"I don't see a way of ignoring the Phil Taylor comparisons anymore!" - Sky Sports experts "reluctantly" pose Luke Littler as akin to 16-time world champion

Luke Littler defended his Grand Slam of Darts title last weekend, sealing his fifth major of the year. The Nuke is now also the new world number one. As the 18-year-old continues to dominate the headlines, comparisons to the great Phil Taylor are once again circling among experts.

Littler beat former world number one Luke Humphries 16–11 in the Grand Slam final. “Littler right now is so controlling, he's timing those bursts to perfection. He plays with this game like a cat with a mouse,” said Sky Sports darts commentator Abigail Davies on the Love the Darts podcast. “He’s so enthralling, so absorbing to watch and witness.”

“The youngest ever world number one, and we've been thinking about how long he can stay there," continued the Welshwoman. "But of course, it's heavily dependent on what happens at the World Championship, because that is more weighted than ever before."

Littler has been a professional for only two years, yet he’s already being compared to the legendary Phil Taylor. The Power dominates almost every record list, winning sixteen World Championships and sixteen World Matchplays. For a long time, people thought nobody would ever get close to those records, but given Littler’s age, it suddenly doesn’t look impossible.

“What he's doing is so akin to Phil Taylor," Davies points out. "I've been reluctant up until now to make that comparison. But I don't see a way of ignoring it anymore!"

In just under a month the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship begins, where Littler will defend his hold of the Sid Waddell Trophy. “He's doing what Michael van Gerwen used to do and certainly what Phil Taylor used to do," adds Davies' colleague Chris Murphy. "He's going to be world number one for a long, long time."

“He's transforming the game in so many different ways," Davies agrees. "It's so heavily weighted now that whoever wins the World Championship is of course going to world number one. But who do you see beating Luke Littler over that long format now?" Davies asks.