Scoring goals is the most valued skill in football, and every one of Europe’s top five leagues has a single-season record that strikers are measured against. Lionel Messi’s 50 La Liga goals in 2011-12 is the biggest of them. The newest is Erling Haaland’s 36 in the 2022-23 Premier League.
Here are the records for the most goals by a player in a single league season, as of the end of the 2025-26 season.
Most goals in a season: the record in each league
| League | Player | Club | Goals | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Liga | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 50 | 2011-12 |
| Ligue 1 | Josip Skoblar | Marseille | 44 | 1970-71 |
| Bundesliga | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich | 41 | 2020-21 |
| Serie A | Gonzalo Higuaín | Napoli | 36 | 2015-16 |
| Serie A | Ciro Immobile | Lazio | 36 | 2019-20 |
| Premier League | Erling Haaland | Manchester City | 36 | 2022-23 |
Most goals in a La Liga season – Lionel Messi (50 goals), 2011-12
The 2011-12 season was arguably Lionel Messi’s best on a personal level. Barcelona missed out on both the La Liga title and the Champions League, but Messi scored 73 goals in all competitions, 50 of them in La Liga from 37 appearances. His rival Cristiano Ronaldo scored 46 in the league that season.
No one has matched it since. The closest is Ronaldo’s 48 for Real Madrid in 2014-15, and Messi himself added 46 in 2012-13.
Most goals in a Ligue 1 season – Josip Skoblar (44 goals), 1970-71
Marseille’s Yugoslav forward Josip Skoblar set the Ligue 1 record in 1970-71, when he scored 44 goals in 36 games, 1.22 a game. He finished as the league’s top scorer in each of the three seasons from 1970-71 to 1972-73.
More than 50 years on, nobody has come close. The nearest is Zlatan Ibrahimović’s 38 for Paris Saint-Germain in 2015-16.
Most goals in a Bundesliga season – Robert Lewandowski (41 goals), 2020-21
Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski scored 41 Bundesliga goals in 2020-21, breaking Gerd Müller’s record of 40 from 1971-72, which had stood for 49 years. The 32-year-old got the record-breaking goal in Bayern’s final league game of the season, a 5-2 win over Augsburg, and won the European Golden Shoe.
His successor at Bayern has come closest since: Harry Kane scored 36 in both 2023-24 and 2025-26.
Most goals in a Serie A season – Gonzalo Higuaín and Ciro Immobile (36 goals)
Gonzalo Higuaín scored 36 Serie A goals for Napoli in 2015-16, and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile equalled him in 2019-20. Fourteen of Immobile’s 36 came from the penalty spot, itself a record for a Serie A season, as Lazio finished fourth.
It was the third of Immobile’s four Capocannoniere titles, after 22 goals for Torino in 2013-14 and 29 for Lazio in 2017-18 (shared with Mauro Icardi). He won a fourth with 27 in 2021-22.
Most goals in a Premier League season – Erling Haaland (36 goals), 2022-23
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored 36 Premier League goals in 35 games in 2022-23, his first season in England. That beat the 34 scored by Andy Cole (1993-94) and Alan Shearer (1994-95) when the league played 42 games a season.
Before Haaland, the record for a 38-game season was Mohamed Salah’s 32 for Liverpool in 2017-18. Salah had broken the 31 shared by Alan Shearer (1995-96), Cristiano Ronaldo (2007-08) and Luis Suárez (2013-14). Full list: most goals in a Premier League season.
For team records, see the most goals scored by a club in a season in Europe’s top five leagues.
Featured photo: AFP / Sven Hoppe