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The Premier League was born on 20 February 1992, following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. This deal is now worth in the region of £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013-14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing rights to broadcast 116 games and 38 games respectively.
In the first three Premier League seasons, the league consisted of 22 clubs, meaning that 42 games were played in a single campaign. The number of teams in the league was eventually reduced to 20 clubs (38 games) for the start of the 1995/96 season and has remained the same ever since.
This means that the players who featured in the Premier League from 1992 through to 1995 have a slight advantage over those who began after the league capacity reduction, as they would have played 42 games in a season, whereas those that began after can only play 38.
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With that being said, let's take a look at ten of the Premier League's all-time top goalscorers.
All figures via Premier League
All transfer data via Transfermarkt profiles
#10 Teddy Sheringham - 146 goals
A prospect of Millwall's youth academy, Teddy Sheringham went on to become an elite striker, scoring for sheer fun in the top tier of English football.
He was often utilised as a target man, as he had the ability to set up just as many goals as he could score. Sheringham's career peaked during his time spent at teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. His performances remained consistent up until his retirement in 2007.
The first time Sheringham featured in the Premier League was at age 25, whilst playing for Nottingham Forest. The year was 1992 and the Premier League had just been formed. He only made three appearances for Forest, however, before being sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.84m at the end of his first season.
It was here at Spurs, though, where Sheringham really came into his own. Across the five seasons, Sheringham was with the club, he featured in a total of 166 matches, and scored a respectable 75.
These performances caught the eye of Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, who signed the 31-year-old for £4.7m in 1997. He spent four seasons at Old Trafford and scored just 31 goals in 134 appearances, which is well under par for a player of his ability.
From here, Teddy Sheringham's career began a gradual decline in terms of goals scored. He returned to Spurs on a free transfer in 2001, and spent two seasons with the club, scoring 22 times in 70 matches. Another free transfer saw him turn up at Fratton Park, where he scored nine in 32.
At the end of that season, Sheringham was signed on a free yet again, this time by West Ham. He scored just eight goals in 43 appearances, before retiring aged 41.
#9 Les Ferdinand - 149 goals
Les Ferdinand was a constant threat to the opposition's defences. He could score with his left foot, his right, and his head. Whether the ball was crossed in, passed in, or even bundled in towards him, he would somehow manage to tuck it away.
This made Ferdinand a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League. His performances earned him transfers to top teams like Spurs and Newcastle, where he made a real name for himself.
Ferdinand's first three seasons in the Premier League were with Queen's Park Rangers, where he netted 60 goals in 110 matches.
He spent the next two seasons at Newcastle United. The chemistry between his strike-partner, Alan Shearer, saw Newcastle finish second in both campaigns, losing out to the mighty Manchester United twice. Ferdinand scored 41 goals in 68 matches, before being sold to Spurs for £8.5m in 1997.
Despite being with Spurs for six seasons, Les Ferdinand only scored 33 times in 111 games. This was a dramatic decrease in form, compared to the great success he had at Newcastle. Many pundits put the issue down to the fact that he no longer had Shearer by his side, and was now a lone striker, doing everything on his own.
If this was really a problem, Ferdinand would have surely left. But he stayed until he was shipped out to West Ham on a free transfer in the summer of 2003.
Ferdinand's final three seasons were spent with three different clubs: West Ham, Leicester and Bolton. He scored a total of 14 goals during this period before retiring in 2006 at the age of 40.
#8 Michael Owen - 150 goals
Michael Owen was one of the best strikers to grace the Premier League during his peak, and certainly one of the best to feature in an England shirt.
His dazzling pace would enable him to slip through any cracks in the opponent's defence, and if he found himself through on goal, you knew what would happen next.
Owen was a product of Liverpool's youth set-up and was promoted to the first team in the summer of 1997. In his first season for the Reds, Owen featured in 36 out of a possible 38 matches and scored 18 goals - despite being just 18-years-old!
And the next season, he did even better, scoring 18 goals in six matches less (30 games). His goal tally remained consistent and he found his way into double figures in every campaign. By the end of the 2003-2004 season, Owen had scored a total of 118 goals in 216 appearances.
Owen spent a year playing for Real Madrid in Spain, before returning to the Premier League after being signed by Newcastle United for a whopping £22.5m. Blighted by injury, however, Owen was unable to replicate the success he'd had at Liverpool and scored 26 times across four seasons. In the second season, he failed to even score one, due to injury. He left Newcastle to join Manchester United on a free transfer in 2009.
Things became even dourer for Owen, who this time scored just five times across three seasons for United. He would be released by Manchester United in September 2012.
In his final season, Owen played for Stoke City, where he scored once in eight appearances - all of them as a substitute. He would retire at the end of the campaign, aged 34.
