Premier League all-time top scorers

The Premier League all-time leading goalscorers list reads like a who's who of the greatest footballers to have ever played on English soil. 

From Golden Boot heroes to Ballon d'Or winners, a stellar cast of marksmen have kept audiences entertained with well over 30,000 goals since the league's inception in 1992.

But who is top dog in this illustrious list of goal-getters? Read on for a rundown of the highest scoring players in Premier League history.

30. Darren Bent (106 goals)

Clubs: Ipswich, Charlton, Tottenham, Sunderland, Aston Villa & Fulham

The only player in our list to have scored a goal via a beach ball. 

Bent made his mark at Ipswich and Charlton where he underlined his reputation as one of the league's deadliest young poachers.

A move to Tottenham proved relatively short-lived but the England international quickly became a cult hero on Wearside, firing Sunderland to Premier League safety on more than one occasion. 

29. Paul Scholes (107 goals)

Clubs: Man Utd

Better known, perhaps, for his range of passing, BT Sport's Paul Scholes scored almost twice as many Premier League goals as he managed assists. 

A midfield metronome capable of thunderbolt-like strikes, Scholes scored 107 Premier League goals in 499 appearances for Manchester United.

From 1994 to 2007, Scholes scored at least five times in all but two seasons, with his most productive campaigns coming in 1995/96 and 2002/03.

He also scored two hat-tricks in this time against West Ham and Newcastle.

28. Peter Crouch (108 goals)

Clubs: Aston Villa, Southampton, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Tottenham & Stoke

The second member of the BT Sport family on our list.

Peter Crouch's record of less than a goal every four games makes him by no means prolific, but his longevity in the top flight was down to more than his ability in front of goal.

Crouch's final Premier League appearance came almost 17 years after he made his first for Aston Villa as a fresh-faced 21-year-old.

The gangly striker would go on to represent Southampton, Portsmouth, Spurs, Stoke, Burnley and most famously Liverpool, where he would become a cult hero having scored 42 goals across three seasons and seven en route to the Champions League final in 2007.

27. Ryan Giggs (109 goals)

Clubs: Man Utd

One of the few one-club men on our list, Welsh wizard Ryan Giggs scored 109 Premier League goals for Manchester United in 632 appearances in a career that spanned 24 seasons.

Despite retiring in 2014, Giggs is still top of the pile for Premier League assists and managed to score in 21 consecutive seasons - another record that stands to this day.

26. Emile Heskey (110 goals)

Clubs: Leicester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wigan & Aston Villa

Evergreen striker Emile Heskey boasts one of the longest Premier League careers, with 18 top-flight seasons on an impressive footballing CV.

With 516 Premier League appearances to his name, only Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard have racked up more in the list of players to have scored 100 goals or more.

Emerging from the academy and carving his reputation at Leicester with 33 league goals in 124 appearances, Liverpool splashed a club-record £11m for his signature in 2000 but he moved on four years later after failing to cement a regular starting place.

Heskey proceeded to ply his trade in England’s top-flight for six more years, with stints at Birmingham, Wigan and Aston Villa, finally hanging up his boots in 2016.

24. Sadio Mane (111 goals)

Clubs: Southampton & Liverpool

Formerly one-third of Liverpool's formidable front three under Jurgen Klopp, Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane holds a special place in the hearts of Reds fans around the globe.

The Senegal international joined Southampton in a £10m deal in 2014 and scored 21 league goals for the Saints in 67 appearances.

Liverpool came calling in 2016 and the winger made a £36m move to Anfield, with his high-intensity style suiting Jurgen Klopp’s philosophy of play.

Mane proceeded to rack up 90 goals in 196 league appearances for the Reds, bringing up a century of Premier League goals in October 2021.

His most prolific return came in 2018/19 when his 22 goals earned him a share of the Golden Boot.

24. Dion Dublin (111 goals)

Clubs: Man Utd, Coventry & Aston Villa

Now of Homes Under the Hammer fame, modern-day audiences may be shocked to discover that Dion Dublin made his name as the Premier League's aerial-menace in chief. 

