10 Tallest Buildings in the World
Check out the 10 tallest buildings in the world with our interactive map.
Humanity continues to reacher higher and higher heights. We build more and taller skyscrapers every year. In fact, the current 10 tallest buildings in the world were built in just the last decade. We'll introduce them in this post.
1Burj Khalifa
- city: Dubai
- cost: USD $1.5 billion
- country: United Arab Emirates
- floors: 163
- height: 2,717 feet / 828 meters
- year: 2010
The Burj Khalifa towers over all. It's almost 200 meters (700 feet) taller than the Shanghai Tower, the world's second tallest building, and nearly twice as tall as the Empire State Building, which once stood as the world's tallest building from 1931 to 1970.
2Shanghai Tower
- city: Shanghai
- cost: USD $2.4 billion
- country: China
- floors: 128
- height: 2,073 feet / 632 meters
- year: 2015
In February 2014, two Russian urban explorers broke into the unfinished Shanghai Tower and climbed all the way up to the top. They filmed their dangerous climb, and you can watch their footage here.
3Abraj Al-Bait Towers
- city: Mecca
- cost: USD $15 billion
- country: Saudi Arabia
- floors: 120
- height: 1,971 feet / 601 meters
- year: 2012
Translated as "The Towers of the House", the Abraj Al-Bait's central building is the world's tallest clock tower. Its clock face, also the world's largest, can be seen from over 17 kilometers (10 miles) away.
4Ping An Finance Center
- city: Shenzhen
- cost: USD $1.5 billion
- country: China
- floors: 115
- height: 1,965 feet / 599 meters
- year: 2016
Ping An Finance Center is named after China's Ping An Insurance company, which has its headquarters in the building. Ping An can be translated as "Safe and Well", which is the opposite of the daring urban explorers who climbed the building in May 2015.
5Lotte World Tower
- city: Seoul
- cost: USD $3.4 billion
- country: South Korea
- floors: 123
- height: 1,823 feet / 555.7 meters
- year: 2016
The graceful design of the Lotte World Tower was inspired by traditional Korean art. But don't its elegant form fool you. The building can withstand earthquakes measuring 9 on the Richter scale and hurricane winds of up to 80 m/s (156mph).
6One World Trade Center
- city: New York City
- cost: USD $3.9 billion
- country: United States
- floors: 104
- height: 1,792 feet / 546.2 meters
- year: 2014
The One World Trade Center was constructed on the site of the original World Trade Center, which consisted of twin tower destroyed during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
7CTF Finance Centre
- city: Guangzhou
- cost: USD $1.5 billion
- country: China
- floors: 111
- height: 1,739 feet / 530 meters
- year: 2016
Guangzhou's CTF Finance Centre is notable for its application of white glazed terracotta in the vertical mullions that line the full height of the building. The choice to use terracotta was inspired by Chinese locale. In traditional Chinese architecture, terracotta is often used to make tiles for roofs and in sculpture such as for the famous Terracotta Army.
8Taipei 101
- city: Taipei
- cost: USD $1.934 billion
- country: Taiwan
- floors: 101
- height: 1,667 feet / 508 meters
- year: 2004
The Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building from 2004 until 2010, when it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa. In Chinese culture, the number 8 is considered a lucky number. So the tower above the base features 8 segments, each consisting of 8 floors.
9Shanghai World Financial Center
- city: Shanghai
- cost: USD $1.2 billion
- country: China
- floors: 101
- height: 1,614 feet / 492 meters
- year: 2008
The Shanghai World Financial Center is China's fourth tallest building and the nineth tallest in the world. Its most distinctive feature is the trapdezoid aperture at the peak, which makes the tower look like a giant bottle opener.
10International Commerce Centre
- city: Hong Kong
- cost: USD $1.5 billion
- country: China
- floors: 118
- height: 1,588 feet / 484 meters
- year: 2010
The International Commerce Centre consists of office space, an observation deck called Sky100, and a five-star hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong. The hotel has the world's highest swimming pool called the OZONE, which can be found on the 118th floor.