Premier League top scorers 2022/23: Erling Haaland wins Golden Boot with EPL goal record

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 29 May 2023 12:56 BST
• 11 min read

The Premier League Golden Boot race has reached its conclusion for the 2022/23 season, which proved to be another exciting campaign.

Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min shared the Premier League Golden Boot award last year, having finished with 23 goals each.

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Liverpool star Salah’s victory was his third in this award, matching the career total of Tottenham forward Harry Kane, who is a perennial contender to come out on top.

European Assists King 2022/23

For Son, meanwhile, it was a first triumph after a spectacular season, where his sublime link up play with Kane at Spurs again came to the fore.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who came into 2022/23 facing an uncertain future with Manchester United, finished third last season.

When he remained at Old Trafford, the Portugal legend was expected to challenge strongly to score the most goals in the division this year, though any hopes of that promptly ended as he fell out of favour with Erik ten Hag and ultimately left the club.

However, it was a new arrival to the Premier League, Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, who came into the year as the favourite to top the goalscoring charts in England.

Erling Haaland at Man City: Goals, assists, results & fixtures in 2022-23

After his big transfer, the former Dortmund sensation joined a Man City team who had won four top-flight titles in five years and, fitness permitting, he was expected to post a huge total that would prove hard to beat in the Golden Boot battle.

He impressively lived up to those high expectations.

Other contenders as the season began included Gabriel Jesus, who left Man City to join Arsenal, where he hoped to play more regularly in a prominent central role that boosted his opportunities.

READ MORE: The latest European Golden Shoe standings

After Sadio Mane left Liverpool, the Reds’ second candidate behind Salah was new striker Darwin Nunez, who arrived from Benfica as a major transfer signing who gave fans of the club high hopes.

Raheem Sterling was another player who has departed from Man City and went into the new season as Chelsea’s most likely contender, though Kai Havertz also hoped to stake a claim.

Former Golden Boot winner Jamie Vardy was among the players outside of the Big Six teams hoping to make an impression, along with Callum Wilson and Ollie Watkins.

This page was updated throughout the season as we took an in-depth look at the standings for the players who had the most EPL goals.

2022/23 Premier League top scorers

Erling Haaland broke a longstanding record this season as the Manchester City star beat Harry Kane in the Premier League Golden Boot race.

As the EPL campaign came to an end, Man City striker Haaland had incredibly scored 52 goals in all competitions in 2022/23, with the FA Cup final and Champions League final still to come.

He netted eight times across two matches against RB Leipzig and Burnley prior to the March international break and added another eight goals in the month of April as part of an electric finish to the season.

Haaland remained well clear at the top of these standings after netting in the Premier League victories away to Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Fulham and Everton.

He also added a first-half double at home against Leicester City on April 15 and crucially scored goals home and away against title rivals Arsenal in 2023.

A lethal hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Wolves on January 22 also came this year, a treble which all but ended the hopes of his goalscoring rivals in the race to win the golden boot.

The fast finish came after what had already been a fast start. This season Haaland had already become the first Premier League player ever to reach the 20-goal landmark before January.

He later moved on to an astonishing goal tally that is substantially higher than last season's winning total of 23, which was enough for Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min to share victory in the award.

Haaland's goal against Bournemouth on February 25 meant he reached the highest goal total ever by a Man City player in the Premier League, surpassing the previous best set by Sergio Aguero (26).

And two goals for Haaland in the 4-1 win at Southampton on April 8 took him to the 30-goal mark, cementing his season as one of the great goalscoring campaigns in Premier League history.

Haaland swiftly moved clear of Salah's record for goals in a 38-game season (32 goals) and then set his sights set on passing the competition's overall single season record (34 goals).

He equalled the record away to Fulham on April 30 and then broke it by reaching 35 league goals for the campaign with a goal in the home win over West Ham on May 3, adding one more over the final weeks as Pep Guardiola began to rotate his side with the title secured.

