Australia's 35-year-old bagged England's Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago.
It moved him past Akram, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen.
Akram played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth.
Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India's Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa's Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test.
After that he will have New Zealand's Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights.