (in your res\drawable folder – name it whatever – listgrad.xml for ex) could look like:

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle">
    <gradient
      android:startColor="@color/gradient_start"
      android:endColor="@color/gradient_end"
      android:angle="-270" /> 
</shape>

The you would add it to the layout for your list item (the layout.xml file you define for this) like this code snippet:

<TextView
        android:id="@+id/ranking_order"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="@drawable/list_grad"
        />
...