Dublin scored 111 goals in a Premier League career which began with a move to Manchester United from Cambridge United in the summer of 1992.

Indeed, Dublin is responsible for Man Utd's first goal of the Premier League era, netting in the 88th-minute against Southampton.

The towering striker broke his leg just over a week after that goal and he was sold to Coventry, with Eric Cantona brought in as his replacement.

Dublin's best goalscoring season was his final one with the Sky Blues, when the Englishman's 18 goals were enough to earn him a share of the Premier League Golden Boot alongside Michael Owen and Chris Sutton.

23. Raheem Sterling (112 goals)

Clubs: Liverpool, Man City & Chelsea

Plucked from QPR's academy as one of the country's most-sought after teenage prodigies, Sterling began his Premier League career at Liverpool.

He got off the mark for the Reds against Reading in 2012, in the process becoming the club's second-youngest goalscorer at the time.

The diminuative forward scored 18 times for the Reds during his four-year stay on Merseyside before swapping Liverpool for Man City where his productivity soared under Pep Guardiola, scoring more than 15 goals in three successive seasons.

His best year came in 2019/20 as he hit the back of the net 20 times to finish the campaign as City's highest league goalscorer ahead of strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.

22. Ian Wright (113 goals)

Clubs: Arsenal & West Ham

Wright's unorthodox journey from Sunday league football to Arsenal's record goalscorer will go down in Premier League folklore. 

Having plied his trade as a bricklayer and plasterer, 'Wrighty' finally got his big break aged 22 and never looked back.

An illustrious Premier League career began in earnest with a goal in a 2-0 win over Liverpool in the inaugural Premier League season, and ended six years later with a long-range effort for West Ham against long-time nemesis Tottenham.

By the end of his top-flight career in 1999, Wright had scored 113 Premier League goals in just 213 appearances, equating to a staggering ratio of nearly one goal every two games.

21. Steven Gerrard (120 goals)

Clubs: Liverpool

Mr Liverpool. Gerrard is one of the few players in the Premier League 100-goal club to have represented just one team.

Gerrard played 17 seasons in the Premier League - all in Liverpool red - during an outstanding career that saw him become the competition's second-highest scoring midfielder.

His most productive season came in 2008/09, as his 16 goals took Liverpool to within four points of a maiden Premier League trophy, only to miss out to rivals Manchester United.

Despite dropping into a deeper midfield role, Gerrard racked up 14 goals in 2013/14 as Liverpool again came agonisingly close to winning a long-awaited league title, this time under Brendan Rodgers, finishing two points behind Man City. 

Failing to win a title will go down as the only blot in an otherwise glittering career for Liverpool’s No 8.

19. Mohamed Salah (121 goals)

Clubs: Chelsea & Liverpool

Deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea by Jose Mourinho, Mohamed Salah has had a point to prove ever since his return to the Premier League. 

Having managed just two goals in 13 appearances in his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, he was loaned out to Fiorentina and Roma before making his move to the Italian capital permanent in 2016. 

The Egyptian flourished in Italy but no one quite expected him to make the impact he did in his first season at Liverpool after arriving in the summer of 2017.

He became the first player in Premier League history to score 32 goals in a 38-game season, earning him the first of three Golden Boot awards.  

Salah is the highest scoring African player in Premier League history after surpassing Didier Drogba’s tally of 104 with a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

19. Romelu Lukaku (121 goals)

Clubs: Chelsea, West Brom, Everton & Man Utd

Romelu Lukaku may divide opinion, but his numbers are not up for debate. 

Currently on loan at Inter Milan, the Chelsea striker has scored 121 Premier League goals in 278 games for four different clubs since arriving on English shores from Anderlecht.

His most fruitful period came at Everton with a return of 68 goals in 141 games, becoming the youngest player in Premier League history to a century of goals, aged just 24.

After an ill-fated spell at Man Utd under Jose Mourinho, Lukaku joined Inter Milan in 2019 and his success with the Serie A side prompted Chelsea to re-sign him for £97.5m in 2021.