All season Haaland bounced back strongly whenever he has had a rare goalless game or injury absence, meaning he has consistently held a huge advantage in the Premier League top scorer battle.

His astonishing consistency for Pep Guardiola's men in 2022/23 means his closest rivals were unable to make a meaningful reduction to his lead atop the goalscoring standings.

The Norway striker had four Premier League hat-tricks to his name this season – those arriving in home victories against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Wolves and the famous 6-3 derby win over Man Utd on October 2.

Haaland ended up on 36 league goals for the 2022/23 campaign, a remarkable total that came from just 35 appearances, 33 of which were starts.

Haaland finished with a six-goal lead over Kane at the top of the goalscoring charts in England, with the former Golden Boot winner, who came in second place, acting as his only realistic rival for most of the campaign.

Kane - who suffered World Cup woe with England - was impressive and would have been well in the golden boot running if he was not up against the spectacular numbers of Haaland. Indeed, he would have won last year's award comfortably with his current statistics.

When Spurs triumphed 1-0 against Man City on February 5, Kane broke Tottenham's all-time scoring record, surpassing club great Jimmy Greaves.

The striker netted 12 times in his last 12 EPL games despite a tumultuous period for Tottenham which saw manager Antonio Conte depart and Spurs thrashed 6-1 by top-four rivals Newcastle in a humiliating outing.

Kane scored doubles in the victories over Nottingham Forest and Leeds as part of that run and retained a faint chance of catching Haaland up until the last few weeks.

Kane enjoyed a faster start to this campaign than he had last season, as it was not until the second half of 2021/22 when he hit top gear after links with Man City appeared to contribute to a lacklustre initial period.

This time around the Tottenham star had 30 goals from 38 Premier League appearances, reaching the 20-goal mark for the sixth time and then hitting 30 to match his career-best league total.

However, even keeping Haaland honest looked difficult as the season progressed for Kane.

The final podium place was claimed by Brentford striker Ivan Toney.

Toney responded emphatically to being left out of England’s World Cup squad with his double at Man City before the mid-season break, which he followed up with further goals against Spurs, West Ham, Bournemouth, Arsenal, Fulham, Southampton, Brighton, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest as part of a memorable campaign.

But it ended on a low note as a ban for breaching the FA's betting rules left him unable to complete the campaign.

Marcus Rashford, who is the top Man Utd league scorer, has surged up the golden boot rankings over the course of 2023.

Thirteen of his 17 Premier League goals came after the World Cup, a run which included a winning goal against Man City that sealed a derby comeback win and a fine strike in the dramatic loss to Arsenal.

Rampant Rashford also struck again in consecutive matches against rivals Leeds for Man Utd.

There were low moments such as suffering misery as Liverpool recorded a famous 7-0 win over Manchester United at Anfield, but Rashford got back on track and can reflect on a season that turned his Old Trafford career around.

Liverpool top scorer Salah scored twice in that famous Man Utd win and has since moved on to 19 league strikes for the season.

A revival in front of goal after the mid-way point of the season boosted Salah, who became Liverpool's highest goalscorer in Premier League history with his double against Man Utd.

He had not produced a goal in five straight Premier League outings prior to netting 11 from February 13 onwards.

Salah was off the pace in the first half of the 2022/23 campaign, particularly in the Premier League. He scored only three times in his first 11 top-flight outings for Liverpool this season, and has always been fighting an uphill battle since, but ultimately came close to a podium finish.

With 19 goals from 38 matches, Salah still finished an astonishing 17 goals behind Haaland and 11 behind Kane, key battles to watch given those two stars were expected to be his two main rivals as the season began.

Arsenal joint-top goalscorer Gabriel Martinelli had 15 Premier League strikes, helped by a superb month in March that saw him score four times.

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (14 goals) had a fine year including a late goal in the epic 3-2 win over Bournemouth.

