Which players have scored the most goals in Europe’s top five leagues in the 2020s?

The 2010s were dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but neither are playing in Europe anymore and didn’t get enough goals before they left to stay in the top 10 scorers of the decade.

There are plenty of familiar names in the current top 10 though, with the three leading scorers separated by just four goals.

Here are the 10 players with the most goals across the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 since the turn of the decade.

10. Ollie Watkins – 91

Watkins became one of the Premier League’s most consistent strikers after stepping up from the Championship to join Aston Villa in 2020.

His six top-flight seasons included double figures of goals every time. In the process, he became Villa’s record Premier League goalscorer.

But his departure for the Saudi Pro League means he could soon lose his place in the top 10.

9. Ante Budimir – 93

Arguably the least household name here, Budimir plays for Osasuna and has only ever made it to the play-off rounds of a European competition (the 2023-24 Conference League).

But the 41-cap, seven-goal Croatia international has showcased his reliability in La Liga over the past few seasons, hitting double figures in 2020-21, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Only Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski – spoiler alert, but those are two names you’ll be seeing again later – outscored Budimir in La Liga in the 2024-25 season. Then in 2025-26, only Mbappe and the relegated Mallorca frontman Vedat Muriqi scored more.

Now 35, Budimir might not have too much time left at the top level, but is under contract with Osasuna for the rest of the season.

8. Jonathan David – 94

After emerging in European football with a prolific spell at Gent, David joined Lille in the summer of 2020.

Over the next five seasons in Ligue 1, 87 goals by the Canada international followed.

He found things a bit tougher in Serie A after joining Juventus in 2025, only scoring six times from 36 league outings so far.

Juventus have sent him on loan to Atletico Madrid for this season and he scored on his La Liga debut.

7. Serhou Guirassy – 103

Now 30 years old, Guirassy has played exclusively in France and Germany during his career so far.

He began the 2020s in Ligue 1 with Amiens, but suffered relegation at the end of the 2019-20 season before moving back into the top flight with Rennes.

Whilst with Rennes, he added another 19 Ligue 1 goals to his five from the second half of 2019-20.

A move to Germany with Stuttgart followed in 2022, leading to 39 Bundesliga goals in two years. He came one shy of reaching the same amount from his first two seasons with Borussia Dortmund.

6. Lautaro Martinez – 120

Martinez has been with Inter Milan since the summer of 2018, which means his debut season in Serie A was the only one that didn’t span into any of the 2020s.

It was also the only one in which he has failed to hit double figures of goals. The Argentine striker even enjoyed three consecutive seasons with 20+ goals between 2021-22 and 2023-24, ranking as Serie A’s top scorer for the latter.

Martinez has often played as part of a strike partnership at Inter, but his longevity enables him to outrank colleagues past and present like Romelu Lukaku, Edin Dzeko and Marcus Thuram for goals since the start of the decade.

5. Mohamed Salah – 128

Salah left Liverpool in the summer for Trabzonspor, marking the end (for now) of his goal-getting in Europe’s top leagues.

He was extraordinary in front of goal after joining Liverpool in 2017, being able to boast 128 Premier League goals in the 2020s alone.

During that time, he claimed two Golden Boots, including from the 2024-25 season when Liverpool won the league.

He should be staying in this top 10 long after his departure from Liverpool thanks to the collection of goals he has already built up.

4. Robert Lewandowski – 174

Lewandowski denied Erling Haaland the chance to win a Golden Boot in the Bundesliga while maintaining outlandish levels of form for Bayern Munich.

Lewandowski then began firing them in for Barcelona, where he moved in 2022. More than 80 La Liga goals followed.

Now at the age of 38, Lewandowski only scored 14 times in the league last season, but has proven wrong anyone who may have doubted his ability to keep scoring regularly at this stage of his career.

The winner of the European Golden Shoe in each of his last two seasons with Bayern, Lewandowski was La Liga’s top scorer in his first with Barcelona.

He is now playing outside of Europe for Chicago Fire in MLS.

3. Harry Kane – 176

Kane has 99 Bundesliga goals to his name from 97 games since joining Bayern Munich in 2023 and was top of this ranking by the end of last season.

Before his spell with Bayern, he enjoyed some prolific seasons towards the end of his time in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, including 30 in his last season.

The 33-year-old is in the final season of his contract with Bayern but is showing no signs of slowing down, even breaking the 60-goal barrier in all competitions last season.

2. Erling Haaland – 178

Haaland is still behind Salah in the Premier League scoring chart for the 2020s, but his exploits in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund from the start of the decade place him 50 goals above the Liverpool legend here.

Haaland entered Europe’s top five leagues by joining Dortmund in January 2020 and proceeded to score 62 Bundesliga goals from 67 games prior to his move to Manchester City.

The big Norwegian striker was in no mood to slow his scoring rate in England, setting a new Premier League record for most goals in a 38-game season at the first time of asking with 36 (from just 35 appearances).

Haaland shattered through the landmark of 100 Premier League goals during the 2025-26 season and at the age of 26, should still have plenty more goals up his sleeve in the years to come.

1. Kylian Mbappe – 180

Mbappe will most likely be going toe to toe with Haaland over the next few years to finish in top spot.

By the time he left PSG in 2024, Mbappe had become the French club’s all-time record scorer. A move to Real Madrid followed and he went on to score a Pichichi-worthy 31 goals in his first La Liga season.

Mbappe finished with 25 to his name in his second – again being La Liga’s top scorer – which meant he was recently able to pass a half-century of La Liga goals. He will be hungry for more (and silverware) over the coming seasons.

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