But the Belgian didn't settle and his Chelsea and Premier League future remains unclear.

18. Dwight Yorke (123 goals)

Clubs: Aston Villa, Man Utd, Blackburn, Birmingham & Sunderland 

Having arrived at Aston Villa as a teenager, Yorke's ice-cold demeanour in front of goal soon caught the attention of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who made the Trinidad and Tobago striker the club's record signing in 1998. 

Unsurprisingly Yorke hit the ground running at Old Trafford, winning the Golden Boot as Man Utd completed an historic treble in his first season at the club. 

Spells at Blackburn, Birmingham and Sunderland would follow as he racked up 125 goals in 373 appearances.

17. Nicolas Anelka (125 goals)

Clubs: Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Bolton, Chelsea & West Brom

A few years before Thierry Henry landed in London, Nicolas Anelka had been the young French knight groomed to be Ian Wright's Arsenal heir - but his time in the Premier League was dogged by controversy. 

In 1998, fresh off the back of a double-winning season with Arsenal, the newly-crowned PFA Young Player of the Year stunned the red side of north London by asking to leave Highbury.

Blaming the press for his unhappiness, he was sold to Real Madrid - but he had unfinished business with English football. 

Returning to the top flight with Liverpool in 2001, Anelka would go on to represent Man City, Bolton, Chelsea and West Brom, scoring 125 goals in the process.

His crowning glory came in Chelsea blue, winning a second Premier League and FA Cup Double and the Golden Boot with 19 goals in a 2008-09 season to rememeber.

16. Robbie Keane (126 goals)

Clubs: Coventry, Leeds, Tottenham, Liverpool, West Ham & Aston Villa

After Coventry City made him British football's most expensive teenager in 1999, Keane gave an early taste of what his career would entail with a stunning two-goal debut against Derby.

His time at Coventry was short-lived as he moved on to Inter Milan before returning to the Premier League with Leeds United and had two spells with Tottenham either side of an unsuccessful cameo with Liverpool.

Often an impudent and instinctive finisher, he was also consistent, reaching double figures for goals in seven consecutive seasons from 2002 to 2009.

Famed for his trademark cartwheel celebration, the Republic of Ireland international plundered 126 goals for six different clubs. 

15. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (127 goals)

Clubs: Leeds, Chelsea, Middlesbrough & Charlton

The first of only two Dutchmen to make our list, Hasselbaink's cannon-like strikes will go down in Premier League folklore.

The master blaster fired his way to 127 goals in 288 appearances between 1997 and 2007.

The Netherlands international cut his teeth in the competition with two fruitful years at Leeds United, picking up the Premier League Golden Boot in his second season at Elland Road.

He would go on to score the bulk of his Premier League goals with Chelsea in the pre-Roman Abramovich era, winning the Golden Boot for a second time in 2001.

Later spells at Middlesbrough and Charlton helped add to his tally but by that stage his reputation as an elite goalscorer was already secure.

14. Jamie Vardy (133 goals)

Clubs: Leicester City

A latecomer to the Premier League, the former factory worker has made up for lost time season upon season with a steady stream of talismanic performances. 

Despite having not played a single top-flight game until the age of 27, Vardy is slowly making his way through the pack of great Premier League goal-getters.

H broke Ruud van Nistelrooy's record by hitting the back of the net in 11 consecutive Premier League games en route to Leicester's miraculous title triumph in 2016. 

Into his mid-thirties, the former non-league marksman remains one of the most ruthless finishers in the top flight and shows no signs of slowing up.

13. Robin van Persie (144 goals)

Clubs: Arsenal & Man Utd

After 132 goals in eight years at Arsenal, Van Persie vexed the Gunners faithful by swapping north London for Manchester in 2012.

Desperate to finally get his hands on a Premier League winner's medal, the Flying Dutchman made a sensational start to his career at Old Trafford, netting 30 times in his debut season. 

