Over the years, Bundesliga has evolved into one of the most popular leagues across the globe. Thanks to the two-pronged advancement of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, who have riveted the world’s fanfare with an extraordinary developmental system that has produced regular contenders for the Bundesliga top-scorer award season after season, since the tournament’s inception.
Bundesliga top-scorer from all seasons
| Season | Player | Club | Number of goals scored |
| 2020/21 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern München | 41 |
| 2019/20 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern München | 34 |
| 2018/19 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern München | 22 |
| 2017/18 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern München | 29 |
| 2016/17 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Borussia Dortmund | 31 |
| 2015/16 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern München | 30 |
| 2014/15 | Alexander Meier | Eintracht Frankfurt | 19 |
| 2013/14 | Robert Lewandowski | Borussia Dortmund | 20 |
| 2012/13 | Stefan Kießling | Bayer Leverkusen | 25 |
| 2011/12 | Klaas-Jan Huntelaar | FC Schalke 04 | 29 |
| 2010/11 | Mario Gomez | Bayern München | 28 |
| 2009/10 | Edin Džeko | VfL Wolfsburg | 22 |
| 2008/09 | Grafite | VfL Wolfsburg | 28 |
| 2007/08 | Luca Toni | Bayern München | 24 |
| 2006/07 | Fanis Gekas | VfL Bochum | 20 |
| 2005/06 | Miroslav Klose | Werder Bremen | 25 |
| 2004/05 | Marek Mintal | 1. FC Nürnberg | 24 |
| 2003/04 | Ailton | Werder Bremen | 28 |
| 2002/03 | Thomas Christiansen | VfL Bochum | 21 |
| Élber | Bayern München | 21 | |
| 2001/02 | Martin Max | TSV 1860 München | 18 |
| Amoroso | Borussia Dortmund | 18 | |
| 2000/01 | Sergej Barbarez | Hamburger SV | 22 |
| Ebbe Sand | FC Schalke 04 | 22 | |
| 1999/00 | Martin Max | TSV 1860 München | 19 |
| 1998/99 | Michael Preetz | Hertha BSC | 23 |
| 1997/98 | Ulf Kirsten | Bayer Leverkusen | 22 |
| 1996/97 | Ulf Kirsten | Bayer Leverkusen | 22 |
| 1995/96 | Fredi Bobic | VfB Stuttgart | 17 |
| 1994/95 | Mario Basler | Werder Bremen | 20 |
| Heiko Herrlich | Bor. Mönchengladbach | 20 | |
| 1993/94 | Stefan Kuntz | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 18 |
| Anthony Yeboah | Eintracht Frankfurt | 18 | |
| 1992/93 | Ulf Kirsten | Bayer Leverkusen | 20 |
| Anthony Yeboah | Eintracht Frankfurt | 20 | |
| 1991/92 | Fritz Walter | VfB Stuttgart | 22 |
| 1990/91 | Roland Wohlfahrt | Bayern München | 21 |
| 1989/90 | Jörn Andersen | Eintracht Frankfurt | 18 |
| 1988/89 | Thomas Allofs | FC Koln | 17 |
| Roland Wohlfarth | Bayern Munich | 17 | |
| 1987/88 | Jurgen Klinsmann | Vfb Stuttgart | 19 |
| 1986/87 | Uwe Rahn | Borussia Monchengladbach | 24 |
| 1985/86 | Stefan Kuntz | Vfl Bochum | 22 |
| 1984/85 | Klaus Allofs | FC Koln | 26 |
| 1983/84 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | 26 |
| 1982/83 | Rudi Voller | Werder Bremen | 23 |
| 1981/82 | Horst Hrubesch | Hamburger SV | 27 |
| 1980/81 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | 29 |
| 1979/80 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | 26 |
| 1978/79 | Klaus Allofs | Fortuna Dusseldorf | 22 |
| 1977/78 | Dieter Muller | FC Koln | 24 |
| Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 24 | |
| 1976/77 | Dieter Muller | FC Koln | 34 |
| 1975/76 | Klaus Fischer | Schalke 04 | 29 |
| 1974/75 | Jupp Heynckes | Borussia Monchengladbach | 27 |
| 1973/74 | Jupp Heynckes | Borussia Monchengladbach | 30 |
| Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 30 | |
| 1972/73 | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 36 |
| 1971/72 | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 40 |
| 1970/71 | Lothar Kobluhn | Rot-Weib Oberhausen | 24 |
| 1969/70 | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 38 |
| 1968/69 | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 30 |
| 1967/68 | Johannes Lohr | FC Koln | 27 |
| 1966/67 | Lothar Emmerich | Borussia Dortmund | 28 |
| Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | 28 | |
| 1965/66 | Lothar Emmerich | Borussia Dortmund | 31 |
| 1964/65 | Rudolf Brunnenmeir | 1860 Munich | 24 |
| 1963/64 | Uwe Seeler | Hamburger SV | 30 |
Gerd:Muller: The Greatest Bundesliga goalscorer
Bundesliga giants Bayern Munchen have always had this affinity for signing world-class goalscorers. Like their Polish forward Robert Lewandowski, who is currently ruling the roost in the German league now, Bayern had found an 18-year-old Gerd Muller joining them from Nordlingen in 1964.