Martin Odegaard joined his team-mates on double figures with a goal against Fulham, which he later added to in a late-season surge with five more goals to finish on 15 .

Martinelli, Odegaard and Saka's totals meant leaders Arsenal were the first team to have three players who reached double figures, though Newcastle later matched that feat (Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Alexander Isak).

Wilson reached 18 for the season, while Ollie Watkins has surged up to 15 goals in an impressive run of form under Unai Emery at Aston Villa.

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic built on his prolific Championship campaign last year. The Serbia striker has 14 league goals, though a penalty miss at Newcastle was one of six straight mid-season appearances that saw him fail to add to that tally, a run of form which coupled with injury issues and a long suspension ended his hopes of contending after the fast start.

Further down the scoring standings, Haaland’s team-mate Phil Foden was in a large group on 11 goals, with Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus also reaching that total since his return from injury.

Son, who shared last year’s Golden Boot with Salah, was never close to retaining his title as he only had 10 goals, though he has picked up his form of late with goals against West Ham, Forest, Brighton, Bournemouth, Manchester United and Liverpool.

Kai Havertz topped the scoring charts for struggling Chelsea with only seven goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo – a pre-season contender - only scored once after a summer that produced intense transfer speculation over his future and ultimately led to his Manchester United departure in November.

Only four of Ronaldo’s 10 top-flight appearances for Man Utd this season were from the start and his sole goal of the campaign came in the win at Everton on October 9.

Haaland and Kane will again be the leading contenders next season, though it remains to be seen if Spurs will be able to hold on to the star striker with transfer rumours already circulating.

Who are the past winners of the Premier League Golden Boot?

Prior to Haaland's achievement, the record for most goals in a Premier League season was shared by Alan Shearer (1994/95) and Andy Cole (1993/94).

Both players scored an astonishing 34 goals, though the season was longer then – Shearer did it in 42 matches and Cole in 40.

Mohamed Salah came close to that record in 2017/18, scoring 32 times in 36 outings, producing the best Premier League goalscoring season in this century, again until Haaland claimed that landmark.

The Golden Boot winner with the best goals per game ratio in a season was Harry Kane.

England’s captain netted 29 times in just 30 games to win the 2016/17 title, averaging 0.97 goals per game. But Haaland (1.03) has also bettered that.

Liverpool have had the most Premier League Golden Boot winners with seven.

Arsenal are just behind on six, while Man Utd and Tottenham have had five winners, with Chelsea on four. Haaland gave Man City a third win.

There are only four players who had scored the most goals in the EPL more than twice.

Shearer won the Golden Boot three times, once with Newcastle and twice with Blackburn Rovers, while Kane’s win in 2020/21 was also his third.

Salah's success in the 2021-22 season meant he joined that list of three-time winners.

Thierry Henry holds the record, though, having been named the top scorer in the Premier League on four occasions for Arsenal.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez are two of the biggest names to have won the award, scoring 31 goals in 2007/08 and 2013/14 respectively.

The Premier League began from the 1992/93 season.

Prior to that, Ian Wright was the last highest goalscorer in England when it was the old First Division.

Gary Lineker and Alan Smith were also winners in the 1990s before the league was rebranded.

Who are the Premier League top scorers of all time?

Alan Shearer is the highest goalscorer in Premier League history, having ended his career in 2006 with a magnificent 260 goals to his name in England’s top division.

Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney (208) is the only other player who has scored more than 200 EPL goals.

Andy Cole (187), Sergio Aguero (184), Frank Lampard (177) and Thierry Henry (175) are other former Premier League players who sit near the top of the all-time list.

Kane is the highest-scoring active player and he had 183 goals at the start of this season.

The Tottenham star has long been cited as one of the rare contenders who has a chance to rival Shearer’s record total.

Before 2022/23 began, Robbie Fowler (163), Jermain Defoe (162) and Michael Owen (150) rounded out the 10 players in EPL history who have scored 150 goals or more.