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Who Has The Most NBA Scoring Titles?

By: Author James

Posted on  - Last updated:

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

PlayerTeamNBA Scoring TitlesYears Won
Michael JordanChicago Bulls101987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998
Wilt ChamberlainPhiladelphia Warriors/San Francisco Warriors (5) / Philadelphia 76ers (2)71960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966
Kevin DurantOklahoma City Thunder42010, 2011, 2012, 2014
George GervinSan Antonio Spurs1978, 1979, 1980, 1982
Allen IversonPhiladelphia 76ers1999, 2001, 2002, 2005
James HardenHouston Rockets32018, 2019, 2020
Neil JohnstonPhiladelphia Warriors1953, 1954, 1955
Bob McAdooBuffalo Braves1974, 1975, 1976
George MikanMinneapolis Lakers1949, 1950, 1951
Kareem Abdul-JabbarMilwaukee Bucks21971, 1972
Paul ArizinPhiladelphia Warriors1952, 1957
Kobe BryantLos Angeles Lakers2006, 2007
Stephen CurryGolden State Warriors2016, 2021
Adrian DantleyUtah Jazz1981, 1984
Tracy McGradyOrlando Magic2003, 2004
Shaquille O’NealOrlando Magic (1) / Los Angeles Lakers (1)1995, 2000
Bob PettitSt. Louis Hawks1956, 1959
Russell WestbrookOklahoma City Thunder2015, 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

SeasonPlayerAgeTeamPPG
1946–47Joe Fulks25Philadelphia Warriors23.2
1947–48Max Zaslofsky22Chicago Stags21
1948–49George Mikan24Minneapolis Lakers28.3
1949–50George Mikan25Minneapolis Lakers27.4
1950–51George Mikan26Minneapolis Lakers28.4
1951–52Paul Arizin23Philadelphia Warriors25.4
1952–53Neil Johnston23Philadelphia Warriors22.3
1953–54Neil Johnston24Philadelphia Warriors24.5
1954–55Neil Johnston25Philadelphia Warriors22.7
1955–56Bob Pettit23St. Louis Hawks25.7
1956–57Paul Arizin28Philadelphia Warriors25.6
1957–58George Yardley29Detroit Pistons27.8
1958–59Bob Pettit26St. Louis Hawks29.2
1959–60Wilt Chamberlain23Philadelphia Warriors37.6
1960–61Wilt Chamberlain24Philadelphia Warriors38.4
1961–62Wilt Chamberlain25Philadelphia Warriors50.4
1962–63Wilt Chamberlain26San Francisco Warriors44.8
1963–64Wilt Chamberlain27San Francisco Warriors36.9
1964–65Wilt Chamberlain28San Francisco Warriors Philadelphia 76ers34.7
1965–66Wilt Chamberlain29Philadelphia 76ers33.5
1966–67Rick Barry22San Francisco Warriors35.6
1967–68Dave Bing[g]24Detroit Pistons27.1
1968–69Elvin Hayes23San Diego Rockets28.4
1969–70Jerry West31Los Angeles Lakers31.2
1970–71Lew Alcindor23Milwaukee Bucks31.7
1971–72Kareem Abdul-Jabbar24Milwaukee Bucks34.8
1972–73Nate Archibald24Kansas City-Omaha Kings34
1973–74Bob McAdoo22Buffalo Braves30.6
1974–75Bob McAdoo23Buffalo Braves34.5
1975–76Bob McAdoo24Buffalo Braves31.1
1976–77Pete Maravich29New Orleans Jazz31.1
1977–78George Gervin25San Antonio Spurs27.2
1978–79George Gervin26San Antonio Spurs29.6
1979–80George Gervin27San Antonio Spurs33.1
1980–81Adrian Dantley24Utah Jazz30.7
1981–82George Gervin29San Antonio Spurs32.3
1982–83Alex English29Denver Nuggets28.4
1983–84Adrian Dantley27Utah Jazz30.6
1984–85Bernard King28New York Knicks32.9
1985–86Dominique Wilkins26Atlanta Hawks30.3
1986–87Michael Jordan23Chicago Bulls37.1
1987–88Michael Jordan24Chicago Bulls35
1988–89Michael Jordan25Chicago Bulls32.5
1989–90Michael Jordan26Chicago Bulls33.6
1990–91Michael Jordan27Chicago Bulls31.5
1991–92Michael Jordan28Chicago Bulls30.1
1992–93Michael Jordan29Chicago Bulls32.6
1993–94David Robinson28San Antonio Spurs29.8
1994–95Shaquille O’Neal22Orlando Magic29.3
1995–96Michael Jordan32Chicago Bulls30.4
1996–97Michael Jordan33Chicago Bulls29.6
1997–98Michael Jordan34Chicago Bulls28.7
1998–99[p]Allen Iverson23Philadelphia 76ers26.8
1999–2000Shaquille O’Neal27Los Angeles Lakers29.7
2000–01Allen Iverson25Philadelphia 76ers31.1
2001–02Allen Iverson26Philadelphia 76ers31.4
2002–03Tracy McGrady23Orlando Magic32.1
2003–04Tracy McGrady24Orlando Magic28
2004–05Allen Iverson29Philadelphia 76ers30.7
2005–06Kobe Bryant27Los Angeles Lakers35.4
2006–07Kobe Bryant28Los Angeles Lakers31.6
2007–08LeBron James23Cleveland Cavaliers30
2008–09Dwyane Wade27Miami Heat30.2
2009–10Kevin Durant21Oklahoma City Thunder30.1
2010–11Kevin Durant22Oklahoma City Thunder27.7
2011–12[x]Kevin Durant23Oklahoma City Thunder28
2012–13Carmelo Anthony28New York Knicks28.7
2013–14Kevin Durant25Oklahoma City Thunder32
2014–15Russell Westbrook26Oklahoma City Thunder28.1
2015–16Stephen Curry28Golden State Warriors30.1
2016–17Russell Westbrook28Oklahoma City Thunder31.6
2017–18James Harden28Houston Rockets30.4
2018–19James Harden29Houston Rockets36.1
2019–20James Harden30Houston Rockets34.3
2020–21Stephen Curry32Golden State Warriors32
2021–22Joel Embiid27Philadelphia 76ers30.6