When making a judgment over who is the best darts player of all time, the same name will always appear at the forefront of your thought process. That will partly be down to one player achieving far more than everyone else, establishing himself as the standard bearer among a group of throwers who helped form the PDC on satellite television. Others will come to mind due to their popularity from being viewed as "a character" of the game, whether that be from elaborate walk-ons or being brash about their ability on the oche. Each of those factors have to be considered to reach a fair conclusion because the sport would not have evolved from a pub game if it was not for television audiences and crowds being drawn in for entertainment purposes, but there can be no doubting who deserves to sit at the top of the tree.
When compiling a list about the best darts player ever, you will inevitably see Phil Taylor's name above everyone else. While the Stoke-on-Trent thrower is known as a 16-time world champion, reaching 14 successive finals between 1994 and 2007 is arguably as impressive. However, Taylor should not be judged solely on his performances on the biggest stage. 'The Power' also prevailed in at least 60 other televised competitions, most notably the World Matchplay which was won on 16 occasions. Throw in the two nine-darters which came in the 2010 Premier League final against James Wade and it further highlights that Taylor really did achieve it all before eventually retiring from the sport at the beginning of 2018.
The order of the top six is open to interpretation. Those who are new to the sport will most likely claim that Michael van Gerwen deserves to be regarded in the same category as Taylor, partly due to his ruthlessness and professionalism when it comes to winning events either on or away from television. Van Gerwen is one of the few players in history to not be intimidated by facing Taylor with 26 victories being recorded from their 62 competitive matches, an astonishing total when considering that Taylor prevailed in 16 of their first 18 contests. Nevertheless, having claimed just three world titles at this stage of his career, the Dutchman still has some way to go to get anywhere near his great rival from an historical perspective.
Whichever way you look at it, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Raymond van Barneveld and Dennis Priestley should feature in the next four spots. Each of them have won multiple world crowns and competed with a distinctive image. Bristow and Lowe were chalk and cheese, as were the throwing styles of Van Barneveld and Priestley, but the quartet all played their part in elevating darts into what it is today. You can make an argument for any of them to feature directly behind Taylor and Van Gerwen, but Bristow, for his charisma and natural ability, will get most people's vote.
Everyone will have their own opinions regarding the remainder of the top 10, but it is difficult to exclude Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, Jocky Wilson and Martin Adams. For all of the plus points which you could list, you could also say that each of the four players have under-achieved to a certain degree, given the opportunities which they had in front of them at various points in their career. That said, with nine world titles between them, none of them can have any complaints about their respective trophy hauls.
