Top 20 Premier League Goalscorers Of All Time

Since the formation of the Premier League, there have been many top goalscorers. Mohamed Salah is the most recent name to join the exclusive list of the top 10 scorers in the history of the competition after overtaking former Liverpool hero, Michael Owen. Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero are modern-day examples of top marksmen who have broken into the list, with many players from eras gone by completing the top 10. Salah is the only out-and-out winger to make the cut, and there is even a central midfielder that makes it onto the list.

The other eight names are strikers who always had their eyes firmly fixed on the goals and doing everything in their power to get the ball into the net. After launching in 1992, the Premier League has become one of the toughest divisions in Europe and the quality on display has risen year-on-year. Here are the top 20 goalscorers in Premier League history and the stats behind each player. These are the best of the best when it comes to clinical finishers in Premier League history.

10 Jermain Defoe – 162 goals

Premier League clubs: West Ham, Tottenham, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Bournemouth

A man of many clubs – who played until he was 39 years old. Jermain Defoe deserves credit for managing to hit double figures in the Premier League with three different clubs – West Ham, Tottenham and Sunderland over 15 years. The English forward scored the bulk of his goals for Spurs across two different spells with the North London club, netting 91 times in the famous white shirt.

Defoe’s best season in the Premier League was in the 2015/16 campaign, when he scored 15 goals in 22 games for now-Championship level outfit, Sunderland. Defoe might not be the biggest name on the list, but his remarkable consistency over such a long period of time deserves to be honoured, and he is well worth his place as the ninth-highest-scoring player in Premier League history.

9 Robbie Fowler – 163 goals

Premier League clubs: Liverpool, Leeds United, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers

A phenomenal finisher at his best. Robbie Fowler made his mark in the early years of the Premier League when, at the start of his career, he scored 25 goals in the 1994/95 season, and bettered that with 28 goals a season later. His goalscoring antics at Liverpool knew no bounds and among all the clinical finishing, he proved to be efficient as he held the record for the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history for more than two decades.

Fowler never managed to hit 20 goals in a Premier League season again, although he did manage to contribute double figures at both Leeds and Manchester City. It will be for the early days that Fowler is best remembered when his goals lit up the league.

8 Mohamed Salah – 164 goals

Premier League clubs: Chelsea and Liverpool

Mohamed Salah has been a consistent goalscorer ever since he walked through the door at Anfield in 2017 from Roma. The Egyptian broke the goalscoring record in a 38-game Premier League season in his first campaign with the club as he netted 32 times – although that record has now been bettered by Erling Haaland – and the winger has never looked back since. His lowest-scoring seasons in the league for Jurgen Klopp’s side came in 2019/20 and 2022/23, when he still scored 19 goals.

The 32-year-old joined the top 10 of this illustrious list with a powerful drive during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw against Arsenal during the 2023/24 campaign, and it was fitting that he did so in front of his home support in a big game. Salah is always a man to step up at the vital moment for the Reds, and his landmark goal was no different as he stepped inside Oleksandr Zinchenko and unleashed a bullet of a shot into the near post, leaving David Raya with no chance. His latest strike, in a 2-1 win against Brighton & Hove Albion, saw him overtake former Merseyside legend Fowler.

7 Thierry Henry – 175 goals

Premier League clubs: Arsenal

An Arsenal icon, Thierry Henry was a key part of one of the most legendary Premier League sides of all time, the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ of season 2003/04. Unsurprisingly, that was his best league season for the Gunners, as Henry – one of the greatest foreign players to ever grace the English game – scored 30 goals as Arsenal completed an unbeaten league campaign.

Henry didn’t stop scoring after the invincible season, and he helped himself to 25 and 27 goals in the next two campaigns. Soon after that, his remarkable time at Arsenal came to an end, and he moved to Barcelona, but Henry made an emotional return to the club in the 2011/12 campaign, where he scored one goal in four games. Henry goes down as one of – if not the – greatest players in Premier League history.

6 Frank Lampard – 177 goals

Premier League clubs: West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City

The only midfielder that is on the list, Frank Lampard started his career at West Ham, but his best days were at Chelsea, where he was a key member of José Mourinho’s side which dominated the English game in the mid-2000s, winning two league titles and a host of cups. There can be debates around the best all-round midfielder in the history of the division, but there can be no question over the best player at getting into the box and finding the net from the middle of the park. Lampard was a genius at timing his run into the penalty area to perfection.

