Top 10 Golden Boot Winners

jonjoward1998
Jul 29, 2025
6 min read

We're at that time of year where we're looking ahead to the start of the new season and with the season only a few weeks away from kick off, I've decided to return to my regular format of doing two top 10's a week with one being about the Premier League and the other being about the modern era in general.

Towards the end of last season, I did a top 10 on players to have never won the golden boot and after doing so, I decided to do the opposite in a top 10 of players to have won the golden boot.

As I said when doing the top 10 on players to have never won the golden boot, the golden boot is the award every striker wants to win at the start of the season as they not just want to score as many goals as they can, but more goals than any other player in the league.

That has certainly been the mindset for the top strikers in the league and some of them have won the golden boot because of them having that mindset.

Many of the greatest strikers in Premier League history have got their hands on a golden boot with some even winning it more than once and a few of them are the list.

But whilst there are some quality players on the list, there are also a number of quality players who missed out like Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez, Andy Cole, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Now here is the list:

Thierry Henry

Harry Kane

Erling Haaland

Didier Drogba

Alan Shearer

Mohamed Salah

Jamie Vardy

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Cristiano Ronaldo

Robin Van Persie

Jamie Vardy

Vardy won the golden boot just once during the 2019/20 season where he netted 23 times and became the oldest player to win the award at the age of 33.

He led the scoring charts for pretty much the entire season where was back to being the player he was during Leicester's title winning season by scoring goals for fun, and making those classic runs in behind.

But despite the goals he scored that season, Leicester Leicester missed out on Champions League football following a late season collapse after spending the majority of the season inside the top four.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Van Nistelrooy was a predator in the box when he was at Man United as he could score almost any kind of goal and plenty of them.

He won the golden boot just once in the 2002/03 season where he netted 25 goals and all of them were key in United winning the title that season.

He went on a 10 game scoring streak during that season which was at the time the record for most consecutive games scored in.

Didier Drogba

Drogba won the golden boot twice in 2006/07, where he netted 20 times, and 2009/10, where he netted 29 times.

The 2009/10 season was definitely the better of the two seasons as it was his best season in terms of goals, all of which played a key role in Chelsea winning the title and him winning the golden boot.

Despite winning the award in 2007 and scoring the amount of goals he did to win the award, they couldn't inspire Chelsea to another league title as they finished six points behind Man United.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo won the golden boot just once in the 2007/08 season. But in that season, he scored an incredible 31 goals which at the time was the record in a 38 game season.

The 2007/08 season was the one where he first became one of if not the best player in Europe because of the goals he scored and the incredible performances he put in throughout the season.

His goals were instrumental that season as United won their second consecutive title and he later earned himself the first of his five Ballon D'or's as a reward for his incredible season.

Robin Van Persie

Van Persie won the golden boot twice and in back-to-back seasons in 2011/12 with Arsenal and 2012/13 with Man United.

He scored 30 goals the first time he won the award with Arsenal in a season where he pretty much carried the team as his goals were what got Arsenal into the top four.

His form that season got him his big move to Man United where his 26 goals won him another golden boot and played a massive role in United winning the title in Fergie's final season.

He was probably the best striker in Europe around the time he won both golden boots because of the form he was in and the rate he was scoring goals at.

Erling Haaland

Haaland has been in Premier League for just three seasons and he already has three golden boots to his name in 2023/23 and 2023/24 respectively.

He hit a record breaking 36 goals when he won the award in his first season where City would go on to win the treble, and he netted 27 times in the following season as City won their fourth title in a row.

He's surely going to have his eyes on another one next season as City look to win back the title and reassert their dominance.

Mohamed Salah

I originally had Salah a bit lower when I first ranked the players in the list, but after winning another golden boot last season I had to put him a bit higher.

He's won the award four times but he only won the award on his own on two of those occasions - in 2017/18 and 2024/25. On the other two occasions he won the award, he shared with Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2018/19, and Heung Min Son Son in 2021/22.

He was incredible in both seasons he won the award on his own as he netted 32 times in 2018, where he broke the record for goals in a 38-game season, and 29 last season as Liverpool won the title and by some distance.

He might be in the twilight years of his career, but he's still going to have his sights set on another golden boot next season.

Harry Kane

Kane won the award three times when he was at Spurs in 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2020/21 respectively.

He scored 25 times the first time he won the award before bagging an incredible 29 times to win the award in the following season, where he was beginning to turn into one of the best strikers in Europe.

Spurs when close to winning the league in both of those seasons only for them to blow it right at the end in 2016 before falling short in 2017.

Kane scored 23 times the third time he won the award where he also registered the most assists and carried Spurs for pretty much the entire season as they finished 7th.

Alan Shearer

Shearer won the award three times with all of them coming back-to-back in 1994/95 and 1995/96 with Blackburn, and in 1996/97 with Newcastle.

He hit a then-record equalling 34 goals in the first season he won the award as Blackburn won the title and his goals and partnership with Chris Sutton was a major part of that.

He scored 31 times in the following season despite Blackburn's slight drop-off after winning the title the season before. His goals that season earned him his move to boyhood club Newcastle for a then-world record fee of £15 million.

He scored 25 times in his first season on Tyneside as Newcastle finished second but seven points behind champions Man United.

Thierry Henry

Henry had to be my no.1 because he's won more individual golden boots than any other player with four in 2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05, and 2005/06.

He scored 24 times in the season where he first won the award and his goals played a massive part in Arsenal winning the title that season.

His best season definitely came in 2004 as he netted an incredible 30 times as Arsenal both won the title and went the entire season unbeaten.

He scored 25 and 27 goals respectively in the other two seasons he won the award, but Arsenal missed out on the title in both seasons as they finished 2nd in 2005 and 4th in 2006.

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