
Darts has produced numerous amazing talents over the years. From unexpected champions to iconic legends, this sport has a rich history of extraordinary players.
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But who are the best darters ever? Judging that, of course, is subjective. You can look at number of titles won, consistency and a particular player's impact on the sport. In this article, we name our top 10 best darters of all time. This list includes players who have dominated in both the BDO and PDC eras, each making a unique contribution to the history and popularity of darts. Take a look below and let us know if you agree or disagree and tell us who you think we've missed out!
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10. John Part
John Part is considered one of the best darters ever because of his impressive achievements and contributions to the sport. He is still the only North American world champion in both the BDO/WDF and the PDC.
As a Canadian, John Part helped make the sport of darts bigger outside European borders. His successes contributed to the growth of the sport in North America. Part has played at the highest level over a long period of time and has been a constant factor in the world of darts. Throwing the right finishes at the right times proved to be "Darth Maple's" trademark.
Part's record includes three world titles. In 1994 he became world champion with the BDO, while in 2003 and 2008 he captured the world title with the PDC. The 2003 World final against Phil Taylor became a legendary match that is still widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all-time. After a thirteen-set thriller, Part won 7-6 over Taylor, ending a run of eight world titles in a row for "The Power.

John Part became the first non-British world champion at the PDC in 2003
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9. Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis was known for his natural darting talent and fluid playing style. He is often praised for his smooth throw and high scoring power, which made him a dangerous opponent for any player.
A protégé of Phil Taylor, Lewis was able to learn a lot from his mentor. Although 'Jackpot' often stood in the shadow of his iconic city rival from Stoke-on-Trent, he still managed to win plenty of titles in his career, including a pair of world titles. Lewis became world champion at the PDC in 2011 and 2012. 'Jackpot' is thus only one of three players at the PDC to successfully defend his first world title.
In addition to his world titles, Lewis has won several other prestigious tournaments, including the European Championship and the UK Open. Lewis has thrown several nine-darters in his career, including one in the World Championship final in 2011. This makes him the first player to throw a 9-darter in a World Championship final.
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Adrian Lewis has been heralded for years as the "back-to-back champion of the world" because he captured the world title in 2011 and 2012
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8. Dennis Priestley
As one of the founders of the WDC (World Darts Council), the forerunner of what is now known as the PDC, Dennis Priestley played a crucial role in the split from the BDO. A new professional circuit was created, which transformed the sport and took it to new heights.
The Englishman has won two world championships. He won the BDO World Championship in 1991 and the first edition of the PDC World Championship in 1994. Priestley had a famous rivalry with Phil Taylor and although Taylor often emerged victorious, Priestley managed to beat him several times.
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Dennis Priestley, almost always playing in his signature red-and-black striped shirt, became the first world champion at the PDC in 1994
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7. Peter Wright
Because of his unique personality and appearance, Peter Wright has become a true icon of the sport of darts. 'Snakebite' is known for his colorful appearance, with striking hairstyles and extravagantly painted shirts. His distinctive style has contributed to his popularity and brought darts to a wider and more diverse audience.
But the accomplishments don't lie either. Since 2014, Wright has made the final at every major tournament in existence at least once, and needless to say, his trophy case has been well stocked with some stunning trophies since then.
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Wright has become world champion twice, won the European Championship twice, captured two World Cup titles and also won the World Matchplay, UK Open, Players Championship Finals and the Masters once. Add to that the many Pro Tour titles, which makes Wright absolutely one of the best and most successful darters ever.

In 2022, Peter Wright followed in the footsteps of compatriots Jocky Wilson and Gary Anderson by becoming the third Scottish player to take his second world title
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6. John Lowe
John Lowe has won three world championships, in 1979, 1987 and 1993. Winning world titles in three different decades underscores his longevity and consistency at the highest level.
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In 1984, Lowe threw the very first 9-darter on television at the MFI World Matchplay. This was a historic achievement that immortalized his name in the darts history books and marked a milestone for the sport as a whole. In addition to his World Championships, Lowe has won several other major tournaments, including the World Masters and the World Cup Singles.
Lowe played a crucial role in the split between the BDO and the creation of the PDC. He was one of the pioneers who helped professionalize the sport and create better conditions for professional darters.
John Lowe won three world titles, but is also known for being the first player to throw a nine-darter at a television tournament
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5. Gary Anderson
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Gary Anderson has gone down in history as one of the greatest natural talents ever. His smooth and fast action is a joy to watch and his penchant for high scores make him a formidable opponent for any player.
Anderson has won the PDC World Darts Championship twice, in 2015 and 2016. In 2011, 2017 and 2021, "The Flying Scotsman" was also in the World final, but had to settle for second place. In addition to his world titles, Anderson has won numerous other major tournaments, including the Premier League Darts, the UK Open and the World Matchplay.
Anderson not only achieved successes as a player, but also contributed to the growth and popularity of darts. His participation in various tournaments, demonstrations and promotional events has brought the sport to a wider audience.

