16
Most world championships
Two BDO titles in 1990 and 1992 and fourteen PDC titles, from 21 world finals. No other man has won more than five, and the record is generally regarded as unbreakable.
Darts keeps unusually clean records because everything it measures is arithmetic. Points thrown, darts used, doubles attempted and doubles hit are all counted exactly, which makes cross-era comparison easier than in almost any other sport — with the caveat that televised averages were not systematically recorded before the 1990s, so the early greats are under-represented in the statistical tables.
The marks below are drawn from recognised professional competition, principally the PDC and, before 1994, the BDO. Where a figure moves from season to season it is anchored to the point at which it was set or last extended.
Records
8
Most consecutive world titles
Taylor won eight PDC World Championships in a row, losing only one leg in some finals. The streak ended when John Part beat him in a deciding set in 2003.
123.40
Highest televised three-dart average
Set against Michael Smith in a Premier League match in Aberdeen in February 2016, in a 7-1 win. It is the highest average recorded in any televised professional match.
114.05
Highest World Championship final average
Van Gerwen beat Gary Anderson 7-3 at Alexandra Palace with the highest average ever produced in a world final, in what is often called the most complete championship-deciding performance on record.
11
Most televised nine-dart finishes
Taylor threw eleven perfect legs in front of the cameras across his career, more than any other player, at a time when far fewer matches were broadcast than today.
9 darts
First televised nine-dart finish
At the MFI World Matchplay in Slough on 13 October 1984, against Keith Deller, Lowe threw 180, 180 and then treble 17, treble 18, double 18 to win a £102,000 prize.
2 perfect legs
Two nine-darters in one match
In the Premier League final against James Wade in May 2010, Taylor threw perfect legs in the fourth and eighth legs of the match. Nobody has repeated it in a televised game.
9 darts
First nine-darter at a World Championship
Singapore's Paul Lim threw the first perfect leg at any world championship, in the second round of the 1990 BDO event at Lakeside, collecting a £52,000 bonus — far more than the champion earned.
2 in history
Nine-darter in a World Championship final
Lewis threw the first in the 2011 final against Gary Anderson. Smith threw the second against Michael van Gerwen in 2023, in a leg where van Gerwen had missed his own nine-dart attempt.
17 years, 347 days
Youngest world champion
Littler beat Michael van Gerwen 7-3 on 3 January 2025, a year after reaching the final at 16. The previous youngest PDC champion, Michael van Gerwen, was 24.
16
Most World Matchplay titles
Taylor won the Blackpool major sixteen times in nineteen years. The trophy was renamed the Phil Taylor Trophy in his honour on his retirement in 2018.
10
Most women's world championships
Gulliver won the first seven women's world titles consecutively from 2001, then added 2010, 2011 and 2013. She was the inaugural champion when the event was created.
2 wins
First woman to win at the PDC World Championship
Sherrock beat Ted Evetts 3-2 in December 2019 and then world number 11 Mensur Suljovic 3-1, the first woman to win a match, and then two, at the event.
170
Highest possible checkout
Treble 20, treble 20, bullseye. Known as the big fish, it has been the maximum three-dart finish since the treble ring was added to the standard board.
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