Burj Khalifa is still #1. What has changed since many old tallest-building lists were published is everything below it: Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka tower now sits second, and the current top ten is dominated by Asia.
This ranking uses the Skyscraper Center’s completed-building criteria and architectural height, not roof height or antenna height.
Tallest completed buildings in 2026
1 · Burj Khalifa — Dubai
828 m / 2,717 ft
2 · Menara Merdeka Maybank — Kuala Lumpur
679 m / 2,227 ft
3 · Shanghai Tower — Shanghai
632 m / 2,073 ft
4 · Makkah Royal Clock Tower — Mecca
601 m / 1,972 ft
5 · Ping An Finance Center — Shenzhen
599 m / 1,965 ft
6 · Lotte World Tower — Seoul
555 m / 1,819 ft
7 · One World Trade Center — New York City
541 m / 1,776 ft
8= · Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre — Guangzhou
530 m / 1,739 ft
8= · Tianjin CTF Finance Centre — Tianjin
530 m / 1,739 ft
10 · CITIC Tower — Beijing
528 m / 1,731 ft
The top ten tells a story about where supertalls moved
Four entries
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou/Tianjin and Beijing make China the dominant country in the top ten.
Two landmark towers
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa remains untouchable for now, while Mecca’s clock tower holds fourth place.
Kuala Lumpur takes #2
Merdeka is the major new interruption to the older China/Gulf hierarchy.
One top-ten tower
One World Trade Center is the only U.S. entry in the current top ten.
Why a building can be 541 meters tall without a 541-meter roof
The Council on Vertical Urbanism’s architectural-height definition includes architectural spires but excludes antennas, signage, flagpoles and functional technical equipment. That is why different “height” numbers can circulate for the same tower.
Some famous giants are no longer near the very top
Still extraordinary
At 508 m, it sits just outside the current top ten.
Former world champions
The twin towers remain icons of Kuala Lumpur even though newer towers have passed them.
A different era
At 381 m, its importance to skyscraper history is much larger than its present ranking.
The record has lasted
Completed in 2010, it still leads the world sixteen years later.
The top of the skyline changes slowly — until one tower changes everything
Burj Khalifa’s lead remains enormous, but projects now under construction could finally disturb the order.
For the moment, the completed-building crown stays in Dubai, with Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai forming the next tier.