The Essendon faithful has rallied to see the Bombers achieve the biggest year-on-year membership growth of any AFL club in 2021.

The Bombers added 14,976 members from last year's figure, eclipsing Carlton (14,267), Melbourne (12,617), Brisbane (11,012) and Geelong (10,227) as the only clubs to increase their total membership by more than 10,000.

It comes as the AFL this week announced the all-time AFL club membership had been broken despite the COVID-19 pandemic limiting attendance, with 1,113,441 members signing up for the 2021 season.

Essendon' membership tally of 81,662 ranks fourth overall, behind Collingwood (third), Richmond (second) and West Coast (first).

Here are some of the numbers and facts about the Bombers' membership base:

- 21,928 juniors
- 18,967 new members
- Highest renewal rate ever (89 per cent)
- 31,391 more than the membership figure 10 years ago
- With games moving all around the country, the club has had the highest number of non-VIC members ever (16,304)
- With the Olympics in Tokyo, a shoutout to the 21 members in Japan
- Fewer members are born on Christmas Day than any other day of the year (excluding February 29)

2021 club membership tallies:

West Coast - 106,422
Richmond - 105,084
Collingwood - 82,527
Essendon - 81,662
Carlton - 81,302
Hawthorn - 77,079
Geelong - 70,293
Adelaide - 60,232
Port Adelaide - 56,532
St Kilda - 55,802
Melbourne - 53,188
Fremantle - 50,432
Sydney - 50,144
Western Bulldogs - 46,541
North Melbourne - 46,357
Brisbane - 40,289
GWS - 30,185
Gold Coast - 19,460