Most Home Runs of All Time (MLB)

Barry Bonds holds the record for the most home runs in MLB history, with 762 hit across a 22-year career from 1986 to 2007. He passed Hank Aaron’s long-standing mark of 755 in 2007, and the two remain the only players ever to clear 750.

The home run is baseball’s signature act of power, and the career leaderboard is one of the most storied lists in all of sports. It is also one of the most debated, because the man at the top set his record during an era clouded by performance-enhancing drug allegations. Here is the full leaderboard of baseball’s all-time home run leaders, the milestones behind them, and the context that surrounds the top of the list. All figures are through the 2024 season.

The record holder: Barry Bonds and 762 home runs

Bonds began his career as a lean, five-tool outfielder and evolved into the most feared slugger the game had seen. His late-career power surge produced the single-season record of 73 home runs in 2001, and he kept adding to his career total until he retired in 2007 with 762.

That total is the official MLB record. It is also inseparable from the steroid-era debate: Bonds was a central figure in the BALCO investigation, was never voted into the Hall of Fame by the writers, and remains a polarizing figure. The number stands, but the argument over it never quite ends.

The full leaderboard of career home run leaders

The table below ranks the all-time MLB career home run leaders.

Rank	Home runs	Player	Career
1	762	Barry Bonds	1986-2007
2	755	Hank Aaron	1954-1976
3	714	Babe Ruth	1914-1935
4	703	Albert Pujols	2001-2022
5	696	Alex Rodriguez	1994-2016
6	660	Willie Mays	1948-1973
7	630	Ken Griffey Jr.	1989-2010
8	612	Jim Thome	1991-2012
9	609	Sammy Sosa	1989-2007
10	586	Frank Robinson	1956-1976

The list mixes eras and reputations, from Ruth and Aaron to the 1990s and 2000s sluggers, several of whom are also linked to the steroid era. Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. are widely celebrated as power hitters whose totals carry no such asterisk.

Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth: the enduring names

For most of baseball history, the record belonged to Babe Ruth’s 714 and then Hank Aaron’s 755. Aaron’s pursuit of Ruth in the early 1970s, completed amid death threats and racist abuse, made his 715th home run in 1974 one of the most important moments in American sports. Many fans still regard Aaron’s 755 as the sport’s true home run standard.

The 700 club and Albert Pujols

Only four players have ever reached 700 home runs, and Albert Pujols was the most recent to join, hitting his 700th in 2022 during a farewell season. His 703 capped a career that also featured milestones in hits and RBIs, cementing him among the greatest all-around hitters of the modern era. For the single-season side of the record, see our leaderboard of the most home runs in a season.

Why the record matters

Career home run totals are baseball’s grandest measure of power and longevity, which is why the top of this list is scrutinized so closely. Bonds’s 762 is statistically dominant and officially recognized, yet the debate over how it was achieved keeps Aaron’s 755 firmly in the conversation. The sluggers who reach these heights often anchor championship teams, the kind that pile up titles on the most World Series wins list.

The short version: Barry Bonds holds the MLB career home run record with 762, ahead of Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Albert Pujols (703), the only members of the 700 club. Bonds’s mark is official and dominant, though the steroid-era debate keeps Aaron’s total at the heart of the discussion, through the 2024 season.