Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
For many fans, pundits, and neutrals alike, the Championship is the best and most entertaining league in world football. But, who are the Championship’s all-time top scorers?
The current season looks set for an exciting finish as we enter the business end of the campaign. In theory, the league’s 46-game format should offer more space for gaps to open up, yet a quick glimpse at the current table shows how little the Championship cares for any of that sort of logic.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LeedsLeeds | 38 | 23 | 11 | 4 | 76 | 25 | 51 | 80 |
| 2 |  Sheff UtdSheffield Utd | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 53 | 28 | 25 | 80 |
| 3 |  BurnleyBurnley | 38 | 21 | 15 | 2 | 52 | 11 | 41 | 78 |
| 4 |  SunderlandSunderland | 38 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 55 | 37 | 18 | 69 |
| 5 |  CoventryCoventry | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 55 | 48 | 7 | 59 |
| 6 |  West BromWest Brom | 38 | 13 | 18 | 7 | 48 | 34 | 14 | 57 |
| 7 |  Bristol CityBristol City | 38 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 49 | 41 | 8 | 57 |
| 8 |  MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 57 | 48 | 9 | 54 |
The league is often a place where bloated-budget teams come to die. Yet, it is also a place where the little guys can flourish and punch above their weight, as evidenced by some of the sides currently playing Premier League football as well.
Speaking of flourishing, look back at any title-winning team of the last few years in this division, and you’ll probably find that their line was led by a quality striker.
Forwards are often multi-talented and can be some of the best players in the Championship, but we’re only concerned with the goal machines here. So, let’s take a look at the ten most prolific players to grace the second tier, with our list of the Championship’s all-time top scorers.
The highest scoring players in Championship history since 2004
The Championship has been an intense and often drama-filled league since the inaugural 2004/05 season. There have been plenty of outstanding sides in the division over the years, with many sealing their promotion to the Premier League in style.
We have looked back and ranked the top 10 best strikers in the history of the competition based purely on the numbers of goals they’ve scored. Numerous players in this list of the Championship’s all-time top scorers have been the top scorer in the league in seasons gone by, and the Golden Boot is something that has yet to be decided at the business end of 2024/25.
10) Tom Ince – 94 goals
Tom Ince has had a notable career in the EFL Championship, playing for several clubs over the years. He is perhaps best known for his time at Blackpool, where he earned a reputation as a creative and exciting winger before moving to Hull City.
Ince later played for Derby County and now Watford, contributing significantly to promotion pushes and showcasing his ability to impact games with his goals and assists to sneak in at the bottom of this list above former Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town striker Daryl Murphy.
9) Troy Deeney – 95 goals
Watford legend Troy Deeney’s brief foray into management at Forest Green Rovers during 2023/24 was a bit of a disaster, but no one can take his, frankly phenomenal, goalscoring record away from him. The former Hornet striker was known for his sheer physical presence but his finishing touch as well.
Those attributes helped him rack up 95 goals in 278 games for Watford and latterly his boyhood club Birmingham City. With Watford, he soon became the captain and established himself as a cult figure, including helping them gain promotion and mixing it in the Premier League.
8) Lukas Jutkiewicz – 98 goals
An active player who could yet add further to his tally and break the 100-goal mark, Lukas Jutkiewicz currently plays for Birmingham in League One. His side is sure to return to the second tier next season, but it’s unclear whether he will be a part of their plans at the age of 36 next season.
Having previously played for Swindon Town, Everton, Plymouth Argyle, Huddersfield Town, Motherwell, Coventry City, Middlesbrough, Bolton Wanderers, and Burnley, he has spent the majority of his career in the Championship, scoring 98 goals in 465 games.
7) Nahki Wells – 109 goals
Nahki Wells first made his name at Bradford City in the early 2010s, winning the 2013 League Two play-offs and reaching the League Cup the same year in a historic campaign for the club. That led to a big move across West Yorkshire to nearby Huddersfield Town.
There, he gained promotion to the Premier League and racked up 45 of his 109 Championship goals, with the others coming for Burnley, QPR, and Bristol City. The latter is where he still currently plays, with Wells continuing to score and rise up the rankings this season.
6) Lewis Grabban – 112 goals
Grabban’s time in the Championship was divided between eight clubs — Crystal Palace, Millwall, Bournemouth, Norwich City, Reading, Sunderland, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest. He scored 112 goals in 281 games, stretching over 13 seasons in the Championship, which makes him one of the more prolific players on this list.
