Tallest Skyscrapers

There’s nothing like standing at the base of the Empire State Building and looking up, up, up! It’s mind-boggling to think that the building held the distinction of the world’s tallest building from 1931 until 1972, when it was surpassed by the north tower of the World Trade Center and then topped by Chicago’s Sears Tower in 1974.

Since then, the race has been on to peak as the tallest building in the world. Skyscraperpage.com weighs in with a definitive list of buildings in the world, ordered by official height based on either roofline or spire, whichever is greater. If the site included antenna height, Sears Tower would still lead the list. (Warning: Once you get a look at the site’s fascinating comparison chart showing architectural scale drawings of 14,263 structures from all over the world, you can spend hours scrolling through the list!).

Burj Dubai, which will eventually take over the No. 1 slot, is not included in this list because it is still under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. When completed in September 2009, it will tower 643.3 meters at its roofline, dwarfing the current top tower, Tapei 101 (pictured), which stands 508 meters.

Here’s the list of the Top 10 tallest buildings in the world:

1. Tapei 101, Taipei, Taiwan (508 meters with spire)
2. Petranas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (452 meters with spire)
3. Sears Tower, Chicago, (442.3 meters roofline; 527.3 meters with antenna)
4. Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China (420.5 with spire)
5. 2 International Finance Centre, Hong Kong, China (406.9 meters roofline)
6. CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China (391.1 meters with spire)
7. Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China (384 meters with spire)
8. Empire State Building, New York City (381 meters roofline)
9. Central Plaza, Hong Kong, China (374 meters with spire)
10. Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, China (367.4 meters with spire)