The council maintains three rankings in the following categories:
- height of structural or architectural top
- height of highest floor
- height to top of any part of the building
This list is based on height of structural or architectural top.
1. Burj Khalifa (Dubai, UAE): 828 m – 2,717 ft
Construction on Burj Khalifa finished 1 October 2009 after 5 years of building, the building officially opened 4 January 2010. As with most other things Dubai blew away their competitors with this skyscraper, it’s 63% taller than the second on the list.
Burj Khalifa is mainly used for residential and hotel purposes.
The Taipei 101 ranked officially as the tallest building in the world from 2004 until Burj Khalifa was opened in 2010.Taipei 101 is a commercial building and is mostly occupied by financial companies.
3. Shanghai World Financial Center (Shanghai, China): 492 m – 1,614 ft
The Shanghai World Financial Center officially opened for business 28 August 2008, but it had already been finished for almost a year. It ranked as the second tallest building in the world until 2010 where Burj Khalifa opened. It has the world’s tallest observation deck at 474 m (1,555 ft).
Shanghai World Financial Center is a mixed use skyscraper with offices, hotels and shopping malls.
4. International Commerce Center (Hong Kong): 484 m – 1,588 ft
The International Commerce Center in Hong Kong was completed in 2010 and has 108 floors. Ritz-Carlton will open a hotel on the top 15 floors, the hotel’l lobby will be 425 m (1,394 ft) above the ground. This makes it the highest hotel in the world, overtaking the Park Hyatt in the Shanghai World Financial Center (#3 on this list).
The tenants of this skyscraper so far consists mostly of financial companies, and then the Park Hyatt Hotel on the top.
5. Petronas Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): 452 m – 1,483 ft
The Petronas Towers were the tallest building in the world from 1998 to 2004 where Taipei 101 was completed, they still remain the tallest twin buildings in the world. On the 41st and 42nd floors there is a skybridge between the two towers, this is the tallest 2-storey bridge in the world. This bridge is cleverly designed in such a way that it is not permanently attached to the two towers, it slides in and out of the towers when they sway in the wind.
Tower One is fully occupied by Petronas. Tower Two houses numerous companies.
6. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center (Nanjing, China): 450 m – 1,476 ft
The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center or Greenland Square Zifeng Tower has 89 floors and was completed in April 2010. The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is designed by the same two people as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (Marshall Strabala & Adrian Smith).
7. Willis Tower (Chicago, USA): 442 m – 1,451 ft
The Willis Tower, which is mostly known by it’s former name Sears Tower, has 108 floors and is the oldest building on this top 10 list by quite a margin, it was completed in 1974. The Sears Tower was the tallest building in world, surpassing the World Trade Center, for almost 25 years.
8. Guangzhou International Finance Center (Guangzhou, China): 438 m – 1,435 ft
The Guangzhou International Finance Center was completed in 2010 and has 103 floors. It will be used as a conference centre, hotel and office building.
Another building is under construction close by, the Chow Tai Fook Centre which is believed to be 530 m (1,740 ft) tall.
9. Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago, USA): 423 m – 1,389 ft
The Trump International Hotel and Tower, also known as Trump Tower Chicago and locally as Trump Tower, is a condo-hotel in downtown Chicago. The tower was designed by Adrian Smith who also designed #1 and #6 on this list. Donald Trump announced in 2001 that the building would become the tallest building in the world, but after the 9 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the building plans were revised and it ended up as the second tallest building in USA.
10. Jin Mao Tower (Shanghai, China): 421 m – 1,380 ft
The Jin Mao Tower was until 2007 the tallest building in China, but China is now building rapidly and are overtaking most other countries on this top 10 list. The building contains offices and the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel. The building is famous for it’s barrel-vaulted atrium that spans 31 floors from the 56th to 87th floor inside the Grand Hyatt hotel (see picture below).
