All-time top goalscorers in English top flight - listed

Dave Halliday played for Sunderland, Arsenal and Manchester City in the First Division, with majority of his goals coming for the Black Cats. The Scotsman is arguably the most prolific striker in Sunderland's history. Only Charlie Buchan and all-time Sunderland top scorer Bobby Gurney have scored more goals for the club than Halliday, however neither get anywhere near Halliday´s eye popping strike rate of over 0.8 goals per game in the top division.

He scored 43 alone in the 1928-29 campaign, the third-best single season record to date, while he also went on to become the fastest player in league history to score 100 First Division goals, taking just 101 games.

The only active player on this list, Harry Kane first burst onto the scene after coming through Spurs’ academy ranks and excelled with regular first-team football, scoring 20+ league goals in four consecutive seasons and winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot in consecutive campaigns in 2015/16 and 2016/17, before adding a third to his collection during the 2020/21 season.

Only one player has ever reached the Premier League’s 100 club in quicker fashion than Kane, which shows the former Tottenham star enjoyed a blistering start to his career after being handed his opportunity with the north London side.

He recently broke Jimmy Greaves' 53-year-old record to become Tottenham Hotspur's top scorer of all time, whilst also becoming England's all-time top-scorer, surpassing Wayne Rooney.

With 213 Premier League goals to his name, Kane ranks second in terms of top scorers in the Premier League era, second only to Shearer's 260. The current England captain has recently swapped Tottenham for Bayern Munich, but the possibility of him returning to break Shearer's Premier League record cannot be ruled out just yet.

Tony Cottee lead the line for both West Ham United, Everton, and Leicester City. He scored 214 top-flight goals from 548 games, giving him the worst goals-to-game ratio of any player on this list (0.39). Nevertheless, he was a prolific scorer in first spell at West Ham, and scored an impressive 22 league goals in the 1986–87 – which would be the highest of his career - as the Hammers finished third (their highest league finish to date) and came just four points short of lifting the title.

A one-club man and arguably the greatest player in Aston Villa's history, Billy Walker remains Villa's all-time top scorer as he netted double figures for the claret and blue in 12 consecutive seasons from 1919-20.

Walker made his international debut for England in October 1920 and was capped 18 times, scoring nine goals. He also set a historic record of scoring England's first-ever goal at Wembley.

Harry Hampton served the most of his career at Aston Villa, 16 years between 1904 and 1920. He won one First Division title in 1909-10 season, and two FA Cup trophies in 1904-05 and 1912-13 seasons.

Although he ranks second in the Lions' all-time goal-scoring charts, scoring 242 goals in the 373 club appearances, his goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.64 - even better than the top of the list, Billy Walker. From among all the 242 goals Hampton scored for Aston Villa 215 were scored in the league, while he netted the other four during his short stint at Birmingham.

David Herd played for rivals Arsenal and Manchester United in the First Division. He also spent a stint at Stoke City towards the end of his professional career.

A thoroughbred marksman who, over the course of most seasons, could be relied upon to supply goals in abundance at the top level, the Scotsman was as Arsenal's leading goal-scorer in four consecutive seasons, before making the switch to Manchester United, where he spearheaded an attack that contained George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton.

He picked up two First Division titles, a FA Cup and an European Cup, but his contributions were perhaps overshadowed by more flashy players around him.

Ian Rush is one of the best players in Liverpool history.

Though he spent some time with other clubs in England such as Leeds and Newcastle, the majority of his goals came in a Reds kit. With almost 350 goals to his name for the club, he is the Reds' all-time top goal-scorer by quite some distance.

He enthralled and captivated the Anfield crowd like few others across two spells at the club. His poaching instincts when around the opponent's goal helped the Reds to dominate English football in the 1980s. He netted 47 goals across all competitions in 1983-84, which meant he became the first British player to win Europe's Golden Boot.

George Camsell has the best goals-to-game ratio of any England player, after getting to the 18-goal mark in just nine caps for his country. He is also Middlesbrough's all-time top scorer with 345 strikes in 453 appearances. His record of 59 league goals in a single English season during 1926-27 has only been beaten once and that was the very next year, by Everton's Dixie Dean.

