The player who has the most NBA scoring titles in league history is currently the legendary Michael Jordan. The Chicago Bulls star led the league in scoring 10 times during his career. Second place is Wilt Chamberlain with seven scoring titles. No other player has won the scoring title more than four times.
Simply put, Jordan was just on another level when it came to putting the ball in the net. Though we’ve seen similar outstanding seasons from a few other stars as well.
List of players with multiple NBA scoring titles
Player | Team | NBA Scoring Titles | Years Won |
Michael Jordan | Chicago Bulls | 10 | 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 |
Wilt Chamberlain | Philadelphia Warriors/San Francisco Warriors (5) / Philadelphia 76ers (2) | 7 | 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 |
Kevin Durant | Oklahoma City Thunder | 4 | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 |
George Gervin | San Antonio Spurs | 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 | |
Allen Iverson | Philadelphia 76ers | 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005 | |
James Harden | Houston Rockets | 3 | 2018, 2019, 2020 |
Neil Johnston | Philadelphia Warriors | 1953, 1954, 1955 | |
Bob McAdoo | Buffalo Braves | 1974, 1975, 1976 | |
George Mikan | Minneapolis Lakers | 1949, 1950, 1951 | |
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Milwaukee Bucks | 2 | 1971, 1972 |
Paul Arizin | Philadelphia Warriors | 1952, 1957 | |
Kobe Bryant | Los Angeles Lakers | 2006, 2007 | |
Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors | 2016, 2021 | |
Adrian Dantley | Utah Jazz | 1981, 1984 | |
Tracy McGrady | Orlando Magic | 2003, 2004 | |
Shaquille O’Neal | Orlando Magic (1) / Los Angeles Lakers (1) | 1995, 2000 | |
Bob Pettit | St. Louis Hawks | 1956, 1959 | |
Russell Westbrook | Oklahoma City Thunder | 2015, 2017 |
Michael Jordan Above The Rest
There wasn’t much that you could do when trying to defend Michael Jordan. The guy always seemed to get right to his spot and sink jumpers right in their faces. Throughout those 10 scoring title years that Jordan has posted, seven of them came consecutively. Just think about that for a second. Seven straight seasons saw Jordan win the scoring title. He won it every year between 1987-1993. Took his 2 year baseball sabbatical where he did not play in the NBA Regular Season and then won it three more consecutive times in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
Jordans final year winning the scoring title saw him become the oldest player to ever do so in league history. He won the title at 35 years of age. His best season during this stretch was the very first one though. The season that kicked off seven straight. He played in all 82 games to hit the games played requirement and then was able to average an unbelievable 37.1 points per game during that span. You read stats like this and sometimes it doesn’t really process how difficult that is to accomplish. Chicago could literally bank on Jordan dropping 40 a night, while playing every single game. I don’t think we will ever see a more surefire bucket getter than MJ. Over the course of his career, Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game on 49.7 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from the three-point line.
