Harry Kane reached 20 league goals for the season with a brace in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Everton on Friday evening, the goalscoring benchmark widely targeted for leading forwards.
Kane’s 20th goal of the Premier League season was the fifth time in his career that the England captain has reached the figure in a single campaign, joining an elite collection of divisional icons to have managed five or more 20-goal seasons.
Following Kane’s achievement, we’ve decoded to rank the five strikers with the most 20+ goal Premier League seasons.
Ruud van Nistelrooy – 4
Ruud van Nistelrooy ranks amongst the most ruthless finishers of the Premier League era, scoring 150 goals in just 215 appearances for Manchester United over a prolific five-season spell.
Signed in a big-money deal from PSV Eindhoven, Van Nistelrooy hit the ground running to be named as the PFA Player of the Year in his maiden season after scoring 23 league goals.
The Netherlands international scored 44 goals in all competitions the following campaign, finishing as the leading scorer in the league, FA Cup and Champions League in what ranks as the joint-most prolific individual season in Premier League history.
No Manchester United player can better his goal-per-game ratio in the division’s history, Van Nistelrooy a player who came alive inside the penalty area and who lived and breathed scoring goals.
Van Nistelrooy scored 20+ league goals in four of his five seasons at Old Trafford, winning one league title and one Premier League Golden Boot before moving to Real Madrid.
Harry Kane – 5
Harry Kane’s 21 league goals for the season so far rank him joint-third amongst the Premier League’s best, his double against Everton the fifth time in just seven seasons as a Spurs regular he has reached the milestone.
Kane burst onto the scene during the 2014/15 season with a 21-goal haul for the north Londoners, before improving that figure in each of the next three seasons, winning Golden Boot accolades in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017.
The second of those saw the England international score 29 goals in just 30 appearances, his 0.9 ratio the best goal-per-game average of any Golden Boot winner in Premier League history.
After two injury-impacted seasons over the past two campaigns, Kane has returned to his best this season and currently leads the division for both goals and assists.
Kane’s brace against Everon saw him move past Robbie Fowler and up to seventh in the all-time standings, Thierry Henry next in his sights after registering 164 top-flight goals in just 240 games.
Thierry Henry – 5
Kane joined Thierry Henry in reaching 20+ goals in five seasons in the Premier League, the Arsenal forward regarded by many as the best player the division has seen.
Henry became Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer during eight glittering seasons in English football, scoring 175 league goals including one scored during a short second spell on loan in north London.
No player has ever won more Golden Boot awards than Henry’s four, whilst he is one of just two players to have scored 20+ goals in five consecutive Premier League seasons.
Henry was the prototype for the modern forward with his penchant for dropping deep and drifting wide, combining lightning pace with ice cool finishing ability when presented with goalscoring chances.
Winner of two league titles and two FA Cups with the Gunners, he remains arguably Arsenal’s finest ever footballer and an icon of the Premier League era.
Sergio Aguero – 6
Sergio Aguero will leave Manchester City at the end of the current season, calling time on a career that has delivered no shortage of goals and silverware.
Since arriving at the Etihad from Atletico Madrid the forward has been a phenomenal goalscoring talent, scoring 23 goals during his debut season including that stoppage-time winner against QPR to snatch the league title on the final day of the season.
Aguero then matched Henry in scoring 20+ league goals in five consecutive campaigns between 2015 and 2019, winning one Golden Boot and four Premier League titles amongst his honours.
The highest-scoring overseas player in Premier League history and fourth overall, Aguero will be greatly missed when he says his final goodbyes to City this summer.
Alan Shearer – 7
Alan Shearer leads the way for 20+ goal Premier League seasons, the division’s record goalscorer remaining the benchmark for centre-forwards at the highest level.
Shearer’s 260 goals in the top flight is a record some believe may never be beaten, the former Blackburn and Newcastle star the finest English forward of a generation.
Shearer signed for Blackburn in an English-record transfer deal ahead of the Premier League’s inaugural campaign and enjoyed the best seasons of his career at Ewood Park, netting 112 league goals in 138 appearances over a four-season spell.
He helped fire Blackburn to the league title in 1995 and became the first – and so far only – player to score 30+ goals in multiple seasons, achieving the feat in three consecutive campaigns for the Lancashire outfit.
Winner of the Golden Boot award twice at Blackburn, he made a world-record move to Newcastle in 1996 and became the Magpies’ record goalscorer over a decade spent with his hometown side, scoring 206 goals in all competitions and winning a third Golden Boot in his maiden campaign.
Shearer reached the 20-goal landmark on a huge seven occasions, with only injury perhaps preventing the Geordie goal-machine from bettering that figure.
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