List of tallest buildings

This is a list of the tallest buildings. Tall buildings, such as skyscrapers, are special structures with many floors that people can live or work in. To be included on this list, a building must be at least 350 metres (1,148 feet) tall. This means it would take a long time to walk all the way to the top!

These amazing buildings are found all around the world. Some of the tallest ones are in big cities like Dubai and Shanghai. Engineers and architects design them to be strong and safe, even in bad weather or earthquakes.

Buildings this tall help cities grow because they can hold many people and offices in one place. They also become famous landmarks that people visit from all over the world. If you look up at the sky in a big city, you might see one of these incredible tall buildings reaching up into the clouds!

History

Main article: History of the world's tallest buildings

The tallest building in the world has changed many times throughout history. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the tallest structure for over 3,800 years until Lincoln Cathedral was built in 1311. Later, the Strasbourg Cathedral in France became the tallest until 1874.

The first building known as a skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago in 1885. For most of the 20th century, the tallest buildings were in the United States. In 1998, the Petronas Towers took the title, followed by Taipei 101 in 2004 and then Burj Khalifa in 2009. Recently, many tall buildings have been built in the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia.

Ranking criteria and alternatives

The Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU) decides which building is the tallest in the world. They created rules to measure buildings fairly and keep a list of the tallest 100 finished buildings. Right now, the tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing at 828 meters.

Before 1996, there were debates about what counts as the tallest part of a building. Some people counted spires, which are special tall parts of a building’s design, while others counted antennas, which can be added or removed easily. Because of these debates, the CVU started using four different ways to measure buildings, though one of these ways is no longer used. This helps make sure everyone agrees on which building is the tallest!

Tallest buildings in the world

As of 2026, there are 98 buildings around the world that stand at least 350 metres (1,150 feet) tall. These buildings are considered complete or nearly complete, with their highest architectural features finished.

Many of these tall buildings are located in China. Some of the buildings that used to hold the title of the world's tallest are still on this list. This includes six of the last seven record-holding buildings, except for the North Tower of the original New York World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks in 2001. If that tower had not been destroyed and One World Trade Center had not been built, the original Twin Towers would be near the bottom of today's list.

Alternative measurements

This section explains different ways to measure the height of tall buildings. One way is to measure to the highest point, which helps for air traffic safety. Another way is to measure to the highest floor people can actually use inside the building.

There's also a way to measure to the roof, but this isn't used as much anymore because most tall buildings don't have a clear "roof" area people can use. These different measurements help us understand which buildings are the tallest in various ways.

Main article: List of tallest buildings by height to roof

Buildings under construction

This section lists buildings taller than 350 metres (about 1,148 feet) that are currently being built. These structures are designed to have many floors that people can live or work in. There is also a separate list for buildings that were mostly built but paused, known as "on hold" buildings.

List by continent

The following list shows the tallest completed buildings located on each continent, arranged from the tallest to the shortest. You can click on the name of each continent to see a list specific to that part of the world. This helps us understand how buildings vary across different areas of the Earth.

Countries with most buildings on list

The following list shows the countries with the most buildings on the list of the world's tallest buildings. The countries are ordered from those with the most buildings to those with the fewest on the list.

The table below displays these countries and the number of their buildings that appear among the tallest in the world.