George Brown is Huddersfield Town's highest ever scorer and inspired his team to three First Division titles (1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26). He also spent time at Aston Villa and one season at Leeds United.

Joe Smith is number 11 on the list of England’s top-flight goal scorers, with 243 league goals. He was one of the all time Bolton Wanderers' greats, and pre-war perhaps one of the finest striker England produced.

In the 1914-15 season alone, he scored 36 goals in 45 games as a forward for Bolton. He remains second only to the legendary Nat Lofthouse in Bolton’s all-time top goal-scorer charts.

The highest scoring Scotsman in the history of English top-flight football, Hughie Gallacher played for Newcastle United, Chelsea, Derby County and Grimsby Town and scored goals at a prolific rate wherever he went. He went on to smash in almost 246 league goals. He also plundered another 90 in the Scottish top division, making him one of the most lethal strikers during his time.

Joe Bradford was renowned for lighting up the scoring charts with the sheer amount of his goals during his time at Birmingham City, becoming the team's all-time leading scorer and being the club's leading scorer in the First Division in every season from 1921-22 to 1932-34.

Nat Lofthouse is seventh highest goal-scorer in the history of the top flight. He won 33 England caps during a career spent entirely with one club, Bolton Wanderers. He scored 285 goals in more than 500 games for the club.

A proper old-fashioned burly English forward, Lofthouse was said to boast strong physical presence, while he also possessed an intelligent striker's brain, and the ability to hold the ball up and bring others into an attack.

David Jack's goal-scoring records and the ratio of roughly a league goal every other games speak for themselves. He is renowned amongst Bolton fans as the first player to score at the then newly constructed Wembley Stadium a century ago to give his team a lead against West Ham at the White Horse final of 1923.

Jack would also go on to register his name into the history books with Arsenal, winning loads of silverware under the legendary Gunners coach Herbert Chapman during one of the club's most successful periods.

Standing tall at six foot with long legs and a loping gait, Charlie Buchan was an elegant, prolific inside forward. He led the line for both Sunderland and Arsenal. He is Sunderland's all-time top scorer and led the team to a First Division title in 1912-13. An all-round sportsman, he also used to play cricket for Kent.

Alan Shearer is one of those names synonymous with the English game. During his time as a centre-forward for England, Shearer scored 30 goals in 62 international appearances.

He truly made his mark as a legend in the Premier League era, plundering a phenomenal 260 league goals during a prolific career in the colours of Blackburn Rovers and his beloved hometown club Newcastle United. He became the first player in the division’s history to win three consecutive Golden Boot awards.

He is also the fastest player in Premier League history to reach a century of goals in just 124 league games, later becoming the most prolific goal-scorer the division has seen, and a man whose landmarks many feel will last the test of time.

Gordon Hodgson, who was also a talented first-class cricketer and won County Championship twice with Lancashire between 1928-33, is one of Liverpool's most prolific strikers and recorded an impressive 233 goals in 358 appearances before adding a few more during spells with Aston Villa and Leeds United.

Hodgson’s best season arrived in 1930-31 when he banged in 36 strikes for a then mid-table Liverpool side, while even in his final season as a professional in 1939 he was still able to notch 20 goals.

While Hodgson was scoring goals for Liverpool, on the other side of Merseyside there was an arguably even more impressive player plying his trade for Everton in Dixie Dean, who racked up over 300 league goals for the Toffees.

The Everton icon also boasts the best goals-per-game ratio out of any player on this list, netting at a rate of 0.86. The Goodison Park legend also averaged over a goal per game for England, while he picked up two league titles and the FA Cup during his time with the Toffees.

Derby County legend Steve Bloomer scored 293 of his top-flight goals across two spells with the Rams, while also proving a prolific marksman during a period with Middlesbrough. He topped the scoring charts five times in the First Division between 1896-1904.

The greatest goal-scorer in the history of English top-flight football is without a doubt the late, great Jimmy Greaves, who netted 357 goals in 516 outings across spells with Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham.

He picked up six Golden Boots in the space of 10 years in the process, and made the art of finding the back of net become almost mundane. No player has ever scored so clinically or with such regularity as the Englishman, who came alive within the widths of the opposition goalposts.

Greaves is also fifth on England’s all-time scoring list and he was part of the Three Lions team that won the World Cup on home soil in 1966.