Top goal scorers in English football's First Division / Premier League, 1888-2023
In the English Premier League, the Golden Boot is awarded to the player(s) who scores the most league goals throughout the season. Since the 1888/89 season, the year of the first top flight season in English football, 109 different individuals have been named "top goal scorer" over 125 seasons. In 2022/23, the Golden Boot was won by Manchester City's Erling Haaland, who scored 36 goals in his debut season to set a new all-time record for the Premier League.
Players from Tottenham have been named top scorer more than players from any other club, appearing 13 times on this list. 19 different nationalities are represented here, and although the vast majority of players are English, there were 16 times where the top scorer in the First Division was Scottish. A much wider variety of nationalities are represented in recent years, including in the 2018/19 season where it was shared between three players from different African nations.
Premier League records
Current records are generally given in the context of the past 28 years, as the total number of games was reduced from 42 to 38 per season in 1995 (in the Premier League's fourth season). Before 2023, the record for most goals scored since this change was set by Mohamed Salah, who netted 32 times in 2017/18, beating the previous record of 31 goals, which was set by Alan Shearer, and matched by Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez. In the Premier League era, Thierry Henry has won the Golden Boot more times than anybody else, winning this accolade four times in five seasons with Arsenal. Wayne Rooney, who is the Premier League's second highest goal scorer of all time (behind Alan Shearer) does not appear on this list at all.All-time records
Outside of the Premier League era, Jimmy Greaves has been the top scorer in England more times than any other player, appearing at the top of the list six times between 1958 and 1969, during his career with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspurs. Derby County's Steve Bloomer finished five seasons as the league's top scorer between 1895 and 1904. The highest ever tally in a single season was sixty goals, which was scored by Everton's Dixie Dean in the 1927/28 season. Greaves, Bloomer and Dean are also the three top goal scorers of all time in the English league, with 357, 314 and 310 goals respectively.Players from Tottenham have been named top scorer more than players from any other club, appearing 13 times on this list. 19 different nationalities are represented here, and although the vast majority of players are English, there were 16 times where the top scorer in the First Division was Scottish. A much wider variety of nationalities are represented in recent years, including in the 2018/19 season where it was shared between three players from different African nations.
