Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World

The undisputed king. Since it opened in 2010, nothing has come close. The shape of the tower is inspired by the Hymenocallis, a desert flower. At the top, the building sways up to 1.5 meters back and forth in strong winds. Guinness World Records recognizes countless other records besides its height, such as the elevator with the longest travel distance and the highest restaurant in the world.

There is a new number two! This giant was recently completed in Kuala Lumpur. The name 'Merdeka' means independence. There is some debate about its height: much of it comes from the huge spire on top. Without that antenna it would rank a lot lower, but the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which sets the rules, simply counts the spire as an architectural element.

This may be the smartest tower on the list. The building is twisted like a corkscrew. That is not just for looks; the twist gives the wind much less grip on the building, so 24% less steel was needed for its construction. Inside you'll find nine vertical zones, each with its own lobby and gardens, like stacked neighborhoods.

This tower in Mecca is impossible to miss. It stands right next to the Kaaba and is part of a huge complex of hotels for pilgrims. The most striking feature is the gigantic clock at the top. Architecture websites often describe how the clock face is no less than 43 meters in diameter – more than five times larger than Big Ben in London. You can read the time from 25 kilometers away.

This stainless steel giant stands in Shenzhen, China's tech capital. It was originally supposed to get a spire that would have made it taller than the Shanghai Tower, but that was scrapped out of fear it would interfere with air traffic. The building is extremely streamlined and looks like a massive pillar holding up the sky.

The pride of Seoul. The design is based on traditional Korean ceramics and calligraphy, giving it an elegant, tapered shape. For daredevils there is the 'Sky Bridge', an open-air bridge at 541 meters high. Also special: its elevator is one of the fastest in the world and takes you to the top in under a minute.

The only Western building in the top 10 stands in New York. Its height is highly symbolic: 1,776 feet, a reference to the year of American independence. The building stands on the site of the destroyed Twin Towers and is also called the 'Freedom Tower'. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum emphasizes that this building is not just an office, but a monument of resilience and remembrance for the city and the country.

China dominates this list, and here is another giant in the Pearl River Delta. The building is known for the terracotta in its facade, a material you normally see on old pots, but used here because it is self-cleaning and corrosion-resistant. It also has one of the fastest elevators in the world, shooting upward at 72 kilometers per hour.

No, this is not a typo. This building is exactly as tall as its cousin at number 8 (both owned by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises). The design, however, is completely different. Where the Guangzhou tower is angular, the Tianjin tower has soft, curved lines. Those curves 'confuse' the wind, keeping the tower stable during storms.

We end in Beijing. This tower has a very specific shape: wide at the bottom, narrow in the middle and wide again at the top. The design is based on a “Zun”, an ancient Chinese ritual wine vessel. That is why the building is popularly known as 'China Zun'. It is the tallest building in the Chinese capital.