Anderson is known for throwing a lot of high scores and having one of the smoothest throws. In 2015 and 2016, he cashed in on his talent by winning the world title
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4. Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld has won five world championships, four with the British Darts Organization (BDO) and one with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). His fifth title in 2007 at the PDC, after a historic comeback in the final against Phil Taylor, is considered one of the most epic moments in the history of the sport.
The five-time world champion's trophy cabinet is further well-stocked with numerous other awards. He won the World Masters twice, the World Darts Trophy twice, was the best three times at the International Darts League, won the Zuiderduin Masters four times, captured three Dutch Open titles and, after his move to the PDC, also won the UK Open twice and the Desert Classic, Grand Slam of Darts and Premier League Darts once.
As a Dutchman, Van Barneveld helped the sport gain popularity outside the United Kingdom. His successes have contributed to the growth of darts around the world, particularly in the Netherlands and other European countries. Raymond van Barneveld enjoyed immense popularity among fans around the world. Everywhere the Dutchman goes, he can count on the support of the well-known Barney Army.

After a legendary final, Raymond van Barneveld captured his fifth world title in 2007 by defeating his great rival Phil Taylor 7-6.
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3. Eric Bristow
Bristow won the World Darts Championship five times with the British Darts Organization (BDO), a record unmatched at the time. His reign in the 1980s, in which he dominated the sport, established him as one of the greatest players of all time.
One of the first dart players to gain notoriety outside the dart world, Bristow played a crucial role in popularizing darts as a spectator sport. His personality and exciting playing style helped darts reach a wider audience and grow the sport.
Bristow was known for his swagger and showmanship on stage. His ability to entertain audiences, combined with his impressive skills, made him one of the most exciting and beloved figures in the dart world. 'The Crafty Cockney' was one of the first players to approach darts as a professional sport. He was a founding member of the World Darts Council (now the Professional Darts Corporation), which helped create better tournaments, prize money and opportunities for professional darters.

Eric Bristow was the best player in the 1980s. Over a seven-year period, "The Crafty Cockney" managed to capture five world titles
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2. Michael van Gerwen
At an early age, Van Gerwen experienced a major breakthrough by winning the World Masters in 2006 at the age of just 17. At the same age, Van Gerwen also became the youngest player ever to throw a nine-darter at a televised tournament at the Masters of Darts in 2007.
It took a while after that before Van Gerwen also reached maturity at the PDC, but as of 2012, the Van Gerwen era at the PDC finally began. He won the World Grand Prix that year. In 2014, 'Mighty Mike' became world champion for the first time, and world titles later followed in 2017 and 2019. Meanwhile, the tally stands at more than 60 televised titles, including seven times the Premier League Darts, six times the World Grand Prix, four times the European Championship and three titles at tournaments such as the UK Open, World Matchplay and the Grand Slam of Darts. In addition, Van Gerwen led the world rankings continuously from January 2014 to January 2021.
Van Gerwen has broken numerous records and achieved milestones during his career. He was the youngest player ever to win a PDC ranking tournament and holds the record for the highest average in a televised match (123.40 points per throw).

With three world titles and more than sixty other television titles, Michael van Gerwen is obviously high on the list of best players of all time
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1. Phil Taylor
Taylor dominated the world of darts for more than two decades. His record includes no fewer than 236 titles, 101 of which were televised. It is not for nothing that Taylor is considered the best dart player of all time.
'The Power' has won the World Darts Championship no less than 16 times, including 14 times with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and twice with the British Darts Organization (BDO). His unmatched number of world titles is a record that will probably never be equaled. Taylor also won the World Matchplay 16 times, the World Grand Prix 11 times and both the Premier League Darts and the Grand Slam of Darts six times, among others.
Taylor was one of the pioneers who helped professionalize darts. He played a crucial role in the creation and growth of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Without Taylor, the sport would never have been as big as it is today. The Englishman was a master at achieving incredibly high averages during matches. He was the first player to regularly achieve averages above 100 points per turn. From December 1991 to May 2004 and from June 2008 to February 2016, Taylor held the highest TV average ever each time.
Still Taylor holds the record for number of TV ninth starters. Of his 22 perfect legs, 11 were at a television tournament. In short, Phil Taylor is considered the best darter of all time because of his unmatched number of world titles, his dominant performances over a long period of time, his records and his lasting influence on the sport.

Phil Taylor mastered the dartboard like no other. In his nearly thirty-year career, Phil Taylor won just about everything there was to win including sixteen world titles and 220 other titles
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026












