Gary Anderson
John Part
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Gary Anderson leads 2 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Gary Anderson at #6 and John Part at #8.
The case for Gary Anderson
The purest thrower of his generation and the man who ended Phil Taylor's last realistic title bid. Anderson won back-to-back PDC world championships in 2015, beating Taylor 7-6 in a final decided in the last leg, and 2016, beating Adrian Lewis 7-5. He reached six world finals in all, including two BDO finals in 2010 and 2011 before switching codes, and lost the 2017 and 2021 finals to Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price respectively. He also won the 2011 Premier League among more than ten televised majors. His throw is famously effortless — a short, fast release that other professionals openly envy — and at his best he is capable of scoring bursts nobody can live with, including a run of 180s in the 2015 and 2016 championships that remade the tournament's records. Chronic back trouble and an unconcealed distaste for the travelling circuit have limited his output rather than his ability.
The case for John Part
The first player from outside the United Kingdom to win a world championship, and the only man to win world titles in both organisations and beat Phil Taylor in a final to do it. Darth Maple won the BDO title in 1994 as an unheralded Canadian, then crossed to the PDC and won the 2003 world championship by beating Taylor 7-6 in a deciding set — ending an eight-year reign and producing one of the sport's genuine upsets — before adding a third title in 2008. Four world finals in all, from a country with no darts infrastructure to speak of and a transatlantic commute to every tournament. He remains the benchmark for non-European players and the proof that the sport's talent pool was never geographically fixed. His post-playing career as a commentator has made him the most respected analytical voice in the game, and his articulate deconstruction of checkout routes taught a generation of viewers how professionals actually think.