Most passing touchdowns in a single NFL season: The all-time leaderboard

The number is 55, and it belongs to Peyton Manning. In 2013, during his second season with the Denver Broncos, Manning threw 55 touchdown passes across a 16-game schedule—the most any quarterback has ever thrown in a single year of professional football.

More than a decade has passed since. The league has widened the field for passers, added a 17th game to the regular season, and watched a new generation of quarterbacks generate numbers that would have been unthinkable in 1980. Yet, 55 sits untouched. That gap between how easy scoring has become and how firmly the record has held makes this number worth a closer look.

This is the accounting the leaderboards skip: the record itself, the tiny club of quarterbacks who have reached 50, how the mark climbed over seven decades, why a 16-game total has outlasted the 17-game era, and the non-quarterback records that live in the same statistical neighborhood.

The Masterpiece: Peyton Manning’s 2013 Season

Peyton Manning set the single-season passing touchdown record in 2013, throwing 55 scoring passes for the Denver Broncos in a 16-game schedule.

The 55 did not arrive in a vacuum. That same season, Manning also broke the single-season passing yardage record with 5,477 yards and earned his fifth MVP award. The Broncos scored 606 points as a team—the most points any franchise has ever scored in an NFL season. Denver averaged nearly 38 points a game and rode that offense all the way to Super Bowl XLVIII, where the run ended abruptly in a 43–8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Peyton Manning's Historic 2013 Benchmarks:• Passing Touchdowns: 55 (NFL Record)

• Passing Yards: 5,477 (NFL Record)

• Team Points Scored: 606 (NFL Record)

• Awards: AP NFL Most Valuable Player (5th career MVP)

The record season was not a fluke stat line attached to a mediocre team. It was the single most productive scoring year in league history, quarterbacked by a player in the middle of an unprecedented offensive stretch.

Beating 55 does not just require an elite quarterback. It requires an elite quarterback driving a historically great offense, staying healthy for all 16 games, and playing in a system where every red-zone opportunity breaks right.

The Exclusive 50-Touchdown Club

Fifty touchdown passes in a season is the rarest round number in quarterback play. In the entire history of the NFL, only three players have ever reached it.

Tom Brady got there first, throwing 50 passes during the Patriots' 16–0 regular season in 2007. Patrick Mahomes matched that 50 in 2018—his first full season as Kansas City's starter—on his way to winning his first MVP. Manning stands alone at the top.

Offenses are built around the pass, and rules heavily protect both the passer and receiver. Yet, three names comprise the entire list. The 50-touchdown season is not a standard benchmark; it is a lightning strike.

Single-Season Passing Touchdown Leaderboard

Below the 50-TD club, the leaderboard tightens into a cluster of the greatest quarterback performances of the past 40 years.

Leaderboard Takeaways:

• Peyton Manning appears twice near the top—his 49 TDs in 2004 broke a 20-year-old mark, and his 55 in 2013 reset the ceiling entirely.
• Dan Marino appears twice, demonstrating how far ahead of his time the 1980s Dolphins offense truly was.
• Aaron Rodgers is the only other passer with two seasons in the top 10 (48 in 2020 and 45 in 2011).
• Matthew Stafford threw 46 touchdown passes for the Rams in 2025, setting a Los Angeles franchise record and securing an MVP award nearly two decades after Brady first hit 50.

What It Actually Takes to Reach 50

Every season clustered near the top of the leaderboard shares three distinct ingredients:

1. An Elite QB at His Peak: Manning in 2013, Brady in 2007, Mahomes in 2018, Rodgers in 2020, and Stafford in 2025 were all MVPs or top-ballot candidates. Hall of Fame talent is the entry fee, not a guarantee.
2. A Touchdown-First Offense: Manning’s 55 came within a Denver team that scored 606 points, and Brady’s 50 arrived during an undefeated 16–0 regular season. These quarterbacks were trigger-men on historically efficient scoring units.
3. Red-Zone Passing Volume: Every goal-line carry, field goal, or defensive score eats into a quarterback's total. Reaching 50 requires a coaching staff committed to throwing inside the 20-yard line week after week.

How the Record Climbed from 36 to 55

The passing touchdown record did not rise in a steady line. It progressed in sudden leaps tied to tactical and rule shifts across league history.

