Who has spent the most weeks at number one in the Premier League?

Find out which club has spent the most weeks at number one in the Premier League, and how the all-time table leaders compare across different eras.

Sitting at the top of the Premier League table is football's most familiar marker of success.

Over a full season, teams can move in and out of first place dozens of times. And when you zoom out across the league’s full history, those changes start to show which clubs controlled long stretches of the Premier League, not just single seasons. Basically, it’s who’s stayed dominant year after year. 

So which team has actually spent the most time at number one?

Which team has spent the most weeks at the top of the Premier League table?

Manchester United have spent the most time at the top of the Premier League table since the competition began in 1992. Using Opta’s long-running tracking, we can see that United have led the Premier League for a staggering 2,362 nights in total. 

As fixtures don’t fall neatly into seven-day blocks, this stat is recorded in days or nights rather than clean calendar weeks. But converted roughly, that works out at around 337 weeks spent at number one.

Almost all of United’s time at the top came during the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Around 96.7% of their nights at number one were recorded before his departure in 2013.

Since then, United have added very little to that total. In fact, from 2013 onwards, clubs like Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal have all spent more time leading the league than United. But the gap built up over two decades of dominance is still too large to close.

That’s why, even with the modern shift in power, United remains clear at the top of the all-time list.

The top teams for time spent at number one

Looking at Premier League data, the leading clubs stack up like this:

• Manchester United – 2,362

• Chelsea – 1,590

• Arsenal – 1,236

• Manchester City – 1,077

• Liverpool – 834

Chelsea and Arsenal built their totals through long spells of consistency in the 2000s, while Manchester City’s rise has been rapid by comparison, with most of their time at number one coming since the early 2010s. 

On the other side, Liverpool’s number reflects peaks rather than constant presence, with several seasons spent chasing rather than leading. Recent campaigns have added to those figures, but not enough to reshuffle the order at the very top.

Have recent seasons changed anything?

Not in terms of the all-time leader.

Recent Premier League seasons have seen different clubs dominate individual campaigns. Liverpool, for example, spent long stretches at the top during the 2023–24 season without winning the title, then went on to lead for most of the 2024–25 campaign on the way to lifting it.

Manchester City have also logged plenty of time at number one during title-winning seasons, while Arsenal led the table for large parts of 2022–23 before falling away late on. Those seasons bumped the numbers up, but they don’t threaten United’s historical lead. The gap is just too wide to close. 

Do teams with the most weeks at number one always win the league?

No, and that’s what makes this stat interesting.

A team can control the table for months and still finish second. Arsenal’s 2022–23 season is the clearest modern example. They led the league for more days than any non-champion in Premier League history and still missed out on the title.

On the flip side, some champions barely touch first place until the run-in. Manchester City have won titles after spending relatively little time at number one earlier in the season, timing their surge perfectly instead.

Time spent at the top shows control and pressure, but trophies are decided by where you finish, not how long you lead.

Follow the table as it shifts with Match Bingo

The Premier League table never stands still for long, and a single weekend can flip the script and turn the order on its head. 

Match Bingo helps you stay close to those movements. Live stats, league positions, and form runs update as matches are played, so you can follow how teams rise, fall, and apply pressure across the season.

If you like keeping an eye on who’s setting the pace, not just who finishes first, this is where it all comes together.

Download the app and follow the Premier League as it unfolds.