Most of us know that Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s top goalscorer of all time, but who holds the same record in the England’s First Division of football history(including Premier League)? We have got the answer in this article, in which we are covering the top 10 goalscorers in England’s top division since its start in 1888.

Here are top 10 goalscorers in England’s top division –

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10. Hughie Gallacher [1925–1938] [247 Goals/355 Matches]

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Gallacher was a centre-forward who played for different clubs, most notably for Newcastle United and Chelsea. Gallacher lacked height and weight but he had excellent ball control, guile and instinct, being able to go past opposing defenders with ease. He posed a constant threat for any defence as he possessed grand strike power.

He spent five seasons at Newcasle and scored 143 goals in 174 appearances. His strike rate of over 82% is the most prolific in Newcastle FC history. He stills holds the record for most goals in single season for Newcastle when he scored 36 goals in 38 league games in 1926-27 that helped Newcastle to secure the league title that season.

He left Newcastle to join Chelsea in 1930. In his four seasons at that club, Gallacher was Chelsea’s top scorer. He totalled 81 goals in his 144 games. Apart from Newcastle and Chelsea, he also played for Derby County, Notts County and a few more.

9. Joe Bradford [1921–1935] [248 Goals/410 Matches]

Birmingham City legend, Joe Bradford was one of the finest goalscorers of his day, a marksman with formidable shooting power. He was fast over a short distance, could use both feet and was a fine header of the ball.

He is Birmingham’s all-time leading goalscorer. He topped the club’s scoring charts in all but one First Division season between 1921–22 and 1932–33. He helped Birmingham win the Second Division title in 1921 and scored for the losing Birmingham side against West Brom in the 1931 FA Cup Final.

After leaving Blues in 1935, Bradford played for one season at Bristol City and then retired in May 1936.

8. Nat Lofthouse [1946–1960] [255 Goals/452 Matches]

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A one-team man, Nat Lofthouse spent his entire club career with Bolton wanderers. Born on Aug 27, 1925, Lofthouse was raised in the Bolton schools system. He signed for his local club as an amateur in 1939, working as a Bevin Boy in Mossley Colliery, before making his league debut in 1946.

Lofthouse could have moved elsewhere in his career, and wealthy Fiorentina tracked him for a while, but he remained staunch in his commitment to Bolton. He featured in the 1953 Matthews Cup final, the year he was voted Footballer of the Year, and scored twice against Manchester United in the 1958 final.

With England national team, he scored 30 goals in 33 games. He has best goals-per-game ratios of any player to represent England at the highest level.

7. Charlie Buchan [1912–1928] [257 Goals/482 Matches]

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A tall, elegant centre forward, Buchan was highly successful at Sunderland. With Sunderland, he won the 1912–13 First Division title, and narrowly missed out on the Double, losing the FA Cup final 1–0 to Aston Villa.

He was frequently described as the best footballer in the country in his time. Buchan was Sunderland’s leading scorer for seven of the eight seasons from 1912–13 to 1923–24. He is Sunderland’s all-time record League goalscorer, with 209 goals.

In 1925, at nearly 34 years of age, Buchan joined Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal and made his debut for Arsenal in a North London derby on August 29. Despite his age, Charlie was a near ever-present in Chapman’s forward line, hitting 56 goals in 120 starts. He also captained the Gunners to their first FA Cup Final in 1927 which they famously lost to Cardiff.

Buchan retired from football in 1928 and went on to become a journalist with the Daily News before co-founding the Football Writers’ Association in 1947.

6. David Jack [1920–1934] [257 Goals/476 Matches]

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An inside forward, David jack played for three clubs namely Plymouth Argyle, Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal. He scored more than a century of goals for both the latter clubs. He is considered as one of the finest players of his generation.

He started his career with Plymouth in 1919 making his debut in 1920. In late 1920 he returned to the town of his birth, signing for Bolton Wanderers for £3,500. While with Bolton, he made history by being the first person to score a goal at Wembley Stadium, in the 1923 FA Cup Final; Bolton won 2–0 and Jack earned his first medal. He continued to have success with Bolton, winning the FA Cup again in 1925–26, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Manchester City. He was the club’s top scorer for five of the eight seasons he was there, scoring 144 goals in 295 league matches and still he is Bolton’s third highest goalscorer.

In October 1928 Arsenal smashed the British transfer record to sign him, paying £10,980 for his services. He scored 25 goals in the 31 games he played in his first season at Arsenal and was their top scorer. The following season he became the first player to win the FA Cup for 2 different clubs at Wembley as Arsenal beat Huddersfield 2-0 in the final.