Of them, 26 came in the league and helped fire United to their 13th Premier League crown under Sir Alex Ferguson to send the Scot out on a high. 

His sumptuous volley from Wayne Rooney's long-range pass was part of a title-sealing hat-trick against Aston Villa.

12. Teddy Sheringham (146 goals)

Clubs: Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Man Utd, Portsmouth & West Ham

Having got his name on the scoresheet in Nottingham Forest's first ever Premier League outing, Sheringham was still banging them in for West Ham 16 years later at the ripe old age of 40.

After swapping Nottingham for north London, Sheringham earned the biggest move of his career in 1998 as Sir Alex Ferguson came calling.

Aged 31, Sheringham was handed the uneviable task of replacing Eric Cantona. 

After a slow start, the frontman recovered to help fire United to an unprecedented treble, including the crucial equaliser in the final of the Champions League. 

In 2000 he was recognised for his goalscoring heroics with the PFA and Footballer Writers Player of the Year awards before stints at Portsmouth and West Ham.

11. Les Ferdinand (149 goals)

Clubs: QPR, Newcastle, Tottenham, West Ham, Leicester & Bolton

For the first six years of the Premier League, only Alan Shearer amassed more goals than "Sir Les".

Athletic, strong and formidable in the air, Ferdinand shot to stardom in a sub-par QPR team before plundering 41 Premier League goals over back-to-back seasons for Kevin Keegan's Newcastle "Entertainers".

Ferdinand struggled to reproduce his Newcastle form for Tottenham but the England international showed his class with a 12-goal cameo for Leicester in the twilight of his career.

10. Michael Owen (150 goals)

Clubs: Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd & Stoke

The poster boy for Premier League football in the late 90s and early noughties, Michael Owen scored 150 goals in 326 games in a 16-year career.

His first goal came a mere 16 minutes into his debut, aged just 17 years and 144 days old, becoming Liverpool's youngest-ever scorer in the process.

After a stunning breakthrough season, Owen went on to share the Premier League Golden Boot the following campaign.

The electric striker topped the Premier League scoring charts the next season too, before becoming only the fourth Englishman to win the coveted Ballon d’Or in 2001.

Owen eventually hung up his boots in May 2013 as one of just 10 players to have scored 150 or more Premier League goals, while also being the youngest player ever to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League.

9. Jermain Defoe (162 goals)

Clubs: West Ham, Tottenham, Portsmouth, Sunderland & Bournemouth

Defoe struck 162 times in the Premier League for five different teams.

The Londoner carved a career out of hanging on defenders' shoulders, posting 10 double-digit Premier League seasons in an impressive streak of goal-getting. 

He almost single-handedly kept Sunderland afloat with 15 goals in back-to-back campaigns for the Wearsiders. 

And he emulated Andrew Cole by bagging five goals in a 9-1 win over Wigan, leading Harry Redknapp to describe him as "the best finisher in England".

8. Robbie Fowler (163 goals)

Clubs: Liverpool, Leeds, Man City & Blackburn

Fowler made his Premier League bow in the competition's second season, going on to notch 163 goals in just 379 appearances

Four minutes and 33 seconds was all it took for Liverpool to take a 3-0 lead against Arsenal in 1994 thanks to Robbie Fowler's record-breaking hat-trick.

Dubbed 'God' by the Kop for his supreme natural finishing, Fowler's later spells with Leeds, Man City and Blackburn were blighted by injury.

After spells at Elland Road and the Etihad, Fowler was brought back to Anfield by Rafa Benitez in January 2006.

The Toxeth-born striker was given a hero's welcome and went on to finish his time on Merseyside as the Reds' top scorer in the Premier League.

7. Thierry Henry (175 goals)

Clubs: Arsenal

The glorious Frenchman made football look effortless for eight magnificent seasons at Arsenal. 

Signed by Arsene Wenger as a winger, Henry quickly set about terrorising Premier League defenders up and down the country as one of the most electrifying players to ever grace English football. 

