Rewind two years and very few people outside of the darting world knew of Luke Littler.
But at midnight on Sunday he will officially become the world number one, 11 months after being crowned world champion.
BBC Sport caught up with the 18-year-old and showed him pictures of the best moments from his career and asked him to talk us through them in his own words.
A version of this article was published on 29 May before Littler appeared in the Premier League finals.
- and . The Premier League sees the top-four ranked players in the world, plus four invitational players and, after his success at the Worlds, Littler earned a spot.
He won four of the 16 regular league nights and then beat Humphries 11–7 in the final of the play-offs at London’s O2 Arena to become the youngest player to win a major PDC tournament.
He even hit a nine-darter – the minimum number of darts needed to complete a leg – in the final.
“This is a very good picture! Hitting double 20 to win the Premier League.
“It was a very long 16-week format, it’s been the same again this year, but to win it on debut – 17 at the time – and to beat Luke was a bit of payback from the World Championships.
“My first major title was a good one.
“I was even better in the Premier League than my first World Championships. I was more confident in my ability and I played even better. My performances showed why I won the Premier League.
Littler went down to celebrate with his family immediately after his victory [PA Media] “It was a massive moment with my mum and dad afterwards. There were obviously doubts about whether I was ready to play in the Premier League but I came out on top. To share it with my mum and dad was even better.
“I have no idea what they said to me, I was just happy to win. We went home the next day and I’m pretty sure it was the FA Cup final the next weekend and we saw Man Utd win it against City so it was a pretty good couple of weeks.”
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Littler had a spin around Silverstone with eventual Formula 1 World Championship runner-up Lando Norris before the British Grand Prix in 2024 [Getty Images] Littler’s popularity and stardom extends far wider than a darts audience. He was invited into on 3 January 2025 with a 7-3 victory over Dutchman and three-time winner Michael van Gerwen. It made Littler the youngest world darts champion, aged 17 years and 347 days. He beat Van Gerwen’s record, from 2014 when he was 24.
It saw Littler move past £1,000,000 in prize money and took him up to a career high world ranking of second, behind Humphries.
“Look at him crying there! Yeah, obviously one of the biggest achievements of my career so far. Winning the Sid Waddell Trophy and becoming world champion by beating Michael van Gerwen.
“You could see there that I still couldn’t believe it.
“I was coming into the tournament ranked two or three in the world but even the first game against Ryan Meikle was hard enough.
“To pick up the trophy and beat a very good Michael van Gerwen in the final… it meant everything.
“The World Matchplay is the next one that I’m looking at but first I’m looking at the Premier League on Thursday night.”
- with a 11-8 win at O2 Arena.
“This was in Leeds in the Premier League this year and Nathan Aspinall missed seven or eight darts to go 5-3 up, I hit my double to make it 4-4 and it was basically me saying to the crowd ‘cry more’!
“It’s just for myself. Being a sportsman, doing stuff like this and just being myself, letting my emotions out – especially the Leeds crowd.
“I think this just relaxes me, interacting with the crowd. The crowd then get involved but the most important is getting over the line.”
There were louder boos two weeks before in Liverpool but Littler gestured to the crowd to ‘calm down’ during his quarter-final defeat by Michael van Gerwen [Getty Images] ‘This is my time’ – Grand Prix win closes the gap on Humphries
Littler put in a devastating display to beat Humphries in the Grand Prix final [Getty Images] Having become just the fifth player to complete darts’ triple crown with victory at the World Matchplay, Littler moved ever closer to the world number one spot by claiming the World Grand Prix title.
Once again, he found himself up against Humphries in the final but after so many close contests, this one was a demolition job with Littler triumphing 6-1 in Leicester.
Success at the ‘double-in and double-out’ tournament put him within touching distance of the world number one spot.
“This is my time and I’ve just got to keep going. Obviously, until I get that world number one spot, I will never call myself the best in the world.
“Whoever’s number one, they’re the best. But knowing I’m only £70,000 in prize money behind Luke, and then he’s got to defend all of his prize money from the Grand Prix, the Players Championships and the World Championship.
“I don’t want to think about it too much, but I could be world number one before that World Championship.”
‘I am the best in the world’ – Grand Slam run to reach the summit
After a whirlwind first couple of years on the tour, the last thing for Littler to accomplish was the world-number-one ranking.
Humphries had topped the PDC Order of Merit since winning the 2024 World Championships but Littler had been gradually chipping away at his rival’s lead and eventually completed his ascension at the Grand Slam of Darts.
He won 10 of the last 11 legs to beat Danny Noppert in the semi-finals and secure top spot in the rankings, even before the final against Humphries.
“It is has not even been two years that I’ve been on the tour and I’m already world number one. That is job done – I am world number one – but there is a bigger match tonight,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“I am the best in the world. No matter what, I’ve said it throughout the year that Luke Humphries is the best in the world. No matter if you go out in the first, second or third round you are the best in the world.
“It is another Luke v Luke final. Some people like it and some people don’t. It is going to be another brilliant game. I’ve still not been beaten here and hopefully I can go back-to-back here.”
- with a 11-8 win at O2 Arena.