Jack continued to feature for Arsenal through the early 1930s, recording a personal best of 34 goals in their First Division-winning season of 1930–31. He won two more titles in 1932–33 and 1933–34. He retired in 1934 ,having scored 124 goals for Arsenal in 208 games that makes him the tenth best goalscorer in the club’s history.

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5. Alan Shearer [1988–2006] [283 Goals/559 Matches]

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Premier League’s record goalscorer, Alan Shearer played for Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle United. He spent majority of career at Newcastle United but it was his time at Blackburn when he won his only title – the Premier League in 1995.

Earlier in his career, especially at Southampton, Shearer played a more creative role: providing chances for fellow strikers, and making runs into space, owing to his early development as a midfielder. Later on in his career, Shearer played a more forward role.

Shearer scored 283 league goals in his career, including a record 260 in the Premier League with a record 11 Premier League hat-tricks, and a total of 422 in all competitions including international at all levels. He is Newcastle United’s record goalscorer. He was named Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 1994 and won the PFA Player of the Year award in 1995. He retired in 2006.

4. Gordon Hodgson [1925–1940] [287 Goals/456 Matches]

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When supporters think of Liverpool’s greatest goalscorers, thoughts will turn to Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush or perhaps Robbie Fowler. However, long before all of those players were even born, Liverpool possessed a player so prolific he was a legitimate rival for Everton‘s Dixie Dean. That man was Gordon Hodgson, who signed for Liverpool in 1925 and played 377 games for the Reds, scoring 241 goals ,earning him a place in the Liverpool FC Hall of Fame.

The player would finish the Reds top scorer in seven of his nine seasons at Anfield. He notched a total of 233 goals in the first division for Liverpool, including 19 hat-tricks. He left Liverpool in 1936.

After Liverpool, he played for Aston Villa and Leeds United before hanging up boots in 1939.

3. Dixie Dean [1924–1938] [310 Goals/362 Games]

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Arguably the greatest goalscorer ever to grace the English game, undeniably the greatest Everton player of all-time,Dean joined Everton in March 1925 for a transfer fee of £3,000 from Tranmere Rovers. He made his first appearance against Arsenal at Highbury and scored on his home debut a week later against Aston Villa. He scored 32 League goals in his first full season at Everton.

In the 1930s he captained the club to the title of Second Division, First Division and FA Cup triumphs. But the achievement for which he is best remembered is the individual goalscoring record of 60 League goals in a single season – a record set in 1928 and never beaten since.

Dean played the majority of his career at Everton before injuries caught up with him and he moved on to new challenges at Notts County in 1938, before retiring in 1940.

For a man whose life was linked so heavily linked with Everton Football Club, it was fitting that he died at Goodison Park in March 1980, minutes after the final whistle of a derby match.

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2. Steve Bloomer [1892–1910] [314 Goals/536 Games]

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More than a century has passes since Steve Bloomer played his last game for Derby County in 1914. During his career Bloomer was a prolific goalscorer for both club and country. A quick thinking forward, he was able to shoot powerfully and accurately with either foot and his speciality was the daisy cutter – a low shot, hit with great power, speed and accuracy.

In 536 First Division games he scored 317 goals that makes him second highest all-time goalscorer in the top-flight. He also scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England. He helped Derby to win the Second Division title in 1911–12, and to reach second in the First Division in 1895–96. His Derby County record of 332 goals in all competitions may stand for ever.

Two spells with the Rams were split by four years at Middlesbrough, where the inside right also boasted a decent strike-rate of 62 goals in 130 games. He was the England captain, capped 23 times in an era of three international games a year, and scored 28 goals for his country.

1. Jimmy Greaves [1957–1972] [357 Goals/516 Matches]

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Greaves stands as one of the most prolific strikers England has ever produced. A suave figure ambling around the final third, you could forget he was there for 89 minutes, but often a minute of magic was more than enough. Goals were all he offered, but boy did he offer plenty – and the stats prove it.

He still stands as the all-time top scorer in the English top flight, with 357 goals in 567 games largely procured during his time at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. He still leads the charts at the latter and remains the top scorer in a league season for both. Since his national debut, no other player has a better ratio of goals for the Three Lions, bagging 44 in his 57 caps, and his tally of six hat-tricks is still a record.

The much-loved striker netted 266 times during a glorious nine-year stint at Tottenham, becoming their all-time leading scorer and winning two FA Cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup in the process. His achievements were due to be recognised with an induction to Tottenham’s Hall of Fame in a sell-out ceremony at White Hart Lane.

England is yet to produce another goalscorer quite as prolific as Greaves.

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