The 2020’s have been by far the most lucrative period to be a professional darts player in terms of prize money earnings available.
We’re more than halfway through the decade, yet top players have already earned more than 90% of players did during the entire 2010 era, with 20 players already passing the £1 million mark in prize money.
There’s still 4 years to go for a list like this so many players are going to be able to rack up some serious earnings when you consider the fact that the 2026 World Championship will have a record prize fund available for a darts tournament and will also be paying a staggering £1 million in prize money to the winner…
Darts is only continuing to boom in popularity so we’ve ranked the highest earning darts players from the 2020’s (so far) to see who is currently making the most of this ‘gold rush’ in darts and also how it will look in a few years time… 👀
SEE MORE RANKING LISTS ON DECENT DARTS
👉 10 highest earning darts players from the 2010’s
👉 10 highest earning darts players of all time [ranked]
Highest Earning Darts Players From The 2020’s
10) Dimitri Van den Bergh – £1,718,250
The definition of a darts prospect that got into the sport at the right time.
Dimitri Van den Bergh won the 2017 and 2018 World Youth Championship whilst making it to the quarter-final of the 2018 World Championship.
He made it to the same stage a few years later and was able to then go up a gear in darts by winning his first PDC major title at the 2020 World Matchplay. He finished runner-up at the 2023 World Matchplay and also won the 2024 UK Open.
The Dreammaker has been around the top 10 in rankings for most of this decade and his finals appearances alongside several semi-final runs at major ranking tournaments has seen the Belgian already earn more than the 10th highest earner in our 2010 edition of this list.
The like-for-like ranking shows how much prize money is moving up for the elite players.
9) Rob Cross – £1,774,000
Rob Cross had the ultimate underdog story in darts when he turned professional in 2017 and then in his first ever World Championship (2018) he beat the most successful darts player of all-time in Phil Taylor to lift the trophy.
See also – Most UNEXPECTED title wins by darts players [ranked]
Cross has one 4 major ranking titles during his career, though most of them came during the 2010 era.
A 2021 European Championship is the only ranking major title for Voltage in this decade so far, though almost a dozen deep tournament runs, including 3 x runner-up finishes in major tournaments have kept Rob Cross close to the sumit in darts rankings.
2025 has been a rough year for Cross who started it ranked 4th in the world but finds himself 17 at the time of writing having failed to make the last 8 of any major tournament this year.
Despite his ups and downs, Cross is still one of the highest earners of the decade and is approaching the multi-million pound mark in prize money earned.
Quite a bit more than he was likely earning as an electrician pre-2017… 👀
8) Nathan Aspinall – £1,844,250
Nathan Aspinall won the World Youth Championship in 2015, however, it wasn’t until 2019 when he would come good on his potential.
A semi-final run at the 2019 World Championship was followed up with his first major title at the 2017 UK Open. From then, The Asp has been an ever present as a top 8 darts player and again, he’s a player that picked the right decade to do it in!
Another major title came at the 2023 World Matchplay and Aspinall has had three runner-up finishes this decade with the latest coming this month at the 2025 Players Championship Finals.
He also had several ranking titles on the Tour and while he’s not quite won as many big titles as those ahead of him on this list, he’s close to the £2 million mark in earnings this decade.
7) Luke Littler – £2,141,879
Expect this number to be a LOT higher in the coming years…
Luke Littler has been a sensation in darts since making the final of the 2024 World Championship aged just 16.
At the time of writing, he’s only just coming into a full two-year cycle for Order of Merit rankings and is already ranked 7th on a list where players have had a full 6 years of tournaments in comparison.
3 x as many years, yet only 6 players have been able to secure more in prize money.
The reason being that Littler has now won 7 ranking PDC major titles (9 major titles total) and has won the 4th most PDC majors of all time.
The stats are ridiculous and so is the money he’s earning as a result.
Already a multi-millionaire in prize money alone (ignoring sponsorship and exhibition earnings), The Nuke is going into the highest paying World Championship in history as the clear favourite.
He said he’s not bothered about money and just wants the titles, but at this rate he could become the highest earning player of all time by the end of this decade!
See more – Luke Littler ‘unbothered’ reaction to 2026 World Championship prize money talk
6) Jonny Clayton – £2,389,250
While some players are getting into darts at a young age, Jonny Clayton was able to hit his prime at both an older age (from a sporting perspective) whilst also timing it alongside the increased prize money on offer.
He got his Tour Card in 2015, after already turning 40 and was a surprise finalist at the 2017 Players Championship Finals a few years later.
Going into 2020, he’d worked his way up to a top 16 player in the rankings then The Ferret started to peak.
Semi-final runs in 2020 were followed up with 4 major titles in 2021.
- World Masters
- World Grand Prix
- Premier League
- World Series of Darts Finals
It was a crazy run of form!
After turning 50 last year, Clayton talked about how he was considering retiring from darts after a downturn in results in 2024, only to find form in 2025 again making the final of the 2025 Winmau World Masters and 3 consecutive ranking major semi-finals.
Clayton is a fan favourite and despite coming into darts later in his career, he’s racked up multi-millions in prize money alone this decade.
5) Michael Smith – £2,571,750
Michael Smith earned his Tour Card in 2011 and would eventually become world champion in 2023.
Bully Boy was incredibly consistent on the ProTour throughout the 2010’s and laid the foundation for his eventual success and also earned him a very decent living.
