The Premier League started in 1992 and since then strikers have been scoring goals for fun.
But how many goals have the league’s most elite strikers scored in a single campaign, and where will Erling Haaland inevitably end up on this list at the end of the 2022-23 season? After all, the Manchester City striker has already scored three hat-tricks on his way to a staggering 14 goals in his first eight games, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Indeed, the list has some caveats. During the first three seasons of the Premier League era – 1992-93, 1993-94 and 1994-95 – teams played 42 games in a campaign, giving their shot-stopper more opportunities to increase their totals.
However, every goal counts, so here at FourFourTwo we’ve looked at each of the past 30 years to see who has scored the most Premier League goals in a single season.
10. 24 – Les Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, Emmanuel Adebayor, Sergio Aguero, Jamie Vardy, Alexis Sanchez, Mo Salah, Son Heung-Min
The most recent Golden Boot winners of the 2021-22 season are listed here, with Mo Salah and Son Heung-Min’s 24 goals signaling the start of this list of most goals scored in a Premier League season, coming in tenth place.
Henry had back-to-back 24-goal campaigns in 2001-02 and 2002-03, while Torres and Adebayor, and Aguero and Vardy both had the same goal tally in 2007-08 and 2015-16.
9. 25 – Matt Le Tissier, Chris Sutton, Robbie Fowler, Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku
Nine players have scored 25 goals in a Premier League season since its inception in 1992, with players from three decades all managing the tally. The list includes expected names, such as Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Harry Kane, but Matt Le Tissier and Chris Sutton, of Southampton and Norwich, respectively, both reached their totals in 1993-94.
Lukaku is also a bit of a surprise, with the Belgian forward scoring 25 goals for Everton in 2016-17. The tally still remains the highest of his Premier League career and earned him a transfer to Manchester United as a result of it.
8. 26 – Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Sergio Aguero
Not a bad trio of players grouped together who have scored 26 goals in a single Premier League season, the eighth most since 1992. Rooney hid his 26 in 2009-10, where he also won the PFA Player of the Year award. ‘year. due to stunning performances throughout.
Meanwhile, Van Persie was scored in his first season at Manchester United, helping the Red Devils on their way to the Premier League title they had missed so little of the previous year.
Aguero’s 26 came in 2014-15, and it’s the highest tally the Argentine has managed at Manchester City. He won the Golden Boot award as a result, although silverware eluded his team that year.
7. 27 – Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney
It’s no surprise to see Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney feature on this list several times already, and scoring 27 league goals from August to May is certainly nothing to be sniffed at.
Henry produced his tally in the 2005-06 season, in Arsenal’s final season at Highbury. Sending the iconic ground on a high, Henry scored a hat-trick against Wigan when the Highbury ground would last see competitive football.
Unfortunately, Rooney’s 27 total didn’t quite equal Henry’s. Scored in the 2011-12 season, a few more goals and Manchester Untied might not have lost the Premier League title to Manchester City on goal difference. Huh, Wayne?
6. 28 – Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler has failed to win a Premier League Golden Boot during his career, a puzzling stat considering he scored 28 goals in the 1995-96 season.
Yet ‘God’, as he is affectionately known to Liverpool fans, scored two hat-tricks during the year, as well as four league goals against eventual champions Manchester United as he took Liverpool to the final of the FA Cup and third in the league.
5. 29 – Didier Drogba, Harry Kane
Drogba peaked in the 2009-10 season, and his 29 goals clearly show how Chelsea managed to win the league and the FA Cup double that year as well. With Drogba’s help, Chelsea also became the first team to score more than 100 goals in a Premier League season, converting five or more goals in a game on no less than six occasions.
Harry Kane holds the record for the best goal-to-game ratio in a single season (among players who have appeared in a notable number of matches), scoring 29 goals in just 30 games in the 2016-17 season for Tottenham. Technically the most prolific striking performance of a campaign, Kane also managed to land the second of three Golden Boots he has earned so far in his career.
4:30 – Kevin Phillips, Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Harry Kane
In the 1999-00 season Sunderland finished seventh and scored 57 goals in total. Kevin Phillips secured more than half of that, an astonishing feat for someone appearing in his first season in the Premier League.
Arsenal duo Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie join Phillips with 30 goals. For Henry, 30 goals in a Premier League season is the most he has ever managed to achieve, and to do so in the season when his side became invincible certainly adds extra shine to an illustrious season.
While Van Persie wasn’t as successful when he scored 30 goals in 2011-12 Arsenal finished third and without silverware the Dutchman has truly announced himself to the Premier League as an elite striker. That summer he transferred to Manchester United, where he won another Golden Boot and the Premier League title.
Finally, Harry Kane scored 30 goals – the most he has achieved in a single Premier League season of his career so far – in 2017-18. Remarkably, his total still wasn’t enough for the Golden Boot…
3. 31 – Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez
Luis Suarez scored an incredible 31 goals in 33 games in the 2013-14 season for Liverpool, almost taking them to the title in extraordinary circumstances. Although not, the Uruguayan missed the first games of the campaign through suspension but still managed to manage a goals-per-game record of 0.94.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, managed 31 goals in 2007-08 and a goal-to-game ratio of 0.91, making him one of four players, alongside Suarez and record holder Harry Kane, to reach a ratio greater than 0.9. The other is Didier Drogba, whose aforementioned 29 goals also provided him with a 0.91 tally.
Shearer may not be able to join this exclusive club, but he managed to smash 31 goals twice, at Blackburn in the 1993-94 and 1995-96 seasons. Although, the first time he reached that tally, he did so in a 42-game season.
2. 32 – Mo Salah
Mo Salah’s simply superb performances in 2017-18 saw him score a record 32 goals for a player in a 38-game season. Remarkably, he only managed the feat by scoring a hat-trick, highlighting how he consistently scored in the vast majority of games he played.
The Egyptian joined Liverpool from Roma in the summer of 2017 to much dereliction, having failed to impress at Chelsea a few years prior. However, Salah held off his detractors and then some throughout the season, walking away comfortably with the golden boot and helping Liverpool reach the Champions League final.
Although he has won three Golden Boots in total since his time in England, he has yet to match the unrivaled form he displayed in his first year with Liverpool. It hasn’t been too bad since then, has it?
1. 34 – Andy Cole, Alan Shearer
Although Cole and Shearer both scored the most goals in a Premier League season in 1993-94 and 1994-95 respectively, when the sides played 42 games, their tally of 34 goals in a single league campaign still stands amazing and naturally was unbeaten. since the number of competing teams fell to 20.
Cole first set the benchmark in 1993-94, which Shearer equaled the following season at Blackburn as he took the Lancashire club to the Premier League title.
Is Erling Haaland the most serious threat to Cole and Shearer’s record? Early signs suggest he is. The most goals scored in a single Premier League season could be about to disappear.
