The Premier League have had some truly incredible goal-scorers. They have produced some incredible seasons in that time. So out of these amazing goal scorers, who holds the goal record for a single season?
What is the Premier League goal record in one season? Andy Cole and Alan Shearer have the goal record for a single season in the Premier League. They both have scored 34 goals in a single Premier League, these both came in a 42-game season. Mohammed Salah holds the record for the current 38 game format. Salah scored 32 for Liverpool in the 2017-18 Premier League Season.
Andy Cole 34 Premier League Goals
There are two players who are tied for the most goals in a single Premier League season.
Andy Cole was the first man to set this record when he scored 34 goals in the 1993-94 season. This came when Cole was with Newcastle United and he played in 40 of the team’s 42 games, netting 0.81 goals per game over the full 42 and 0.85 goals per game over the 40 he played in.
It was an incredible season for Cole which included a pair of hat tricks and his goals helped Newcastle finish in the Champions League places for the first time. For his incredible season, Cole was voted PFA Young Player of the Year as well as setting the record for scoring in the most different Premier League appearances with 26.
In January the following season (1995) Cole was moved to Manchester United for £6 million and winger Keith Gillespie.
The man who equalled his record just a season later was targeted by United to partner Cole, but eventually became the replacement for Cole at Newcastle Utd.
Alan Shearer 34 Premier League Goals
In the 1994-95 season, Alan Shearer scored 34 goals in the Premier League. He played all of Blackburns 42 matches. That season Shearer won the only major honour of his career as his goals and all around play took Blackburn to the Premier League title,just ahead of Cole’s Manchester United.
As a man who had injury problems throughout his career, it was incredibly impressive for Shearer to start all 42 league games as well as only being subbed off twice. It was definitely when Shearer was at his peak, even though he is better remembered for his time with his home club Newcastle Utd.
Shearer equalled Andy Cole’s 0.81 goals per game over the full 42 game season, as he played in them all, “Super Al” fell just short of Cole’s 0.85 goals per game played.
Shearer led Blackburn to a brilliant Premier League win and tied the record that Andy Cole had set just the season before. Shearer had scored 31 goals the season Andy Cole set his record and would score another 31 goals the season following his own record tying season. Meaning in 3 seasons between 1993 and 1996 Alan Shearer scored a massive 96 goals. He was quite good.
Shearer would leave Blackburn for Newcastle in the summer of 1996 for a then world record £15 million. He would finish his career with Newcastle eventually setting the all time Premier League goal record of 260 goals.
42 Game Premier League Seasons vs 38 Game Premier League seasons.
Since then we have seen a few guys get close to the record that Cole and Shearer have set. But no one has yet been able to get up to 34 goals in a single season. This is not necessarily because the Premier League has had a dearth of lethal strikers.
One of the main reasons why nobody has yet been able to better the 34 goal record is that the Premier League now plays fewer games today than they did when Cole and Shearer set the record. In the first few years of the Premier League, there were 22 teams in the division. This meant that each team played 42 Premier League games a season.
This was reduced down to 20 teams in the 1995-96 season, immediately following Shearer equalling Cole’s record, meaning each Premier League team now plays just 38 games per season. We have seen a few players get close to the record, with Luis Suarez, Christiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Mo Salah all scoring 30+ goals in a 38-game Premier League season.
It is incredibly difficult for these guys to beat a Premier League goal record when they have four fewer games to do it in. But as Erling Haaland is showing, the record is certainly not impossible to break.
Most Premier League goals by one player in a 38-game season
While the Premier League goal record is held by two players who were playing in a 42-game season, there have still been some incredible players who have gotten close to the record.
Mo Salah is the player who has gotten closest to the Premier League goal-scoring record.
Salah scored 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season for Liverpool in 2017-18 which is the most out of any player since the Premier League was reduced to 20 teams for the 1995-96 onwards. It was an incredible season for Salah, particularly when you consider that it was Salah’s first season with Liverpool.
Having been signed in the summer from Roma, Salah hit the ground running, scoring on his debut. Salah would continue to score at an insane rate throughout the season including four goals in a single game against Watford.
He would end the season with 32 goals in just 36 games, 0.89 goals per game played and 0.84 goals per game over the full 38 game season. Better than Andy Cole’s numbers, meaning he likely would have finished with more goals than Shearer and Cole had he had the four extra games to try to get closer to the record. Salah ended the season as PFA Players’ Player of the Year as well as winning the Golden Boot. 32 Goals stands as the benchmark for the current 38 game Premier League Season.
Most Prolific Seasons in Premier League History
Here we are going to focus purely on the players that scored 30 or more goals in a Premier League Season.
| Player | Team | Premier League Season | Goals Scored | Games Played | Season Length | Goals Per Game Played | Goals Per Team Fixture |
| Andy Cole | Newcastle United | 1993/94 | 34 | 40 | 42 | 0.85 | 0.81 |
| Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | 1994/95 | 34 | 42 | 42 | 0.81 | 0.81 |
| Kevin Phillips | Sunderland | 1999/00 | 30 | 36 | 38 | 0.83 | 0.79 |
| Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 2003/04 | 30 | 37 | 38 | 0.81 | 0.79 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | 2007/08 | 31 | 34 | 38 | 0.91 | 0.82 |
| Robin van Persie | Arsenal | 2011/12 | 30 | 38 | 38 | 0.79 | 0.79 |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham | 2017/18 | 30 | 37 | 38 | 0.81 | 0.79 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 2017/18 | 32 | 36 | 38 | 0.89 | 0.84 |
| Erling Halaand* | Manchester City | 2022/23 | 27 | 25 | 38 | 1.08 | 0.71 |
*Manchester City have played 26 games and have 12 fixtures left at time of writing.
From this table it is clear who the two most prolific seasons in Premier League history belong to. Mohammed Salah, with the most goals in a 38 game season with 32. He played in 36 games giving him a 0.89 goals per game played record. Behind him, or ahead of him depending on how you feel about it, is Christiano Ronaldo. The then Manchester United star played in just 34 Premier League games, scoring 31 goals. This gave him a staggering 0.91 goals per game played ratio.
We can’t leave it there though. At the bottom of the table we have included Erling Haalands current Premier League season. To date he has scored 27 goals in just 35 Premier League games. Giving him a ridiculous 1.08 goals per game record. With 12 available fixtures left to play the Norwegian Assassin looks set to beat both Salah’s 32 Goals, Shearer and Coles 34 Goals and Ronaldo’s 0.91 goals per game ratio.
It is highly likely that Haaland will finish the season with at least 40 Premier League goals. Leaving him just 220 behind Alan Shearer’s all time record.
Most goals scored in a Premier League season by one team
There have been some incredible attacking teams in the Premier League. But only one team has scored the most goals in a single Premier League season.
Manchester City set the record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season with 106. This came in the 2017-18 season. This season is known as being one of the best in Premier League history. It was also the season where Manchester City reached the 100-point mark in the Premier League.
They are one of the most dominant teams in Premier League history and part of that is because Manchester City had one of the best attacks the league has ever seen. In that season they had some incredible scoring performances, including scoring 16 goals in three games with huge wins over Watford, Crystal Palace and Liverpool.
They had four different players reach double-digit goals including Sergio Aguero who was the team’s top scorer with 21 goals in the Premier League. Manchester City had quite a few scary attacking options and these guys were able to accumulate over 100 goals in a single Premier League season.
Their scoring was particularly impressive at home, where City scored 61 goals in just 19 games at home, compared to 45 goals away from home. They lost just two games in the entire season and were crowned champions long before the season finished.