Others Have Come Close
After Michael Jordan, the scoring title list has a very large gap before some players start to clump back up again. Right behind Jordan is the great Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain was known to absolutely stuff the stat sheet on every game back during his playing days, but he couldn’t hold onto the most scoring titles past Jordan. Chamberlain won seven scoring titles throughout his career and was the guy that dropped the legendary picture of him pointing at a picture that had the numbers 100 written on it. That was because he had just dropped 100 points in a game, a record that still stands to this day. When you look past Chamberlain and Jordan, the next closest is four scoring titles. It’s a three-way tie at four between Kevin Durant, George Gervin and Allen Iverson. Look a little bit further back, and there’s a four-way tie at three scoring titles. That tie is locked between James Harden, George Mikal, Neil Johnston and Bob Adoo. Not exactly the names that you might have expected with three scoring titles. Then finally, there is a nine-way tie at two scoring titles. Steph Curry, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Adrian Dantley, Paul Arizin, Tracy McGrady, Russell Westbrook, Bob Petit and Shaquille O’Neal have all done so as well. It’s insane to think about the amount of talent in this final category, but only a handful of all of those names are still active. Theoretically, we might be able to see Harden, Curry or Durant move up the rankings a little further before they retire. However, it’s not exactly the most expected thing to happen due to the young talent that the league possesses with Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo just for a few examples. There are also a variety of other smaller statistics when it comes to scoring titles, such as winning multiple with one team and winning multiple with different squads. For example, George Gervin won all four of his games with the Spurs. Then Shaq won scoring titles with multiple teams, doing so with the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Requirements for NBA Scoring Title
We’ve talked enough about the players and scoring titles that they’ve won, but we haven’t really mentioned what the requirements are for this particular award. When the scoring title first came around, it was originally based on which player scored the highest number of total points in a single season. However, that changed when the concept of points per game came around, with that being used instead. In order to qualify to win the scoring title, you had to have played in at least 58 games throughout the season. There was a weird and confusing catch to that eligibility though. Some sources have stated that a player could potentially qualify as a scoring leader without playing in at least 58 games if his point total would have been able to get him the greatest average. So again, some of the rules are a tad bit confusing, but the basic concept underneath all of the exceptions is pretty simple. Throughout the course of a season, they maintain the highest points per game average while appearing in at least 58 games. Plus, you don’t even need to start in all of those games. You could start in just 20 games and come off the bench in the remaining 38. It doesn’t matter, as long as you appear in that many games then you are throwing your hat into the ring to try and win a scoring title.
List of NBA Scoring Champions by Season
Season | Player | Age | Team | PPG |
1946–47 | Joe Fulks | 25 | Philadelphia Warriors | 23.2 |
1947–48 | Max Zaslofsky | 22 | Chicago Stags | 21 |
1948–49 | George Mikan | 24 | Minneapolis Lakers | 28.3 |
1949–50 | George Mikan | 25 | Minneapolis Lakers | 27.4 |
1950–51 | George Mikan | 26 | Minneapolis Lakers | 28.4 |
1951–52 | Paul Arizin | 23 | Philadelphia Warriors | 25.4 |
1952–53 | Neil Johnston | 23 | Philadelphia Warriors | 22.3 |
1953–54 | Neil Johnston | 24 | Philadelphia Warriors | 24.5 |
1954–55 | Neil Johnston | 25 | Philadelphia Warriors | 22.7 |
