How we
measure height.

The main ranking uses architectural height for completed buildings. That means measuring from the lowest significant open-air pedestrian entrance to the architectural top, including spires but excluding antennas and other functional equipment.

These definitions follow the CTBUH / Skyscraper Center height criteria.

One building, several heights

Architectural height determines the main ranking. Tip height reaches the highest point, including equipment. Highest occupied floor measures to a usable floor. Observation-deck height describes a particular visitor space. These measurements answer different questions.

What counts as a building?

At least 50% of the height must be occupiable. Telecommunications towers, broadcast masts and many observation towers do not meet that definition, so they are not included in this building ranking. Source ↗

When does a record count?

A completed building must be topped out, fully clad and at least partly occupiable. A finished structural frame, a ceremony and the opening of every tenant can occur at different times. This list uses the occupancy-completion milestone where those dates differ.

Why do some numbers differ?

Floor labels can skip numbers, and physical floor counts can differ from the highest numbered level. Heights may be rounded or measured to different points. Each profile links measurements to its sources and includes notes where those distinctions affect the result. Unconfirmed measurements are left blank.

The sources behind the list

Wikidata supplies the open-data foundation. Wikipedia provides additional context and cross-checks. Individual Skyscraper Center profiles are used to check architectural categories and completion status. The top-100 edition combines Wikidata identifiers and facts with explicitly labelled architectural heights and completion information from Wikipedia building and list pages. Individual disputed status or measurement cases are checked separately. The expanded compilation is attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Buildings with equal architectural heights share a rank. The comparison tool calculates proportions directly from the measurements used in the ranking.

Engineering and team credits

Engineering notes draw on project accounts from architects, engineers, contractors and published technical papers. Each technical section and team credit links to its source. Design architects, architects of record, structural engineers and contractors are identified by their project roles; the firms directory covers the teams credited on our ten featured completed buildings.

Published engineering numbers can use different rounding or project milestones from the ranking. We preserve the ranking’s reviewed height and completion definitions while identifying the technical source beside each engineering claim. Engineering notes were reviewed on 9 September 2026.

Construction projects and concepts

The future-buildings section is a selected watchlist. Under-construction entries link to current project-status records and use planned architectural height. Completion forecasts remain estimates. Concepts include research proposals and historical unbuilt visions; they have no completed-building rank. A research horizon, such as NEXT Tokyo 2045, is not a scheduled opening date.

The homepage comparison image

All ten elevations share one ground line and a linear vertical scale based on architectural height. Their outlines are schematic, with illustrative widths. This is a height comparison, not a measured elevation survey or comparison of floor area. The image’s metre labels stay fixed when the ranking table switches to feet.

Photography & attribution

Photographs are hosted here with Creative Commons attribution. They have been resized, converted to WebP and may be cropped in the layout. Their original licenses remain in force.

• Burj Khalifa: Laika ac, CC BY-SA 2.0.
• Merdeka 118: Ahmad Ali Karim, CC0.
• Shanghai Tower: Ermell, CC0.
• Makkah Royal Clock Tower: King Eliot, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Ping An Finance Centre: Charlie fong, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Lotte World Tower: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• One World Trade Center: Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0.
• Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre: Milkomède, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Tianjin CTF Finance Centre: BD2412, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• CITIC Tower: Milkomède, CC BY-SA 4.0.

About this preview

This edition contains 100 completed-building profiles. The top ten retain detailed engineering dossiers and independent field reviews. Additional profiles are sourced directory records, with full independent review still pending; the exported verification field preserves that distinction. Some multi-tower projects share a Wikidata identifier and have distinct component identifiers. City Tower One has no confirmed Wikidata identifier in this dataset, so that field remains null. Four selected construction and concept projects are available in the future-buildings section, separately from the downloadable completed-building dataset.