10 Highest Earning Darts Players of All Time (Prize Money Earned)

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The 2026 World Championship had the largest prize fund in darts history with winner Luke Littler securing an incredible £1 million in prize money.

Darts started as a pub sport with the first BDO World Championship seeing Leighton Rees take home £3,000 in winners prize money – roughly equivalent to £22k in 2026 when adjusted for inflation.

Darts boomed in popularity in the 1980s but the formation of the PDC, combined with broadcast partnerships with the likes of Sky Sports meant that prize money started to really grow in the 2000s.

Darts is now the second most viewed sport in the UK when it comes to peak viewership figures on Sky Sports and trails only football. This popularity means that players are now becoming multi-millionaires through the sport at increasing rates.

While it will only continue to grow, the very best players over the last few decades have still benefited greatly from having a professional career in darts.

Below we’ve ranked the 10 highest earning darts players of all time based on prize money earned.

Last updated 02/11/2026 (Source – dartsdatabase.co.uk)

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10) Michael Smith – £4,064,335

Michael Smith was almost considered a ‘nearly man’ in darts.

From 2018-2022 he went to eight major finals without winning a single one.

The 2022 Grand Slam of Darts was where he finally broke the curse and this win was the catalyst for him to then go on and win the 2023 World Championship in an all-time great match against Michael van Gerwen.

Smith is the best example of players benefiting from the money in modern-era darts.

He has the fewest major titles of anyone on this list and less than some who missed out!

Due to the higher prize money on offer and a World Championship win, he has amassed a good fortune in prize money.

Unfortunately, it might be hard for him to build on this.

Smith suffered with poor form as world number one throughout 2024 and combined with multiple injuries and health issues, Smith has dropped outside the top 32 in the world rankings just a few years later.

Still aged just 36, there is every chance Smith could get back to his best and add to his earnings (and maybe trophy) tally.

9) Raymond van Barneveld – £4,128,528

Barney has had one of the most influential impacts on darts of any player.

His 2007 World Championship win over Phil Taylor after moving to the PDC from the BDO basically ignited darts in the Netherlands and he is largely responsible for darts growth in Europe.

Raymond van Barneveld is a 5 x world champion but four of those titles came in the BDO. From 1995-2006 he dominated the BDO unquestionably, winning 14 titles from 17 major final appearances.

In 2006 he moved over to the PDC. Here, he wasn’t as dominant but still made it to 15 major finals and won 6 titles.

His millions have come from a tremendous number of deep tournament runs where he was frequently in the last four or last eight players but as his prime was the late 2000’s, he didn’t benefit from the huge prize money that was to come.

Becoming a multi-millionaire through darts prize money was the result of longevity and consistent performances from Barney.

8) Luke Humphries – £4,301,515

Luke Humphries has had an incredible rise to elite status in darts.

His first major tournament final came at the 2021 UK Open where he lost to James Wade. He then had a few years lifting titles on the ProTour and Euro Tour before his first major title at the 2023 World Grand Prix.

This ignited an incredible run for Humphries who has since won 9 major titles and had a spell as world number one.

After winning the 2026 World Grand Prix, Humphries won his ninth major title and moved ahead of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright on the all-time major titles list.

A total of 9 major titles, 18 major finals and dozens of ranking finals/titles means Humphries has catapulted in terms of his stature within darts with many darts pundits and fans ranking him amongst the greatest darts players of all-time (top 10 territory).

With his success coming in such recent years, Humphries has already amassed £4 million in career prize money and with age and form still on his side, he will surely rise up this list in the coming years.

One player somehow has had a greater run than Humphries during this time and has earned more than Cool Hand.

7) Luke Littler – £4,832,733

A true darting prodigy – Luke Littler burst onto the scene at the 2024 World Championship where he reached the final as a 16 year old.

There was much debate as to whether this was a fluke run or incredible purple patch of form but The Nuke would prove to be the real deal in the years that followed.

He turned professional following the 2024 World Championship and has since dominated darts in a way we’ve only ever seen from a ‘peak’ Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen.

In just three years, Littler has risen to third on the all-time major titles list having won 14 major titles from 18 major finals appearances. This includes back-to-back world championship titles where he became the youngest world champion aged just 17!

He’s won every PDC major title (some multiple times) except for the European Championship and also has a dozen ranking titles to his name.

This is in addition to making his way onto record books for averages and 180s along the way.

With this domination, he earlier this year became the first player ever to pass £3 million in two-year Order of Merit ranking prize money and currently has more in ranking prize money than second, third, and fourth places combined.

It seems inevitable that he will become the highest earning darts player of all-time and if he maintains his rate of trophy hauls, it could be just a few more years before he tops this list 🤯

6) Gerwyn Price – £4,917,553

Gerwyn Price is easily considered to be one of darts darts biggest pantomime villains.

His previous ‘antics’ often made headlines but there’s no denying that when Iceman is on form he is simply blockbuster to watch. His performances have definitely changed a lot of fans’ opinion of him in recent years as he’s become something of a fan favourite now!

A former professional in rugby, Price has transitioned to a sport that has been far more financially lucrative for the Welshman.

Joining the PDC a decade ago in 2014, Price has been to 18 major finals and won 7.

That puts him amongst the elite and similar to Smith, his success has come in the late 2010’s and mostly the 2020’s, so he has benefitted from more prize money to go with his achievements.