Henry went on to become the club’s record top scorer in all competitions and with 175 goals from just 258 Premier League appearances, he boasted a goal-per-game ratio of 0.68.

His most prolific campaign came in Arsenal's Invincibles season, banging in 30 goals to win the Golden Boot and lead the Gunners to their third and most recent Premier League title.

6. Frank Lampard (177 goals)

Clubs: West Ham, Chelsea & Man City

Lampard's heady position on this list as a central midfielder is testament to his unique taste for goals. 

After seven years, 148 league games and 24 goals for boyhood club West Ham, Lampard swapped east London for west and signed for Chelsea.

And it was at Stamford Bridge where Lampard would immortalise himself as a Premier League icon. 

He missed just five league games in his first six seasons at Chelsea and racked up double figures in 10 of his 13 campaigns at the club, winning three titles along the way.

5. Sergio Aguero (184 goals)

Clubs: Man City

Sergio "Kun" Aguero was the competition's most prolific striker in a decade of Man City dominance.

No player with 20 goals or more holds a candle to the Man City striker's minutes-per-goal ratio, and the Argentinian's total of 184 Premier League goals is the most by an overseas player.

Aguero immortalised his name in Man City folklore with his stoppage-time winner to clinch the club's first Premier League title in his debut 2011/12 season, the first of five winners' medals.

He also won the 2014/15 Premier League Golden Boot and claimed the Player of the Month accolade seven times.

4. Andrew Cole (187 goals)

Clubs: Newcastle, Man Utd, Blackburn, Fulham, Man City & Portsmouth

Andy Cole's £7m switch to Manchester United in 1995 sent shockwaves through the Premier League and left Newcastle fans furious with manager Kevin Keegan.

Keegan asked fans to trust him - but the Toon faithful could only watch on in despair as a player who had scored 34 goals the season before to walked out of St James' Park for one of their main rivals.

He would go on to notch double figures in the Premier League on eight more occasions across spells at Man Utd, Blackburn and Fulham.

The London-born marksman has a better games-to-goals average than Wayne Rooney, while just one of his 187 goals came from the spot.

Remove penalty kicks from the record and his goal average is even better than Alan Shearer’s.

3. Harry Kane (191 goals)

Clubs: Tottenham

The highest-placed player on this list still active in the Premier League, Harry Kane is the most likely candidate to break the all-time goals record. 

Kane scored his first Premier League goal in 2014 and brought up his ton four years later.

He achieved the century of goals in just 141 games, a record bettered only by the great Alan Shearer.

The 28-year-old won the Golden Boot outright in back-to-back campaigns between 2015 and 2017.

2. Wayne Rooney (208 goals)

Clubs: Everton & Man Utd

Few players can claim to have made a more dramatic entrance on the Premier League stage than Wayne Rooney.

His thunderous winner for Everton against Arsenal in 2002, aged 16, announced his arrival as the most exciting young talent the Premier League had seen since Michael Owen.

All-time record goalscorer for Man Utd and England, only one man has bagged more Premier League goals than Wayne Rooney. 

Like many on this list, Rooney's unique combination of ability and gritty determination made him both a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals.

During two spells at Everton and 13 years at Old Trafford, the hard-nosed Liverpudlian volleyed, lobbed, smashed and bicycle-kicked a stunning 208 goals in 491 appearances. 

1. Alan Shearer (260 goals)

Clubs: Blackburn & Newcastle

The fastest player to hit 100 Premier League goals, and still the only player to score more than 30 goals in multiple Premier League seasons, Alan Shearer's name is etched into the history books of English football. 

His prowess in front of goal fired Blackburn Rovers to the Premier League title in 1995 - what would have surely been the first of many if he had not turned down a move to Man Utd.

A world-record transfer to Newcastle and a third-place finish in 1996’s Ballon d’Or followed as Shearer recorded seven more double-figure league tallies in a decade at his boyhood club.

He picked up the Golden Boot three times in a row between 1995 and 1997, but it was his reliability and longevity that helped him take top spot amongst such an esteemed list of Premier League marksmen.