#7 Jermain Defoe - 162 goals
Defoe is the only player on this list who is still playing to this day. Still scoring frequently in the Premier League at 35-years-old proves that age is just a number for some. Defoe's speed, agility and shooting accuracy have made him a deadly forward for every side he's featured in through the years.
Defoe began his career in the Charlton youth set-up and was signed within a year of becoming professional by West Ham United for £1.5m in 1999. Defoe spent his first season on loan at Bournemouth, but upon returning for the 2001-2002 Premier League campaign, he was given his first real opportunity, which saw him play in 35 games, netting ten goals in the process. Defoe made an appearance in every single game the following season, but only scored eight goals.
Whilst his goal tally was relatively low, Defoe had done enough to turn the heads of managers up and down the country. And it would be Tottenham Hotspur who would be first to pounce, signing the 22-year-old for £9.45m in 2004. Here, Defoe made a total of 120 appearances and scored 39 goals.
He would be loaned to Portsmouth for the start of the 2007-2008 season, before making a permanent transfer to Fratton Park in January for £8.3m.
He scored 16 times in 24 games for Pompey, and Spurs must have realised how grave the mistake they made in selling him was because, in January of the following season, they signed him back for £14.7m, which was £6.4m more than they had sold him for 12 months prior!
Defoe would stick with Spurs for six full seasons, featuring in 137 games and scoring 48 times. In 2014, he was sold to Toronto FC for £6.57m.
His time in Canada would prove to be short-lived, though, as he returned to the Premier League after signing for Sunderland in January 2015 for £3.15m.
Despite being 33-years-old, Defoe was still scoring goals left, right and centre. He netted 64 goals in 157 matches and contributed heavily to Sunderland's survival bid. He left once they were finally relegated, though, and made his way to AFC Bournemouth in 2017 - the club he was sent on loan to at the start of his career.
Jermain Defoe has been with Bournemouth for a year now. He made 24 appearances in his first season back, 13 of which were as a substitute, scoring four times.
#6 Robbie Fowler - 163 goals
Yet another product of Liverpool's youth set-up, Robbie Fowler proved to be a prime example of what can happen when you pay attention to the club's youth. He spent nine seasons at Anfield, where he played a total of 236 games and scored 120 goals for the Reds. He was eventually sold in December 2001 to Leeds United for £15m.
His time at Leeds was short. He played 30 games and scored 14 goals before moving to Manchester City in January 2003 for £8.8m.
Three-and-a-half seasons at Man City saw him net the ball just 20 times in 76 games, which was well under par for a player of his calibre. In January 2006, City loaned him back to Liverpool where he suddenly perked back up - scoring 5 in 14.
City had had enough by this point, though, and let him join Liverpool on a free transfer at the end of the season.
It was clear where his heart resided, and that was Anfield. He didn't seem to fully settle at any other club. He spent one final season in Merseyside for the 2006-2007 season, but only managed three goals in 16 appearances. And in the summer of 2017, he joined Cardiff on a free transfer.
The final time Fowler would appear in the Premier League would be for Blackburn, after he was signed as a free agent in 2008.
He played from December onwards, but only made a total of three appearances, with two of those being a substitute. He failed to score and was promptly released.
Fowler played in Australia and Thailand before eventually retiring in 2012.
#5 Thierry Henry - 175 goals
Thierry Henry is a name synonymous with Arsenal. His entire time in the Premier League was spent with the Gunners, and he made such an impact that a statue of him was erected outside of the Emirates in 2011. Henry was known for his turn-of-pace and ability to weave in and out of defenders. He was even known to curl one in the top corners of the goal when he felt like it.
Henry arrived in London in the summer of 1999, after being signed from Juventus for £14.5m. He had made a name for himself playing for Monaco and Juventus in the years prior to this move to the Gunners, so in the first season, he featured in 31 of the 38 Premier League games, scoring a respectable 17 goals.
In the summer of 2007, Henry left to join Barcelona for £21.6m, which was half of his market value (£40.5m) at the time. It was perhaps Wenger's worst decisions in his 20-odd years at Arsenal. In this period (1999-2007), Thierry Henry made 254 appearances for the Gunners and scored a whopping 174 goals.
Henry would return for one final time to Arsenal in January of the 2011-2012 season, on loan from New York Red Bulls. He scored once in the FA Cup and once in the Premier League, putting his total goals scored in the league up to a solid 175.
Henry retired in January 2015, following a three-year spell with New York Red Bulls.
#4 Frank Lampard - 177 goals
Another name that became synonymous with a club: Chelsea's Frank Lampard. He was regarded as the complete midfielder, as he was able to pass, dribble and (obviously) shoot, given he's found his way to the fourth highest goalscorer in Premier League history.
Frank Lampard was making a name for himself in the West Ham U18s at the start of his career, turning the heads of the upper echelon who swiftly promoted him to West Ham's first team in 1995, when he was just 17-years-old.