1955–56 | Bob Pettit | 23 | St. Louis Hawks | 25.7 |
1956–57 | Paul Arizin | 28 | Philadelphia Warriors | 25.6 |
1957–58 | George Yardley | 29 | Detroit Pistons | 27.8 |
1958–59 | Bob Pettit | 26 | St. Louis Hawks | 29.2 |
1959–60 | Wilt Chamberlain | 23 | Philadelphia Warriors | 37.6 |
1960–61 | Wilt Chamberlain | 24 | Philadelphia Warriors | 38.4 |
1961–62 | Wilt Chamberlain | 25 | Philadelphia Warriors | 50.4 |
1962–63 | Wilt Chamberlain | 26 | San Francisco Warriors | 44.8 |
1963–64 | Wilt Chamberlain | 27 | San Francisco Warriors | 36.9 |
1964–65 | Wilt Chamberlain | 28 | San Francisco Warriors Philadelphia 76ers | 34.7 |
1965–66 | Wilt Chamberlain | 29 | Philadelphia 76ers | 33.5 |
1966–67 | Rick Barry | 22 | San Francisco Warriors | 35.6 |
1967–68 | Dave Bing[g] | 24 | Detroit Pistons | 27.1 |
1968–69 | Elvin Hayes | 23 | San Diego Rockets | 28.4 |
1969–70 | Jerry West | 31 | Los Angeles Lakers | 31.2 |
1970–71 | Lew Alcindor | 23 | Milwaukee Bucks | 31.7 |
1971–72 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 24 | Milwaukee Bucks | 34.8 |
1972–73 | Nate Archibald | 24 | Kansas City-Omaha Kings | 34 |
1973–74 | Bob McAdoo | 22 | Buffalo Braves | 30.6 |
1974–75 | Bob McAdoo | 23 | Buffalo Braves | 34.5 |
1975–76 | Bob McAdoo | 24 | Buffalo Braves | 31.1 |
1976–77 | Pete Maravich | 29 | New Orleans Jazz | 31.1 |
1977–78 | George Gervin | 25 | San Antonio Spurs | 27.2 |
1978–79 | George Gervin | 26 | San Antonio Spurs | 29.6 |
1979–80 | George Gervin | 27 | San Antonio Spurs | 33.1 |
1980–81 | Adrian Dantley | 24 | Utah Jazz | 30.7 |
1981–82 | George Gervin | 29 | San Antonio Spurs | 32.3 |
1982–83 | Alex English | 29 | Denver Nuggets | 28.4 |
1983–84 | Adrian Dantley | 27 | Utah Jazz | 30.6 |
1984–85 | Bernard King | 28 | New York Knicks | 32.9 |
1985–86 | Dominique Wilkins | 26 | Atlanta Hawks | 30.3 |
1986–87 | Michael Jordan | 23 | Chicago Bulls | 37.1 |
1987–88 | Michael Jordan | 24 | Chicago Bulls | 35 |
1988–89 | Michael Jordan | 25 | Chicago Bulls | 32.5 |
1989–90 | Michael Jordan | 26 | Chicago Bulls | 33.6 |
1990–91 | Michael Jordan | 27 | Chicago Bulls | 31.5 |
1991–92 | Michael Jordan | 28 | Chicago Bulls | 30.1 |
1992–93 | Michael Jordan | 29 | Chicago Bulls | 32.6 |
1993–94 | David Robinson | 28 | San Antonio Spurs | 29.8 |
1994–95 | Shaquille O’Neal | 22 | Orlando Magic | 29.3 |
1995–96 | Michael Jordan | 32 | Chicago Bulls | 30.4 |
1996–97 | Michael Jordan | 33 | Chicago Bulls | 29.6 |
1997–98 | Michael Jordan | 34 | Chicago Bulls | 28.7 |
1998–99[p] | Allen Iverson | 23 | Philadelphia 76ers | 26.8 |
1999–2000 | Shaquille O’Neal | 27 | Los Angeles Lakers | 29.7 |
2000–01 | Allen Iverson | 25 | Philadelphia 76ers | 31.1 |
2001–02 | Allen Iverson | 26 | Philadelphia 76ers | 31.4 |
2002–03 | Tracy McGrady | 23 | Orlando Magic | 32.1 |
2003–04 | Tracy McGrady | 24 | Orlando Magic | 28 |
2004–05 | Allen Iverson | 29 | Philadelphia 76ers | 30.7 |
2005–06 | Kobe Bryant | 27 | Los Angeles Lakers | 35.4 |
2006–07 | Kobe Bryant | 28 | Los Angeles Lakers | 31.6 |
2007–08 | LeBron James | 23 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 30 |
2008–09 | Dwyane Wade | 27 | Miami Heat | 30.2 |
2009–10 | Kevin Durant | 21 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 30.1 |
2010–11 | Kevin Durant | 22 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 27.7 |
2011–12[x] | Kevin Durant | 23 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 28 |
2012–13 | Carmelo Anthony | 28 | New York Knicks | 28.7 |
2013–14 | Kevin Durant | 25 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 32 |
2014–15 | Russell Westbrook | 26 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 28.1 |
2015–16 | Stephen Curry | 28 | Golden State Warriors | 30.1 |
2016–17 | Russell Westbrook | 28 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 31.6 |
2017–18 | James Harden | 28 | Houston Rockets | 30.4 |
2018–19 | James Harden | 29 | Houston Rockets | 36.1 |
2019–20 | James Harden | 30 | Houston Rockets | 34.3 |
2020–21 | Stephen Curry | 32 | Golden State Warriors | 32 |
2021–22 | Joel Embiid | 27 | Philadelphia 76ers | 30.6 |