Lampard hit double figures in the Premier League a remarkable 10 seasons in a row, with his best campaign coming in 2009/10, where his 22 goals helped the Blues to another league title. Lampard could well be considered the best midfielder in Premier League history. With his record, it is hard to argue a case against it. He even added a further six goals to his tally after leaving Stamford Bridge for Manchester City, including one against his former club.

5 Sergio Aguero – 184 goals

Premier League clubs: Manchester City

Sergio Aguero’s time at Manchester City came to an end in the summer of 2021, and the striker left as not only one of City’s best-ever goalscorers but also one of the Premier League’s best-ever. Aguero’s goal prowess might have diminished in his last season with the club, as he scored just four league goals, but up until then, he was a goal machine. Aguero scored 20 or more Premier League goals in six of his 10 seasons at the club.

His best campaign was in the 2014/15 season, when he scored 26 goals. The Argentine joined an exclusive club of Premier League players to have scored five goals in the same game, doing so against Newcastle in 2015. Despite Erling Haaland’s exploits in front of goal, no matter who Pep Guardiola signs to replace Aguero, he will be a very hard – if not impossible – act to follow.

4 Andrew Cole – 187 goals

Premier League clubs: Newcastle, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Sunderland

A player whose goal record might be slightly forgotten about as his heyday was over 20 years ago, Andy Cole – who is widely regarded as one of the greatest English players to ever play for Manchester United – deserves to be remembered not only for his part in Sir Alex Ferguson’s iconic treble winners of 1999 but how well he performed for Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United too.

In his very first Premier League season, Cole scored 34 goals for Newcastle. He didn’t come close to matching that total, but it did win him a move to Old Trafford, and he also managed to score double figures for United (on five occasions) and once each for Blackburn and Fulham. A very consistent goalscorer who had a very solid longevity in the top flight of English football for several top clubs.

3 Wayne Rooney – 208 goals

Premier League clubs: Everton and Manchester United

Wayne Rooney’s statistics during his time at Manchester United are really something to behold. He hit double figures in the Premier League 11 seasons in a row and managed to score 10 league goals when he returned to Everton. The Red Devils’ all-time top goalscorer is a record that Rooney proudly holds, and he even had more England goals to his name until 2023.

Even though Rooney’s Premier League career started and ended at Everton, it is at United where he made his name, as his goals helped the Old Trafford club win five league titles. His best season came in 2011/12, where he scored 27 goals, ironically in a year that United weren’t crowned champions. Rooney’s brilliance as a goalscorer deserves to be remembered for years to come. That kind of consistency is very hard to match, as shown by the fact he was the second-top scorer in the league’s history until being taken over by the next man on the list.

2 Harry Kane – 213 goals

Premier League clubs: Norwich City (loan) and Tottenham

Only the second player on the list who hasn’t retired yet: Harry Kane. The talisman may no longer play in the Premier League but his goal tally shows just how consistent he was for Tottenham, given he is the second-highest scorer in the league’s history. Kane hit double figures in nine consecutive Premier League seasons, with his highest total coming in both the 2017/18 and 2022/23 campaigns, where he scored 30 goals.

Kane could well become the highest scorer in Premier League history if he returns to the league after his adventure with Bayern Munich comes to a close, although it will be a very big ask for him to hit another 50 goals in the competition. His goal-scoring prowess doesn’t seem to stop as he gets older, which does keep him in contention. Had he not decided to move abroad in the summer of 2023, Kane would be extremely likely to have beaten the record held by the next man, barring injuries.

1 Alan Shearer – 260 goals

Premier League clubs: Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle

Alan Shearer might be better known as a pundit these days, but in the early years of the Premier League, he was the undeniable top man when it came to scoring goals. The fact that he leads the top-scoring chart by over 50 goals shows just how lethal a finisher Shearer was. In his four Premier League seasons with Blackburn, he scored 30-plus goals on three occasions.

He took that incredible form to Newcastle, where he managed to score 20-plus goals four times. If it hadn’t been for injuries, Shearer could well have become the first Premier League player to score 300 goals. To think that he was also banging in goals for Southampton before the English top flight was re-branded in 1992 makes his feat of being the top scorer in Premier League history all the more impressive.

All statistics courtesy of the Premier League and Transfermarkt – correct as of 02/11/24.