MLS Golden Boot

The **MLS Golden Boot** (currently the Audi Golden Boot for sponsorship reasons) has been awarded since the 2005 MLS season to the Major League Soccer regular–season leading scorer.  The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion Award that was awarded since the league's creation in 1996.

## 1996–2004

Prior to 2005 MLS used a point system that awarded two points for a goal and one point for an assist to give the MLS Scoring Champion Award.

|Season|Player|Club|Points|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=center|1996|Roy Lassiter|Tampa Bay Mutiny|align=center|58|
|align=center|1997|Preki|Kansas City Wizards|align=center|41|
|align=center|1998|Stern John|Columbus Crew|align=center|57|
|align=center|1999|Jason Kreis|Dallas Burn|align=center|51|
|align=center|2000|Mamadou Diallo|Tampa Bay Mutiny|align=center|56|
|align=center|2001|Alex Pineda Chacón|Miami Fusion|align=center|47|
|align=center|2002|Taylor Twellman|New England Revolution|align=center|52|
|align=center|2003|Preki (2)|Kansas City Wizards|align=center|41|
|align=center|2004|Amado Guevara Pat Noonan|MetroStars New England Revolution|align=center|30|

## 2005–present

Since 2005 Major League Soccer has awarded the MLS Golden Boot to the player who has scored the most goals outright, with ties being broken by assists.

|Season|Player|Club|Goals|Games|Rate|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=center|2005|Taylor Twellman (2)|New England Revolution|align=center|**17**|align=center|25|0.68||
|align=center|2006|Jeff Cunningham|Real Salt Lake|align=center|**16**|align=center|31|0.52||
|align=center|2007|Luciano Emilio|D.C. United|align=center|**20**|align=center|29|0.69||
|align=center|2008|Landon Donovan|Los Angeles Galaxy|align=center|**20**|align=center|25|0.80||
|align=center|2009|Jeff Cunningham (2)|FC Dallas|align=center|**17**|align=center|28|0.61||
|align=center|2010|Chris Wondolowski|San Jose Earthquakes|align=center|**18**|align=center|28|0.64||
|align=center|2011|Dwayne De Rosario|D.C. United|align=center||align=center|33|0.48||
|align=center|2012|Chris Wondolowski (2)|San Jose Earthquakes|align=center|**27**|align=center|32|0.84||
|align=center|2013|Camilo Sanvezzo|Vancouver Whitecaps FC|align=center|**22**|align=center|32|0.69||
|align=center|2014|Bradley Wright-Phillips|New York Red Bulls|align=center|**27**|align=center|32|0.84||
|align=center|2015|Sebastian Giovinco|Toronto FC|align=center|**22**|align=center|33|0.67||
|align=center|2016|Bradley Wright-Phillips (2)|New York Red Bulls|align=center|**24**|align=center|34|0.71||
|align=center|2017|Nemanja Nikolić|Chicago Fire|align=center|**24**|align=center|33|0.73||
|align=center|2018|Josef Martínez|Atlanta United|align=center|**31**|align=center|34|0.91||
|align=center|2019|Carlos Vela|Los Angeles FC|align=center|**34**|align=center|31|1.09||
|align=center|2020|Diego Rossi|Los Angeles FC|align=center|**14**|align=center|19|0.74||
|align=center|2021|Valentín Castellanos|New York City FC|align=center|**19**|align=center|32|0.59||
|align=center|2022|Hany Mukhtar|Nashville SC|align=center|**23**|align=center|33|0.70||
|align=center|2023|Denis Bouanga|Los Angeles FC|align=center|**20**|align=center|31|align=center|0.65|
|align=center|2024|Christian Benteke|D.C. United|align=center|**23**|align=center|30|align=center|0.77|
|align=center|2025|Lionel Messi|Inter Miami CF|align=center|**29**|align=center|28|align=center|1.04|