He spent six months on loan at Swansea before he was thrust straight into the starting-eleven the following season, making 13 appearances for the Hammers. Frank Lampard spent eight years with West Ham, featuring in 148 matches and scoring 24 - which isn't bad for a central midfielder.
Lampard would be signed by Chelsea in the summer of 2001 for £14.5m, and it was at Stamford Bridge where the young midfielder would really develop his craft. He remained with Chelsea for 13 seasons, making a staggering 391 appearances and netting 147 goals!
In the summer of 2014, the time had finally come for Lampard to move on. He was given to New York City FC on a free transfer and spent a year there before being loaned to Manchester City for a season. Here, he scored six more goals to notch a grand total of 177 Premier League goals.
Lampard played for NYCFC for two more years, before retiring in February 2017.
#3 Andrew Cole - 187 goals
Andrew "Andy" Cole was a serious goal threat throughout his career. If he was playing, the opposition's defence would fixate their attention on him in an attempt to stop him from tearing them apart. Despite their best efforts, though, Cole would almost always find a way to either score himself or set up a teammate. He was the complete forward of his day.
Cole was developed in the Arsenal youth set-up and played for the Gunners for a couple of years in the First Division between 1989 and 1991, before being shipped out on loan to Fulham.
Once he returned in December '91, he completed the season to then be sold to Bristol City for £1.3m in the summer. Two years passed before he would make his first move to a team in the Premier League: Newcastle United.
The Magpies signed Cole for £2.4m, which proved to be one of the biggest bargains in Premier League history. Cole went on to score 34 goals in 40 games, earning him the Golden Boot in his debut season. He was half-way through his second season, on a tally of nine goals in 18 games, before Manchester United swept in and bought him for £8.6m.
Cole spent eight-and-a-half seasons at Manchester United, where he entered his prime. He netted 93 goals in 195 appearances during this time, before eventually being sold on to Blackburn Rovers in January 2002 for £11m.
27 goals in 83 games weren't quite what Blackburn was expecting when they had signed Cole, and it led to his free transfer to Fulham in the summer of 2004, where he scored 12 in 31.
Cole would play for Manchester City, Portsmouth and Sunderland in the Premier League before seeking football in the lower leagues of English football. He scored a total of 12 goals in 47 appearances for these three respective sides. He would retire in November 2008.
#2 Wayne Rooney - 208 goals
What is there to be said about Wayne Rooney that most don't already know? He's achieved virtually everything there is in football, thanks to the leadership of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United during the 00s.
He even broke the England record for most goals scored. Rooney's natural gift of goalscoring has kept him in good stead throughout his career, and he's still going today with D.C United, having moved there in the summer of 2017 from Everton. How much more is there for him left to do? We can only wait and see.
In the July 2001, Wayne Rooney was promoted from Everton's youth academy to the U18s. Exactly a year later, he had signed a professional contract to join Everton's first team. In his first season, he featured in 33 games and scored six goals. The season after that, he featured in 34, and this time scored nine, forever showing signs of improvement. Everton fans must have known for a while just how hard it would be to keep hold of a player this brilliant, and so when Manchester United came sniffing in 2004, the writing must have been on the wall.
Sir Alex Ferguson signed Rooney for a whopping £33.8m that summer, and what happened next changed United's fortune drastically. Rooney would be with the Red Devils for fourteen whole seasons, scoring a total of 193 goals in 418 matches.
Rooney eventually returned to his boyhood club in the summer of 2017 on a free transfer. He scored 10 goals in all competitions for the Toffees but would be sold to DC United in July 2018.
#1 Alan Shearer - 260 goals
260 goals are such a staggering figure that it's hard to imagine that many balls hitting the back of the net - especially in a division as competitively strong as the Premier League. But Alan Shearer somehow managed that incredible feat, and I can't help but think he might be the only one to do so for a very long time.
Shearer was a product of Newcastle's youth set-up and in July 1988, he went to Southampton on a free transfer. He spent four years here before he was signed by Blackburn Rovers for £4m. He was an instant hit, scoring a superb 16 goals in 21 matches in his debut season.
The following season he played even better, netting 31 times in 40 games! The season after that? Even better! 34 goals in 42 games! In his final campaign with Blackburn Rovers, he grabbed 31 goals in 35 matches. These numbers were simply unprecedented in the Premier League. In total, that's 112 goals in 138 matches. Unbelievable.
When Newcastle signed him in July 1996 for £18.9m, there were many critics who claimed that Shearer wouldn't be able to replicate what he had done at Blackburn. And they were somewhat right.
It was always going to be hard to replicate what he had achieved at Blackburn, but 25 goals in 31 games with Newcastle was a very strong start. However, the seasons after that saw a gradual decline in his goal tally. Shearer would be with Newcastle for eight more seasons until he finally retired from football. He hung his boots up having scored an incredible 260 goals in 441 appearances.
