What is professional darts?
Darts is thrown from 2.37 metres at a board whose treble-20 bed is barely a centimetre wide; legs start at 501 and must finish exactly, on a double. A nine-dart finish is the sport's perfect game. Once a pub pastime, it is now a television juggernaut — the PDC World Championship fills Alexandra Palace for three weeks and draws some of Britain's biggest audiences of the year.[1] [2]
How does the professional game work?
The PDC runs a year-round circuit — the World Championship, Premier League, World Matchplay, Grand Slam and the Players Championship series — with the Order of Merit, a rolling two-year prize-money ranking, deciding seedings and qualification. Tour cards come from January's Q-School, making the route onto the professional tour explicit and documented.[2] [3]
The Littler era
Luke Littler reached the World Championship final at sixteen in 2024, won it at seventeen, and retained it in January 2026 — beating Gian van Veen for a £1,000,000 first prize, the biggest payday in the sport's history. His arrival has driven participation and viewership to records, and Beau Greaves's parallel dominance in the women's game has pushed the sport's inclusion debate forward.[3] [4]
How is darts awarded?
- The World Championship and the other majors — Matchplay, Grand Slam, UK Open, Premier League.[2]
- PDC Order of Merit ranking — the sport's objective money-based ladder.[2]
- Tour card status — earned at Q-School or through the Order of Merit.[2]
- Nine-dart finishes — logged and celebrated as the sport's perfect legs.[1]
Who has won the most in darts?
The central fact of this subject is the split: a breakaway body formed in January 1992 and staged its first rival world championship in 1993, so from 1994 to 2020 there were two world champions a year. The older body then collapsed, no title was played in 2021, and the WDF revived that lineage in 2022. Totals in circulation quietly merge the two — Phil Taylor's sixteen are two of one and fourteen of the other — so the combined table below is labelled as the merge it is. Through the January 2026 world championship, which Luke Littler retained; the Premier League table runs to May 2026 and the women's world title to December 2025. The women's championship has one lineage and seven winners in all; the World Matchplay column beside it is a separate event and not a world title.
Most PDC World Championship titles (1993/94 – 2025/26)
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Taylor | England | 1995–2002, 2004, 05, 06, 09, 10, 13 | 14 |
| 2 | Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands | 2014, 2017, 2019 | 3 |
| 3= | John Part | Canada | 2003, 2008 | 2 |
| 3= | Gary Anderson | Scotland | 2015, 2016 | 2 |
| 3= | Adrian Lewis | England | 2011, 2012 | 2 |
| 3= | Peter Wright | Scotland | 2020, 2022 | 2 |
| 3= | Luke Littler | England | 2025, 2026 | 2 |
| 8= | 6 players on 1: Dennis Priestley (1994), Raymond van Barneveld (2007), Rob Cross (2018), Gerwyn Price (2021), Michael Smith (2023), Luke Humphries (2024) | – | – | 1 |
Most BDO World Championship titles (1978–2020)
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Bristow | England | 1980, 81, 84, 85, 86 | 5 |
| 2 | Raymond van Barneveld | Netherlands | 1998, 99, 2003, 05 | 4 |
| 3= | John Lowe | England | 1979, 1987, 1993 | 3 |
| 3= | Martin Adams | England | 2007, 2010, 2011 | 3 |
| 3= | Glen Durrant | England | 2017, 2018, 2019 | 3 |
| 6= | Jocky Wilson | Scotland | 1982, 1989 | 2 |
| 6= | Phil Taylor | England | 1990, 1992 | 2 |
| 6= | Ted Hankey | England | 2000, 2009 | 2 |
| 6= | Scott Waites | England | 2013, 2016 | 2 |
| 10= | 17 players on 1: Rees (78), Deller (83), B. Anderson (88), Priestley (91), Part (94), Burnett (95), Beaton (96), Wallace (97), Walton (2001), David (02), Fordham (04), Klaasen (06), Webster (08), Kist (12), Bunting (14), Mitchell (15), Warren (20) | – | – | 1 |
Most world titles counting both bodies — the two lineages merged
| Rank | Name | Country | BDO/WDF | PDC | Titles | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Taylor | England | 2 | 14 | 16 | BDO 1990, 92; PDC 1995–2002, 04, 05, 06, 09, 10, 13 |
| 2= | Eric Bristow | England | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1980, 81, 84, 85, 86 |
| 2= | Raymond van Barneveld | Netherlands | 4 | 1 | 5 | BDO 1998, 99, 2003, 05; PDC 2007 |
| 4= | John Lowe | England | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1979, 87, 93 |
| 4= | Martin Adams | England | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2007, 10, 11 |
| 4= | Glen Durrant | England | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2017, 18, 19 |
| 4= | Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2014, 17, 19 |
| 4= | John Part | Canada | 1 | 2 | 3 | BDO 1994; PDC 2003, 08 |
| 9= | Eight players on 2 — Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright, Luke Littler, Jocky Wilson, Bob Anderson, Steve Beaton, Dennis Priestley | – | – | – | 2 | – |
Most Premier League Darts titles (2005–2026)
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands | 2013, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23 | 7 |
| 2 | Phil Taylor | England | 2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 12 | 6 |
| 3= | Gary Anderson | Scotland | 2011, 2015 | 2 |
| 3= | Luke Littler | England | 2024, 2026 | 2 |
| 5= | James Wade | England | 2009 | 1 |
| 5= | Raymond van Barneveld | Netherlands | 2014 | 1 |
| 5= | Glen Durrant | England | 2020 | 1 |
| 5= | Jonny Clayton | Wales | 2021 | 1 |
| 5= | Luke Humphries | England | 2025 | 1 |
Women's darts — most world championship titles (2001–2026)
| Rank | Name | Country | World-title years | World titles | PDC World Matchplay wins — not a world title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trina Gulliver | England | 2001–2007, 2010, 2011, 2016 | 10 | – |
| 2 | Lisa Ashton | England | 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 | 4 | 2025 |
| 3= | Beau Greaves | England | 2022, 2023, 2024 | 3 | 2023, 2024, 2026 |
| 3= | Anastasia Dobromyslova | Russia | 2008, 2012, 2013 | 3 | – |
| 5 | Mikuru Suzuki (WDF: Mikuru Muramatsu) | Japan | 2019, 2020 | 2 | – |
| 6= | Francis Hoenselaar | Netherlands | 2009 | 1 | – |
| 6= | Deta Hedman | England | 2025 | 1 | – |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals share a rank, and every table states the period and the last event it includes. Verified September 2026.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Darts. Accessed August 2026.
- PDC — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- PDC — Littler retains World Darts Championship title. Accessed August 2026.
- ESPN — Luke Littler: titles, prize money and career history. Accessed August 2026.
- PDC — World Championship past winners, 1993/94 to 2025/26. Accessed September 2026.
- PDC — Premier League past winners, 2005–2026. Accessed September 2026.
- PDC — roll of honour, including the discontinued 2010 Women's World Championship and the Women's World Matchplay. Accessed September 2026.
- WDF — World Championship, the full numbered lineage. Accessed September 2026.
- WDF — Women's World Championship. Accessed September 2026.