For most of the pre-merger era, the ceiling sat in the mid-30s. Y.A. Tittle threw 36 for the New York Giants in 1963, matching George Blanda's 36 for the AFL's Houston Oilers in 1961. That mark held as the standard for two decades.

In 1984, 23-year-old Dan Marino shattered the record by throwing 48 touchdowns in his second season. Marino did not just nudge the bar forward; he added 12 touchdowns to a number that had stood for 21 years.

Peyton Manning broke Marino's mark on December 26, 2004, with his 49th touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley. Tom Brady pushed the record to 50 in 2007, before Manning reclaimed the crown with 55 in 2013.

Why a 16-Game Record Has Survived the 17-Game Era

In 2021, the NFL expanded the regular season from 16 games to 17. Theoretically, an extra game should make a 16-game record vulnerable. In practice, 55 remains out of reach.

Highest Single-Season Passing TD Totals in 17-Game Era:

• Matthew Stafford (2025): 46 TDs
• Tom Brady (2021): 43 TDs
• Joe Burrow (2024): 43 TDs
• Patrick Mahomes (2022): 41 TDs
• Dak Prescott (2023): 36 TDs

Manning’s 55 touchdowns over 16 games required a pace of 3.44 touchdowns per game. Projected across a 17-game schedule, that rate yields 58.5 touchdowns. The 17th game provides extra attempts, but it does not replicate the sustained red-zone aerial efficiency required to threaten 55.

The Rule Change That Opened the Sky

Modern passing numbers trace back to a major rule change before the 1978 season:

The Mel Blount Rule (1978): Defenders were prohibited from contacting receivers more than 5 yards downfield. Simultaneously, offensive linemen were permitted to extend their arms and use open hands to pass-block.

The rule was designed to neutralize physical cornerbacks like Pittsburgh’s Mel Blount. The change unleashed passing offenses across the league: Dan Marino threw 48 touchdowns six years later, and every 50-touchdown season in history followed.

Single-Season Touchdown Records Beyond the Quarterback

Passing touchdowns represent only one category of scoring. Single-season benchmarks in other disciplines remain equally formidable:

Most Rushing Touchdowns: LaDainian Tomlinson (28)

LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 28 touchdowns for the San Diego Chargers in 2006. As modern NFL offenses shift away from single-workhorse running backs, Tomlinson’s record looks increasingly untouchable.

Most Receiving Touchdowns: Randy Moss (23)

Randy Moss caught 23 touchdown passes for the New England Patriots in 2007, accounting for nearly half of Tom Brady's 50 record-setting passes. Moss surpassed Jerry Rice’s 1987 record of 22 touchdowns (set in just 12 games during a strike-shortened season). Rice and Moss remain the only players in NFL history to catch 20 receiving touchdowns in a single season.

Most Total Touchdowns: LaDainian Tomlinson (31)

Combining 28 rushing touchdowns and 3 receiving touchdowns, Tomlinson set the all-time single-season mark with 31 total touchdowns in 2006. Averaging nearly two touchdowns per game for four months, Tomlinson remains the only player in Chargers history to win NFL MVP.

College Football Passing Record: Bailey Zappe (62)

While the NFL record sits at 55, the FBS college football record is 62, set by Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe in 2021. Zappe broke Joe Burrow’s 2019 mark of 60 touchdowns at LSU.

Questions Fans Still Ask

Who threw the most touchdown passes in a single game?

The single-game record is 7 touchdown passes, shared by eight quarterbacks:

1. Sid Luckman (1943)
2. Adrian Burk (1954)
3. George Blanda (1961)
4. Y.A. Tittle (1962)
5. Joe Kapp (1969)
6. Peyton Manning (2013)
7. Nick Foles (2013)
8. Drew Brees (2015)

No quarterback has ever thrown 8 touchdowns in a single NFL game.

What is the rookie record for touchdown passes in a season?

Justin Herbert holds the rookie record with 31 touchdown passes for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020, surpassing the previous mark of 27 set by Baker Mayfield in 2018.

Who has the most passing touchdowns in NFL history?

Tom Brady holds the career record with 649 touchdown passes. Drew Brees ranks second with 571, and Peyton Manning ranks third with 539.