Top Lane AD vs AP

Damage type really has nothing to do with it, which is good because you can fill in for whatever damage type your team is low on while still maintaining the same impact. Instead you want to look at the individual kits to figure out whether they are a duelist, a team fighter, a split pusher, or some combination of the three. If you group them that way I think you'll find your answer a whole lot easier.

, learning him brings so much to your team. His tankiness late game is godlike. I've literally tanked both nexus turrets while barely losing any health while my team is killing them. He doesn't require a lot of farm. He can farm under turret. He has awesome ganks. In my opinion, this is the guy that really brings shit ton of stuff to the team.

Cho'gath is the safest pick out of the APs you listed, as well as all of them in general. He can farm against pretty much anyone, good sustain, and scales well into late game. Doesn't need to be fed to contribute. Tons of CC.

Out of the ADs I would say Renekton is the most consistent. However, if you're good at Riven she's a decent pick too. Darius and current Fiora are very hit-and-miss depending on the matchup and team compositions. In contrast, not too many champs can reliably shut down Renekton and Riven when played well.

The difference between AP and AD falls partly on your preference but also on the needs of the team. Typically bot lane has the ADC who is AD and the support who can be AP, but their AP damage output is negligible. Mid lane, top and jungle typically have more variance in their damage output. Most of the time mid lane is AP and with an AP mid laner the jungler and top laner have more freedom to pick whoever they want. If the mid laner picks an AD champ this pretty much forces the top laner and the jungler to pick something AP related. There are very few AP junglers to pick from so usually its the top laner who goes AP if the mid lane is AD. This is when you want an AP top laner is when the team is lacking in AP damage output. Without a reliable AP damage outlet the enemy team can just stack armor and counter everyone on the team. You don't want this so you pick something to give your team more variance.

The differences between the two is that usually AP is more bursty and AD is more consistent. There are black sheep to this rule (Cassiopeia is consistent AP damage output, Zed is bursty AD damage output) but that's the general rule. AP is usually better poke and faster wave clear/pushing. AD is better at taking down structures and doesn't rely on mana for damage.