147s Record Could Be Smashed This Season

The record for the most 147s in a single season is on the verge of being broken, as 11 have already been made during the 2024/25 campaign.

The current record is 13 maximums in a season, first set in 2016/17, and equalled in 2022/23 and again in 2023/24. With six tournaments still to come this season, the record is certainly under threat.

Over the past four weeks there have been a flurry of 147s, with Jak Jones, David Gilbert and Mark Selby all hitting that perfect score in the BetVictor Championship League, as well as Shaun Murphy's memorable maximum in the Johnstone's Paint Masters, and Xu Si's 147 in the BetVictor Welsh Open qualifiers. 

China's Xu is the only player to make two this season, and the others have come from Noppon Saengkham, Fan Zhengyi, Mark Allen, Si Jiahui and Zhang Anda. 

Saengkham, Zhang and Murphy have all made 147s in the majors this term, which means that if any of that trio fires another maximum during the World Championship (including the qualifying rounds) they will earn a huge £147,000 bonus.

The number of 147s this season underlines the incredible standard of play on the World Snooker Tour, as well as the number of events and the quality of playing conditions. By comparison, there were only eight 147s in the whole of the 1980s. At the current rate, in the 2020s there will be well over 100. 

Number of maximum breaks per decade:
1980s: 8
1990s: 26
2000s: 35
2010s: 86
2020s: 58