A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
The top tier in English football today is the Premier League, replacing the Football League First Division for the 1992–93 inaugural season. Since the 1888–89 season, the first year of top flight football, 110 different individual players have been named top scorer. Players from Tottenham Hotspur have been named top scorer more than players from any other club, appearing thirteen times on this list. Jimmy Greaves, the all-time top goal scorer in top flight history, won it four times whilst at Tottenham. Nineteen different nationalities are represented and although the vast majority of players are English, there were sixteen times where the top scorer in the First Division was Scottish. Since the Premier League started, the player (or players) is awarded the Golden Boot Trophy, for the most league goals in the season. In the Premier League era, Thierry Henry has won the Golden Boot more times than anyone else, winning this accolade four times, all with Arsenal.[1] Wayne Rooney, the Premier League's third highest goal scorer, does not appear on this list at all.
Once a rarity, a more widespread assortment of nationalities has achieved this success in recent years; in the 2018–19 season, it was shared between three players from different African countries, then in the 2021–22 season, Son Heung-min from South Korea finished level with Egypt's Mohamed Salah. Sergio Agüero won the award once, scoring 26 in the 2014–15 season. The Argentinian striker scored 184 goals between 2011 and 2021 to become the top foreign top flight goal scorer.[2]
Since the turn of the millennium only three Englishmen have won the award. In the 1999–2000 season Kevin Phillips won with 30 goals for Sunderland.[3] This was a record for most goals by a debut player, in a 38 match season, until Erling Haaland broke it in the 2022–23 season. Harry Kane won the golden boot in successive seasons when he scored 25 in 2015–16 and then 29 in the 2016–17 season. He won it again in the 2020–21 season with 23.[1] The third is Jamie Vardy; the Leicester City striker scored 23 goals in the 2019–20 season.[1] Everton striker Dixie Dean holds the record for most goals scored in a single season, with 60 goals in the 1927–28 season. Dean's 310 goals scored for Everton is still the record for most goals scored for one club, and Dean also still holds the records for most hat-tricks, overall and in a single season.[4]
Top scorers
By season
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On six occasions Jimmy Greaves was the league top scorer: twice with Chelsea and later four with Tottenham Hotspur; however, Steve Bloomer[5] with five holds the record for one team. Thierry Henry is the record Premier League winner with four. Gary Lineker has won the honour three times, all with different clubs, the only player to do so.
In the 1951–52 season, Chile international Jorge 'George' Robledo became the first foreign player to score the most goals in a season, topping the list with 33 goals for Newcastle United.[6] He stood alone on this list for 47 years. For two consecutive years the award was won by the lowest total of goals ever, 18.[3] Englishmen Michael Owen, Dion Dublin and Chris Sutton won in the 1997–98 season.[7] Owen again won in the 1998–99 season,[7] but this time he was joined by Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Dwight Yorke,[7] Trinidad and Tobago, the duo becoming the first foreign, league top scorers since Robledo. During this period however, two Republic of Ireland internationals, winger Andy McEvoy and striker John Aldridge, topped the scoring charts. McEvoy shared the most goals with Jimmy Greaves in the 1964–65 season while Aldridge top scored for Liverpool in the 1987–88 season. Both players, although non-British, do not appear on the top foreign goalscorers list published by the IFFHS[8] as well as many other reputable football websites. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) became the first African to win the award in 2006–07 season[7] and later Carlos Tevez, Luis Suárez and Sergio Agüero would add to the South American winners.[7] In 2018–19, two players from the same club both finished as top scorers for the first time, Sadio Mané, Senegal, and Mohamed Salah, Egypt, of Liverpool.[9] finished in another three way tie, joined by Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Gabon. The 2021–22 season saw Son Heung-min become the first Asian winner; the South Korean international scored 23 goals, finishing level with Mohamed Salah.[3]
From the start of the Premier League, a golden boot trophy is presented to the top goalscorer. The first player to win this trophy was Teddy Sheringham,[7] then playing for Tottenham Hotspur. In the 1993–94 season Andy Cole scored 34 goals for Newcastle United, the highest number of goals in the Premier League era to win the award.[3] The following season Alan Shearer equalled it while playing for Blackburn Rovers. Both these records however, were set during a 42 match season. Since the Premier League was reduced down to 20 teams, Mohamed Salah held the record previously with 32 in a 38 match season for Liverpool until Norwegian striker Erling Haaland scored his 33rd goal for Manchester City in the 2022–23 season. Haaland's next goal saw him break the record of most goals scored in a season by a foreign player, ending Robledo's 71-year-old record.[10] Haaland finished the season with 36 goals, the highest goal amount since Ron Davies scored 37 for Southampton fifty-six years ago. However all these totals are dwarfed by the all time record holder, Everton legend Dixie Dean, who still holds the record for the most goals in a season with 60, set in the 1927–28 season.[11]
| Player (X) | Name of the player and number of times they were top scorer at that point (if more than one) |
|---|---|
| † | Indicates multiple top scorers in the same season |
| ‡ | Indicates player also won the European Golden Shoe in the same season (since 1967–68) |
| § | Denotes the club were English champions in the same season |