In the latter half of the decade, Smith went to the final of the 2018 Premier League and World Series of Darts Finals and the following year he was runner-up in the 2019 World Matchplay and 2019 World Championship (a sign of things to come).
A few more finals would come in the early part of the decade including another runner-up trophy at the 2022 World Championship.
Smith was in dangerous ‘nearly man’ territory alongside the likes of Terry Jenkins and Dave Chisnall but a win at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts would be the foundation for him to go on and become the 2023 World Champion.
Smith has been having a drastic downfall the last few years though.
He’s dropped to 28th in the rankings at the time of writing and has admitted to having multiple health/injury issues that he’s battling with.
At this rate he’ll struggle to add to his tally on this list, though it’s still likely that by the end of the decade he’ll still be amongst the highest earners to come from this era.
SEE MORE MICHAEL SMITH ON DECENT DARTS
➡️ Michael Smith provides update on ‘multiple’ injuries
➡️ 5 BEST Michael Smith moments in darts
4) Peter Wright – £3,170,000
The 2010’s were NOT the most successful years for Peter Wright. Snakebite went to a significant number of PDC major finals during the 2010’s.
In the 2010’s Wright went to 13 major finals but was only able to win a single one of them at the 2017 UK Open. His record was a complete reversal of the following decade though as he went to 7 finals but only finished runner-up the single time.
Aged 49, he’d win his first world title in 2020. This was the first of several major titles in the 2020’s, including a second world title.
We spoke about Clayton coming good in darts later in his career, Wright was literally a decade older and reached even higher heights!
A two-time world champion in the 2020’s earns serious money and combined with his runner-up finishes the decade prior, Wright is actually one of the highest earning darts players of all time, behind only serial winners Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen.
While he is in a decline at the time of writing this, Wright has vowed to win a third world title in the coming years…
3) Luke Humphries – £3,182,000
This time 3 years ago, Luke Humphries would not be on the shortlist for players who could potentially make this kind of list.
While he was the 2019 World Youth Champion and had obvious potential in darts, especially after making it to the final of the 2019 UK Open, very few people predicted what was to come…
From 2023-2025, Cool Hand has been on one of the most dominant runs in darts history winning 8 major titles and finishing runner-up in a further 6 major tournaments.
Only recently displaced from the world number one position in the rankings by Luke Littler, he has made the most of the earning potential during this era and then some!
He was recently pushing for the £2 million mark on the two-year OoM rankings, a figure that has yet to be surpassed by any darts player.
After reaching several finals in the last few months, he’s now also passed the £3 million mark for earnings this decade.
There were only 3 players to earn this amount throughout the entire 2010’s so for Humphries to already pass this milestone is a testament to both the money on off in darts currently and the performances/results that Humphries has had to achieve it.
2) Gerwyn Price – £3,354,750
Gerwyn Price was once a professional rugby player, however, he switched to another sporting career in darts and it looks to have been a highly profitable career move for the Welshman.
In the 2010’s and early 2020’s, Price was arguably the most hated player in darts, getting crowd abuse/heckling almost everywhere he went.
Some of it he played into as a pantomime villain (who remembers the headphone incident), however, fans appreciate him much more in 2025.
When on form, Price is one of the most exciting players to watch and has changed a lot of opinions because he can put in blockbuster performances at the oche.
He’s not an exhibition player though, Price is one of the most successful darts players currently active and also closing in on all-time lists.
The 2021 World Champion has picked up several major titles in the 2020’s alongside several finals appearances. Between 2020-2022 it was rare not to see Iceman in the last 8 of a major tournament.
After a down year in 2024, Price is back to deep tournament runs in 2025 and has topped both the Players Championship Order of Merit and ProTour Order of Merit.
His consistent high standard has made him comfortably one of the highest earners in darts during this decade with well over £3 million in prize money earned.
Not content with playing darts, Price also has other business ventures including his own semi-famous chippy – though we’re not sure that’s quite as profitable as throwing darts is for him!
SEE MORE GERWYN PRICE ON DECENT DARTS
👉 Gerwyn Price reveals ‘sneaky’ tactic he uses against slow players like Mensur Suljovic
👉 Gerwyn Price biggest bust-ups in darts
1) Michael van Gerwen – £3,816,750
A player who seemed to time dominance, success and prize money just right in darts is Michael van Gerwen.
Most of his fortune was made in the 2010’s when MVG had some of the most dominant seasons of any player.
He was threatening to break a lot of Phil Taylor’s records for a period of time and while he couldn’t quite keep pace, he’s still the second most successful darts player ever, still aged just 36.
Of his 48 career major titles in the PDC, only 9 have come during the 2020’s. He also hasn’t won a world title this decade (though has been runner-up on 3 occasions) and his last ranking major title came back in 2022.
Despite this, MVG is STILL the highest earning darts players of the 2020’s to date.
Several titles on the ProTour and in invitational tournaments have kept MVG’s prize money ticking over at an incredible rate.
Even without the bumper payday of a world title win, he’s still pushing toward £4 million in earnings.
There’s a good chance Price and the two Luke’s could overtake him in the coming years based on form, however, the highest earning darts player of all time is still topping these types of lists for the time being!
Prize money statistics sourced from Darts Orakel and accurate on 28/11/2025
READ NEXT
➡️ 7 darts players who should have won more
➡️ Most UNEXPECTED title wins by darts players [ranked]
If not already, make sure to follow Decent Darts on X or Facebook where we bring you daily darts content including news, quotes and quizzes that you won’t find on the site.