Anderson has also won 37 PDC Pro Tour events as of October 2024, putting him third on the all-time list behind Michael van Gerwen on 90 and Phil Taylor on 70.

Born in Musselburgh, Anderson began his career playing in British Darts Organisation events and won the second tournament he entered by claiming the 2001 Welsh Open with a defeat of John Walton.

[19] The following year, in the 2003 BDO World Darts Championship Anderson reached the semi-final stage before bowing out to eventual runner-up Ritchie Davies.

[21] In the following two years, Anderson was knocked out of the World Championship in the first round by Dutch players – in 2007, he lost to Albertino Essers,[22] and in 2008, he was defeated by Fabian Roosenbrand.

[18] It was a significant achievement as he succeeded against fields comprising the top players and world champions from both the rival organisations: the Professional Darts Corporation and BDO.

In the two events, he had victories against Wayne Mardle, Roland Scholten, Mervyn King, James Wade, Adrian Lewis, Mark Webster, John Part, Peter Manley, Andy Hamilton and Phil Taylor.

He made his PDC televised debut in an exhibition match at the Premier League Darts meeting in Cardiff, after Wayne Mardle had withdrawn with illness, and defeated John Part with a three-dart average of 107.

He defeated Michael van Gerwen, Paul Nicholson, Mervyn King (who hit a nine-dart finish against Anderson), Andy Hamilton, and Tony Ayres before losing to Phil Taylor in the final 11–5.

Having recovered to secure victory against Bill Davis and Darin Young of the United States, Anderson and Thornton went out after defeat to Spain's Carlos Rodriguez and Antonio Alcinas.

He then defeated Andy Smith in the third round (whilst setting his highest World Championship average of 108.39), Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals, and Terry Jenkins in the semi-finals to ensure his place in the final against Adrian Lewis.

[49] He played in his second World Cup for Scotland in February, this time with Peter Wright and together they were beaten by South Africa in the second round, losing in a sudden-death leg.

[74] Anderson showed his best darts in the first round of the World Grand Prix as he averaged 104.86 in the double start event during a two sets to nil 10-minute defeat of Jelle Klaasen.

[76] At the Grand Slam of Darts, Anderson produced two superb performances in the group stage as he averaged 107.14 and 111.80 in defeats of Wesley Harms and Peter Wright.

Anderson recovered from 5–3 down to Justin Pipe in the final to win 6–5, surviving six match darts from his opponent in the process and said afterwards his goal for the year was to reclaim his ranking in the top eight.

[91] At the World Matchplay, Anderson beat Jamie Caven 10–8 and Stephen Bunting 13–8 (whilst averaging 104.41) to progress past the second round for the first time in his sixth appearance in the event.

[92] In the quarter-finals he outplayed Adrian Lewis in winning 13–8 and was then involved in a high quality match against Phil Taylor in the semi-finals as both players averaged 105 which Anderson just lost 17–15.

[95] Anderson's successful season in the floor events concluded at the final Players Championship where he sealed the title by throwing a 10 dart leg to edge Peter Wright 6–5.

He finished the season top of the Pro Tour Order of Merit and was therefore the number one seed for the Players Championship Finals, something Anderson said he had worked his heart out all year to achieve.

[13][14] At the Masters, following wins over Andy Hamilton, 10–2,[106] and James Wade, 10–5, in which Anderson averaged 121 in the first five legs,[107] he lost 11–6 to Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals.

[132] He averaged 104.22 against Mark Webster in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts, but the Welshman took out 71% of his shots at doubles to defeat Anderson 10–6 and he lost in the same stage of the Players Championship Finals 10–4 to Daryl Gurney.

[133][134] In the defence of his title, Anderson reached the final of the 2016 World Championship without facing any troubles following wins over Andy Boulton, Daryl Gurney, Vincent van der Voort, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen with the loss of just two sets.

[152] Van Gerwen then won 12 of the next 14 legs in taking four sets in a row and, though Anderson pulled one back, his reign as world champion ended with a 7–3 loss.

[157] Anderson began his 2018 season with a loss to eventual runner-up Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Championship, failing to reach the final for the first time in 4 years.

Anderson returned to form at the 2018 World Matchplay, defeating Stephen Bunting 10–7 and Van Barneveld 11–9 before achieving a 19–17 victory over Joe Cullen in the quarter-finals, hitting a nine-dart finish which earned him £45,000.

[159] After taking second in his group with victories over Michael van Gerwen and Dave Chisnall, but a loss to Daryl Gurney, Anderson would meet Suljović again in the semi-final of the 2018 Champions League of Darts.

In November, Anderson went undefeated in the group stage of the Grand Slam and met MVG in the semi-final having only lost 12 legs combined in the prior rounds.

The pair whitewashed France 8–0 in the quarter-finals before getting past Germany 8–5 in the semi-finals, but they succumbed to a 10–2 defeat to Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton) in the final.

[194] In televised singles competition, Anderson reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts but narrowly lost 16–14 to Luke Humphries, who went on to win the tournament.

Having previously worked as a builder, Anderson and his partner Rachel moved south to run the Wellington Arms public house in Rooksbridge, Somerset, for fellow PDC player Steve Grubb.

[208] After handing over running of the pub in 2016 to a new manager to allow Anderson to fully commit to his darts career, the family have since resided in Burnham on Sea, Somerset.