John Lowe
Peter Wright
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
John Lowe leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places John Lowe at #5 and Peter Wright at #10.
The case for John Lowe
The only player to win world titles in three different decades — 1979, 1987 and 1993 — from seven world finals, across a career that bridged the pub era and the professional one. Old Stoneface was the technical antithesis of Bristow: unhurried, expressionless, orthodox in stance and grip, and admired by coaches as the model throw. He added two Winmau World Masters and a News of the World title among more than ten televised majors, and on 13 October 1984 he threw the first nine-dart finish ever seen on television, at the MFI World Matchplay against Keith Deller, closing 180, 180 and treble 17, treble 18, double 18 for a prize of £102,000 — an enormous sum for any British sportsman of the period. He was among the sixteen players who broke away in 1992 to found what became the PDC, and he remained competitive on television into his fifties.
The case for Peter Wright
The sport's most visually extravagant champion and the outstanding example of late-career transformation. Snakebite spent two decades as a journeyman, dropped off the circuit entirely to work outside the game, and returned in his forties with dyed mohican, painted snake and a wardrobe designed by his wife. He lost the 2014 world final to Michael van Gerwen, then won the title in 2020 at 49 by beating van Gerwen 7-3, and again in 2022 against Michael Smith. Three world finals, two titles, plus the 2019 World Matchplay and the 2017 UK Open among more than eight televised majors, and a spell at world number one. He is also the sport's most restless technician, changing darts, stems and flights mid-match and carrying dozens of setups to every event — the opposite of the received wisdom that a professional should find one dart and never change it.