Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and now Luke Littler: 2025 Grand Slam of Darts title sees 'The Nuke' move alongside the PDC's greatest ever names

Luke Littler’s victory at the 2025 Grand Slam of Darts has pushed him into one of the most exclusive groups in PDC history. Only a handful of players have ever managed to win at least five major titles in a single calendar year, and Littler has now joined the ranks of Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor.

It is a milestone that requires exceptional quality, consistency, mental resilience and the ability to sustain elite form across an entire season. With his latest success, Littler places himself firmly alongside the biggest names the sport has ever seen. And with more events still to come, he may not be finished yet.

The 2025 season has transformed Luke Littler from prodigy to global superstar. Before his Grand Slam triumph, he had already collected four major titles:

By lifting the Grand Slam trophy, he added a fifth major title to his tally and joined one of the rarest categories in the sport, matching a feat previously achieved only by Van Gerwen and Taylor.

And he may go even further. The Players Championship Finals take place later this week, where Littler enters as the clear favourite. A sixth major title would elevate his season to a level even Taylor and Van Gerwen only hit during their absolute peaks.

Following his Grand Slam victory, “The Nuke” has also become the new world number one, reinforcing the scale of his rise. At just a teenager, he is already matching, and in some cases surpassing, the early-career achievements of the sport’s greatest champions.

To understand the significance of Littler’s achievement, it helps to look back at the man who set the standard. Phil “The Power” Taylor dominated the sport throughout the 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s, collecting major titles at a pace unmatched in darts history.

Taylor won five major titles in each of the following seasons:
2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

His relentless consistency shaped the modern PDC era and raised expectations for every generation that followed. Until Van Gerwen’s golden spell a decade ago, no one had come close to replicating Taylor’s sustained excellence, and now Littler has entered that elite company.

Michael van Gerwen’s peak remains one of the defining periods in modern darts. He first secured five major titles in a single season in 2015, and repeated the feat in 2016 and 2017, sweeping televised tournaments with his trademark combination of explosive scoring and deadly finishing.

During those years, Van Gerwen was virtually untouchable and cemented his status as the dominant force of the mid-2010s.

He remains third in the world rankings today, but aside from the World Series of Darts Finals, he has not added to his major tally this season.