Grabban is a seasoned striker and a two-time Championship play-off winner with Norwich (2015) and Forest (2022). A brief stint in Saudi Arabia followed before he re-joined Forest as an academy coach. The 37-year-old often wreaked havoc with his intelligent movement and many second tier defenders will be happy to see he has since retired.
5) Chris Martin – 114 goals
Chris Martin has been prolific in the second division for most of his career, scoring 114 goals in 444 games spread over 17 seasons. He is currently with Bristol Rovers in League One, and it is likely that he never plays Championship football again. However, Norwich, Bristol City, QPR, and Derby have plenty to be thankful for.
The 36-year-old former Scotland international had just two tastes of Premier League football in his long career. He remains one of the only players on this list currently still actively playing alongside Jutkiewicz, Ince, and Wells. Crucially, he made it past the 100-mark and his place in the rankings looks fairly secure.
4) Ross McCormack – 120 goals
Once the leading Championship goalscorer, Ross McCormack now sits third in the list with 120 goals in 331 appearances for five different clubs. After starting his career in Scotland with the likes of Rangers and Motherwell, he moved to Cardiff City and the goals started to flow and he never looked back. Leeds United signed him in 2012, where he spent four of his most prolific seasons, followed by two years at Fulham.
In 2016, he joined Aston Villa and then spent a season on loan at Nottingham Forest. His Championship stint perhaps ended prematurely with disappointing spells at Villa and Forest but he struck fear into the hearts of many defenders through his individual brilliance and flair. He had more of an X-factor than many other players on the list as he was not always necessarily an out-and-out centre-forward.
3) David Nugent – 121 goals
He was always going to feature somewhere on this list of the Championship’s all-time top scorers, but the question of how high was all that needed to be answered. David Nugent’s career started with Bury in 2002, before he moved to Preston North End. But impressive stints with Portsmouth and Burnley then followed before his big move to Leicester City in 2011.
With PNE and the Foxes, Nugent scored the majority of his Championship goals but the former England international spent a few years with the likes of Middlesbrough and Derby County, before re-joining Preston in recent years. In his prime, Nugent was the kind of player you’d love in your own team but hate to play against. He was industrious and physical, but with a killer eye for goal.
2) Jordan Rhodes – 123 goals
Jordan Rhodes’ career is now winding down in League One, but the striker has been one of the most prolific marksmen in both the second and third tier in recent times. Rhodes currently holds second-place in the all-time Championship standings, but will hope to rise higher than 10th in League One with Mansfield Town.
He spent time with Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, and Norwich. Over 379 games in the second tier, he has scored 123 goals. While with the likes of Huddersfield and Blackpool, he has also hit 86 so far in League One. After bursting onto the scene as a prolific youngster with Huddersfield, the Scotland international has gone on to bag plenty in the EFL, but one player stands ahead of him…
1) Billy Sharp – 130 goals
Could it be anyone else? Billy Sharp may also be winding down in the lower reaches of the EFL with Doncaster Rovers now, but he has scored plenty across his second tier clubs. Donny, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Southampton, and, of course, Sheffield United saw him bag plenty in the Championship.
The Blades legend is a certified stalwart and perhaps the ultimate bagsman of the EFL, having made just shy of 400 appearances in the league as well as having stints in the Premier League and League One with his boyhood club. The 39-year-old was recently at Hull but had an illustrious EFL career prior to that.
The majority of his 130 Championship goals have been scored wearing the Blades’ famous red and white stripes, where he was and is captain, leader, legend. Perhaps more impressively is the fact Sharp is not only top of the pile when it comes to the Championship’s all-time top scorers, but is also fifth in the League One standings with a further 104 strikes to his name.
The honourable mentions and notable omissions from the all-time rankings
No player has scored more goals in a single season than Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 43 strikes for Fulham, but his overall tally of 85, surprisingly, places him 14th in the rankings for the Championship’s all-time top scorers. Just ahead of him and unfortunate to miss out are the likes of Charlie Austin, Darius Henderson, and Daryl Murphy.
Astonishingly, Danny Graham, Cameron Jerome, and Marlon King all failed to make it that close to the top 10, but are amongst the top 20 in the list. While the in-form Chris Wood’s phenomenal record of 78 in 179 in the second tier has him close to the top but not quite breaking in.
Current players who could yet establish themselves on this list in the coming seasons include active players such as Andi Weimann and Patrick Bamford, but it is perhaps Adam Armstrong (79 – 20th) and Joel Piroe (69 – 34th) who stand the greatest chance due to their age.
They are among the current best strikers in the Championship, including the likes of Josh Sargent, Josh Maja, and Wilson Isidor this season.