It was almost impossible to predict then that the young striker would go on to dominate the Bundesliga season after season, and would win the Bundesliga Golden Boot a record seven times. He managed to bag a whopping 365 goals in 427 games to become the top scorer of the tournament.
In the national circuit, he starred for West Germany as political divides played an instrumental role ever since the end of the Second World War. Muller had started his professional season in 1963 with his boyhood club Nordlingen, where he scored 51 goals in 31 games that he was a part of.
Muller was popularly known as the mighty Der Bomber, who would score goals for fun on occasions with his fiery brand of football. It was a very rare incident to see him miss. Muller scored on an average of every 105 minutes which is another record in itself amongst players with at least 20 goals.
The legend also held the record for the most number of goals in a single season that starred 40 goals until Robert Lewandowski got the better of it with 41 in 2020. He also scored in a record 16 games at a stretch in the Bundesliga with over 87 braces and 32 hattricks to his name. Muller also holds the record of holding seven Bundesliga Torjagerkanone.
Muller scored 142 goals to make his team lead, out of which a staggering 77 emerged to be match-winners. Such was his eminence that even after crossing his prime, he managed to play for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers for three seasons in which he scored a whopping 40 times.
Robert Lewandowski: The modern Bayern Munich hero
The Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski is probably one of the finest attackers in German Bundesliga and modern football at the moment. Before Bayern Munich managed to lay hands on this young magician from Poland, Lewandowski had already proved his goal-scoring menace for various other clubs.
He started his career with Delta Warsaw in Poland, then shifted his allegiance to Legia Warsaw. This was followed by another move to Znicz Pruszkow and Lech Poznan. This is when fortune came knocking for the marksman, as Borussia Dortmund bagged the lanky goal-scorer.
For the Yellow and Black brigade, he smashed a whopping 74 goals from 131 games. He was an absolute revelation not just in the Bundesliga but in all the top leagues of Europe. Lewandowski has played Bundesliga for the last eleven years and in every single season, he has been an absolute force to be reckoned with.
Dortmund were fortunate to find him as he almost led them to a UEFA Champions League title in the 2012-2013 season, where the centre forward was seen leaving some top defenders dead to their rights. The German Bundesliga has been his cradle that has drawn all the fanfare from around the world only to be refused in every single season.
The former Dortmund star has so far featured in 358 Bundesliga matches and has come up to the second position in the list of most goals in Bundesliga. Until 2020, Lewandowski hammered 277 goals in the Bundesliga that has propelled him to the second position, both for Bayern and in the league on the list of players with the most goals.
The performance that he delivered in the 2019-20 season of Bundesliga and the Champions League made him an undisputed contender for the illustrious Ballon D’or. Lewandowski and Muller comfortably lead the list of highest goal-scorers in Bundesliga with the others trailing significantly.
Other names in the elite list
In the top scorers’ list of Bundesliga, the names that come next are Klaus Fischer with 268 goals, Jupp Heynckes with 220 goals, Manfred Burgsmuller with 213 goals. They have all been players of substantial statures but when it came to scoring, Der Bomber and Lewa hold a different kind of dominance.
Germany has reaped handsome rewards from the rise of the Bundesliga sensations as players like Muller, Miroslav Klose, Oliver Kahn, Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Manuel Neuer have all emerged from this hallowed German league.
