White took the first set against Dimitri van den Bergh in the opening round of the 2016 World Championship, but went on to lose 3–1. As his popularity rose, many fans began to sing The Third Rock From the Sun theme tune at his matches due to his similarity to John Lithgow. The song appeared to irritate him on stage as he was defeated 9–6 by Simon Whitlock in the third round of the UK Open, but in the final of the fifth Players Championship event whitewashed world number one Michael van Gerwen 6–0 in the final, with an average of 106.20. White also secured the 11th event with a 6–3 win over Joe Cullen. After comfortably seeing off Daryl Gurney 10–2 in the first round of the World Matchplay, White lost 11–6 to Peter Wright. He returned to win his third Players Championship crown of the year and seventh PDC tournament in his career by beating Benito van de Pas 6–4. White eliminated Terry Jenkins 6–2 at the European Championship and came back from 8–3 to force a deciding leg against Mensur Suljović, but lost it to be defeated 10–9. His titles during the year qualified him for the Grand Slam and a win over Darryl Fitton would have seen him progress from his group, but he lost 5–4 from being 3–1 up and missed three match darts in the process.