The English Premier League was born in the 1992/93 season and is currently in its 31st year
In this article, we’ll rank the top four Golden Boot winners during the Premier League era, with the footballers having the same number of Golden Boot awards distinguished in our rankings according to their EPL goal totals.
So which four players have won the esteemed Golden Boot more times than any others in English Premier League history?
4. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – 3
International superstar Salah is the only player on our list still playing in the Premier League. With three Golden Boot awards in four seasons between 2017/18 and 2021/22, the Egyptian is the most successful African forward in EPL history.
Salah won the Golden Boot alone in his first season at Liverpool with 32 goals before sharing it with his fellow Africans, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Liverpool teammate Sadio Manรฉ the following season.ย ย Two seasons on, he won it for a third time, with his 23 goals enough to share the Golden Boot again.
With 150 goals in the EPL, Mo Salah retains the skill and energy to score even more which, according to the best offshore bookmaker sites, makes him one of the favourites for this season’s Golden Boot award with odds of 142/25. Only last season’s Golden Boot winner, strong favourite Erling Haaland eclipses Salah in the betting with odds of 2/7.
The Man City striker has struggled with injuries this term though, so Salah may have a decent chance to win his fourth Golden Boot in 2023/24.
3. Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 3
England captain Harry Kane played for Tottenham Hotspur for 13 seasons before leaving to join the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich at the end of last season. The complete striker won his first two Golden Boots consecutively between 2016 and 2018, scoring 25 and 29 goals per season respectively. In 2021/22, Kane won the award for a third time, sharing it with two other players.
Incredibly, in the two EPL seasons where he’s reached the 30-goal milestone, another player has beaten him to the prize. In 2017/18, Mohamed Salah scored 32 goals, two more than Kane, and then last season Erling Haaland’s incredible goalscoring feats saw Kane’s 30-goal total fall short of the Norwegian by six. Kane scored 213 Premier League goals for Spurs in his career, second only to Alan Shearer’s EPL goalscoring record.
2. Alan Shearer (Blackburn/Newcastle) – 3
Alan Shearer became the first footballer in Premier League history to win the Golden Boot three times consecutively when he claimed his third award with 25 goals playing for Newcastle United in 1996/97. This goal total was the lowest in his three Golden Boot-winning seasons, as he’d scored 34 and 31 goals in the two previous EPL campaigns for Blackburn Rovers.
Shearer’s 34-goal season in 1994/95 assisted Blackburn to win the English Premier League for the first and only time, pipping defending champions Man Utd to the crown by a single point. The following season, not even the star striker’s goalscoring could help Blackburn, as the team finished seventh, prompting Shearer’s move to Newcastle. Alan Shearer, on 260 career EPL goals, remains the Premier League’s record scorer.
1. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 4
Only one player in Premier League history has won the Golden Boot on four occasions, and that unique honour belongs to Thierry Henry. Henry represented Arsenal for eight seasons between 1999 and 2007, with his 24-goal, first Golden Boot performance helping his club to secure a first EPL title in 2001/02.
Two seasons later, in 2003/04, Henry scored 30 goals as Arsenal became the only team to navigate a Premier League season unbeaten, a record that still stands. Not only did Henry earn a second Golden Boot with these goals, but also a second EPL winner’s medal. The goals also earned him a first European Golden Shoe award as the top goalscorer in Europe, a feat he would repeat the following year.
Henry’s goalscoring exploits continued in 2004/05 with another 25 goals and a third Golden Boot. This time, the Frenchman’s goals weren’t enough to secure the title for Arsenal as they finished second in the EPL, a distant eight points behind London rivals Chelsea.
One more Golden Boot followed for the fleet-footed striker. In 2005/06, Henry became only the second player after Alan Shearer to win the award consecutively in three seasons. In what turned out to be his final full season at The Gunners, Henry scored 27 goals to win the Golden Boot by six goals from Man Utd’s Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Thierry Henry scored 174 goals in 254 EPL games for Arsenal. Each of his four Golden Boot awards was a solo win, and he deservedly holds the honour of having won the most Golden Boot awards in English Premier League history. With the other major Golden Boot winners either retired or playing elsewhere, only Mohamed Salah could realistically challenge Henry’s record soon.