The 2021 world champion had an off year in 2024 by his standards but has returned to form in 2025 with several titles on the tour.

2026 he’s really back to his best making three consecutive major finals and reaching the last four of every major tournament he’s entered this year.

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5) James Wade – £5,227,893

James Wade has won the fourth most PDC titles in history, trailing only Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler.

A PDC professional player since 2004, Wade is now a stalwart of darts but still aged just 43, a long way from seniors!

During a solid career, Wade has been to 29 major finals and won 11 major titles during this time. 2025/26 has seen a remarkable return to form for The Machine have multiple deep tournament runs he’s moved up to as high as fifth in the world rankings and is even threatening to make the top four.

When you look at his career, he has played the majority of major tournaments and with his consistency, longevity and deep runs, he’s managed to rack up a very healthy earning total.

The main reason that Wade doesn’t rank higher though is that he has finished runner-up on eighteen occasions and the major contributor is that he has never won a world championship title.

Spoiler alert but Wade is the only player on this list without a championship title. It is a major asterisk over his career and means he is often left out of the debate when discussing the best players of all time.

It does, however, show how impressive it is for him to have earned so much without one.

Many players on this list have had a healthy £500,000 or more added to their prize money totals just from lifting that trophy alone.

Wade has never even been to a final of that tournament so to make it to 5th place on this list is really quite an achievement in itself…

4) Peter Wright – £5,367,388

Peter Wright ranks incredibly high on this list as a result of a long career, combined with major trophy wins coming in more recent years with larger prize money on offer.

Snakebite has been in the PDC for over two decades (whilst also playing BDO for a decade earlier) and is the best ‘late bloomer’ story in darts.

From 2014-2020, Peter Wright went to thirteen major finals but only won the UK Open in 2017 during that entire run.

He was racking up great prize money for these deep runs and titles on the tour (5 Euro Tour titles in 2017) but he would have been contending closer to the 8th-10th positions on this list

That all changed in 2020…

In a complete reversal of results, Wright went to eight major finals between 2020-2023 and won seven of them. Two of which included World Championship titles.

This run saw him become just the third player at the time to reach £1m on the PDC Order of Merit rankings and at 49 years of age the oldest first-time winner of the world championship.

One of darts greatest personalities, his success in the 2020s shows how much the current prize money in darts is impacting a list such as this.

3) Gary Anderson – £5,551,772

With 8 major titles from 21 finals appearances, Gary Anderson is one of darts most successful players and an all-time great.

The two-time world champion not only held his own playing in the eras of both Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen, he was INCREDIBLY successful despite this.

From 2015-2018, the Flying Scotsman was in the last four of a tournament more often than not but it’s not just the majors where Anderson would be impressive.

He loves playing darts and especially playing on the ProTour. When he is away from the big stage he plays some of his best darts that show unbelievable numbers.

In 2024 he put up some numbers on the Players Championship that were simply ridiculous and this combination of consistency across the board is what has seen Anderson as one of the very few players to cross £5m earned in prize money through darts.

His last major final came back at the 2021 World Championship, however, he’s still benefitting from the growth of darts with a semi-final run at the 2026 World Championship earning Ando a cool £200,000.

It seems unlikely he’ll move higher on this list though seeing the numbers ahead of him…

2) Phil Taylor – £7,655,754

The most successful and greatest darts player of all time is the opposite to Peter Wright’s scenario.

Phil Taylor dominated the sport like no other, however, he did so when darts was NOT at the height of popularity.

Phil Taylor can take a large amount of credit for the growth of darts throughout the 1990s-2000s where his domination of major tournaments made its way into mainstream media.

To earn his millions though, Taylor relied on winning basically everything to make up for the much smaller tournament prize funds.

The Power went to 92 PDC major finals during his career and won 79 of them. That’s a win rate of 85%.

The staggering win total combined with dozens of professional titles on the Tour puts his trophy count well into the hundreds, and this was necessary for Taylor to rank so highly on this list.

His first world championship earned him £12,000 in prize money, a decade later when winning his tenth it was £60,000, and his last championship title in 2013 earned him £200,000 (the prize money for the 2026 semi-finalists).

When you look at the prize money he was winning during his most dominant periods, it’s surprising that he was still able to make so much more than every other darts player in history, except for one person…

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1) Michael van Gerwen – £11,950,917

Michael van Gerwen seems to have found close to the perfect balance of dominating darts for an era whilst also benefiting from increased prize money.

*Though Luke Littler could very well benefit more and eclipse him in years to come.

MVG took the baton from Phil Taylor in the 2010s in becoming the dominant force in darts.

65 major finals, 47 major titles and a total title count in the 100s, he is the only player who has come even remotely close to the kind of numbers Phil Taylor put up.

As he did it in the 2010s though, MVG was able to become the first and only player to reach eight figures in prize money earned as he closes in on the £12m mark.

It will sound strange to say but for all his dominance and earnings, MVG has maybe underperformed and could be on much more…

He’s a three-time world champion but there are multiple champions that are two-time winners on this list and he is miles away from Taylor’s 14 PDC world championships.

MVG is maybe unlucky that he’s had to compete with other greats like Lewis and Anderson, so while he’s without a doubt been dominant in darts, he was unable to have a chokehold on the game like Taylor did.

Still, when you win just shy of £12 million playing darts, it’s hard to look at many downsides!