Premier League all-time top scorers
Top 20
Alan Shearer scored his last Premier League goal in April 2006 and nobody has come close since. Twenty seasons later he is still forty-seven goals clear at the top of a list that every generation of forwards has had a go at, which is the sort of margin that stops being a record and starts being a landmark.
This is the full top twenty, counted from the competition's first season in 1992/93. It is the single most argued-about list in English football and the one most people get wrong somewhere between seventh and twelfth, because the names that live there are not the names that come to mind.
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan ShearerNewcastle United, Blackburn Rovers1992/93–2005/06 | 260 |
| 2 | Harry KaneTottenham Hotspur2012/13–2022/23 | 213 |
| 3 | Wayne RooneyManchester United, Everton2002/03–2017/18 | 208 |
| 4 | Mohamed SalahLiverpool, Chelsea2013/14–2025/26 | 193 |
| 5 | Andy ColeManchester United, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers + 3 more1993/94–2007/08 | 187 |
| 6 | Sergio AgüeroManchester City2011/12–2020/21 | 184 |
| 7 | Frank LampardChelsea, West Ham United, Manchester City1995/96–2014/15 | 177 |
| 8 | Thierry HenryArsenal1999/00–2011/12 | 175 |
| 9 | Robbie FowlerLiverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United1993/94–2008/09 | 163 |
| 10 | Jermain DefoeTottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, West Ham United + 2 more2000/01–2018/19 | 162 |
| 11 | Michael OwenLiverpool, Newcastle United, Manchester United + 1 more1996/97–2012/13 | 150 |
| 12 | Les FerdinandQueens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur + 3 more1992/93–2004/05 | 149 |
| 13 | Teddy SheringhamTottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Portsmouth + 2 more1992/93–2006/07 | 146 |
| 14 | Jamie VardyLeicester City2014/15–2024/25 | 145 |
| 15 | Robin van PersieArsenal, Manchester United2004/05–2014/15 | 144 |
| 16 | Jimmy Floyd HasselbainkChelsea, Leeds United, Middlesbrough + 1 more1997/98–2006/07 | 127 |
| 17 | Son Heung-minTottenham Hotspur2015/16–2024/25 | 127 |
| 18 | Robbie KeaneTottenham Hotspur, Leeds United, Coventry City + 3 more1999/00–2011/12 | 126 |
| 19 | Nicolas AnelkaChelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal + 3 more1996/97–2013/14 | 125 |
| 20 | Dwight YorkeAston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers + 2 more1992/93–2008/09 | 123 |
Just outside. The next five are Raheem Sterling (123), Romelu Lukaku (121), Steven Gerrard (120), Ian Wright (113) and Erling Haaland (112).
What the table shows
The shape of the list is the interesting part. Only five of the twenty scored all of their goals for a single club — Kane, Agüero, Henry, Vardy and Son — and everyone else moved at least once, which is why so many of these totals are assembled rather than accumulated. Andy Cole's 187 were scored for six clubs, the most of anyone in the top ten.
It is also a list that rewards staying power in a way that flatters nobody's highlight reel. Frank Lampard is seventh on 177 goals, scored over twenty Premier League seasons from midfield, and Jermain Defoe's goals came across nineteen seasons and five clubs without him ever finishing a season as the league's top scorer. The forwards you would name first are not always the forwards at the top.