Top 30 Tallest Buildings in the World, Part 2 (2021 List, Rechecked 2026)

A 30 story building is typically about 90-110 m (300-360 ft) tall, while every tower in this list is more than four times that height, between 420 m and 454 m. This page is part two of Arch2O’s 2021 list of the world’s tallest buildings (positions 16 to 30), now re-checked in October 2026: each entry gives its height, floors, completion year and architect, and a ranked table shows where each tower stands today. It is for students, travellers and anyone comparing skyscraper heights.

How tall is a 30 story building compared with these towers?

Floor-to-floor heights in offices are usually about 3.5-4.2 m and in apartments about 3.0-3.3 m, so a 30 story building (30 storeys in British spelling) lands at roughly 90-125 m depending on use, plant floors and the crown. London’s Centre Point, completed in 1966, is a useful real example: 34 floors and 117 m (Wikipedia, Centre Point). Jin Mao Tower, the shortest building below at 420.5 m, is about 3.6 times as tall; The Exchange 106, the tallest at 453.6 m, is about 3.9 times as tall. In other words, each tower here would stack nearly four Centre Points.

What was the tallest building in the world in 2020, and what changed since?

This is part two of the 2021 list. Read part one of the tallest buildings list for entries 1 to 15. In 2020 and 2021 the tallest building in the world was, as it still is, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 m). Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, once expected to overtake it around 2020, stalled after 2018 and was not complete when this page was checked; the earlier overview Piercing the Sky: What is the Tallest Building in the World? covers its background.

Since 2021, several new towers have entered the global top 20, including Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur (2024, now second), Wuhan Greenland Center (2023), Central Park Tower in New York (2021) and the International Land-Sea Center in Chongqing (2024), according to the Wikipedia list of tallest buildings (as of 2026). As a result, the towers below have moved down: they now rank between 19th and 37th.

Method: data source, criteria and as-of date

Heights are architectural heights (to the top of the structure including spires, excluding antennas), the measure used by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) in its Skyscraper Center database. Figures and current ranks were checked against the Wikipedia list of tallest buildings, which follows CTBUH criteria, on 31 October 2026. Only completed buildings are ranked; towers under construction are excluded. Floors are above-ground floors. Where the original 2021 text was wrong, the correction is noted in the entry.

16. Changsha IFS Tower T1, 452.1 m (1,483 ft)

• Location: Changsha, China
• Completed: 2018
• Architect: Wong Tung & Partners
• Floors: 94
• Function: Hotel and office

Tower T1 is the taller of two towers in the Changsha International Finance Square development, a mixed office, hotel and retail complex in the centre of the Hunan provincial capital. It ranks 20th in the world today.

17. Petronas Twin Tower 1, 451.9 m (1,483 ft)

• Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Completed: 1998
• Architect: Cesar Pelli & Associates
• Floors: 88
• Function: Office

18. Petronas Twin Tower 2, 451.9 m (1,483 ft)

• Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Completed: 1998
• Architect: Cesar Pelli & Associates
• Floors: 88
• Function: Office

The twin towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 until 2004, and remain the tallest twin towers. Their floor plan is based on an eight-pointed star derived from Islamic geometric patterns, linking the towers to Malaysia‘s culture. The double-deck skybridge between them is not part of the main structure; it links the towers’ circulation and forms part of the evacuation strategy.

19. Suzhou IFS, 450 m (1,476 ft)

• Location: Suzhou, China
• Completed: 2019
• Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
• Floors: 95
• Function: Hotel, office and serviced apartments

The Suzhou International Finance Square tower stands beside Jinji Lake in Suzhou‘s industrial park district and is the city’s tallest building, ranking 24th in the world today. Its tapering, sail-like profile combines offices low down with a hotel and serviced apartments at the top.

20. Zifeng Tower, 450 m (1,476 ft)

• Location: Nanjing, China
• Completed: 2010
• Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Floors: 89 (the 2021 list said 66)
• Function: Hotel and office

Also known as the Greenland Square Zifeng Tower, it is the tallest building in Nanjing and part of a complex that includes a lower office building and retail podium. Its triangular plan follows the shape of the site.

21. The Exchange 106, 453.6 m (1,488 ft)

• Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Completed: 2019
• Architect: Group Architects, Peter Chan (architect of record); developer Mulia Group (the 2021 list named the developer as architect)
• Floors: 95
• Function: Office

Formerly called the TRX Signature Tower, The Exchange 106 is the centrepiece of the Tun Razak Exchange financial district in Kuala Lumpur. CTBUH recognises an architectural height of 453.6 m; a larger figure of 492 m once quoted by the developer was height above sea level. On today’s figures it is the tallest tower on this page, ranking 19th in the world.

22. Wuhan Center Tower, 443.1 m (1,454 ft)

• Location: Wuhan, China
• Completed: 2019
• Architect: East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI)
• Floors: 88
• Function: Hotel, residential and office

Wuhan Center stands in the Wangjiadun business district of Wuhan and stacks offices, apartments and a hotel in one tower. It was overtaken as Wuhan’s tallest building by Wuhan Greenland Center in 2023.

23. Willis Tower, 442.1 m (1,450 ft)

• Location: Chicago, United States
• Completed: 1974
• Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Floors: 108
• Function: Office

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) was the tallest building in the world from 1974 until the Petronas Towers were completed in 1998. Its bundled-tube structure, engineered by Fazlur Khan of SOM, groups nine square steel tubes that stop at different heights, which produces the stepped silhouette and stiffens the tower against wind.

24. KK100, 441.8 m (1,449 ft)

• Location: Shenzhen, China
• Completed: 2011
• Architect: TFP Farrells
• Floors: 98
• Function: Hotel and office

The KK100 tower anchors a mixed-use redevelopment in central Shenzhen, combining offices with a hotel on the upper floors. Concentrating offices, homes and hotel rooms on one well-connected site is one of the main arguments made for mixed-use towers in fast-growing cities.

25. Guangzhou International Finance Center, 438.6 m (1,439 ft)

• Location: Guangzhou, China
• Completed: 2010
• Architect: WilkinsonEyre
• Floors: 101 (the 2021 list said 103)
• Function: Hotel and office

Also called Guangzhou West Tower, the building stands on the central axis of the Zhujiang New Town district of Guangzhou. Its rounded triangular plan and diagrid structure carry offices below and a hotel above.

26. One Vanderbilt, 427 m (1,401 ft)

• Location: New York City, United States
• Completed: 2020
• Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
• Floors: 62 (the 2021 list said 59)
• Function: Office

One Vanderbilt stands next to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. It offers large, largely column-free office floors with tall floor-to-ceiling glazing, and its upper floors house the SUMMIT observatory.

27. 432 Park Avenue, 425.7 m (1,397 ft)

• Location: New York City, United States
• Completed: 2015
• Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects
• Floors: 85
• Function: Residential

The 2021 list called this tower “423 Park Avenue”; its address is 432 Park Avenue. It is one of the slender “pencil towers” of Manhattan: a square concrete frame about 28.5 m wide with a height-to-width ratio of roughly 15:1, with open double-height floors that let wind pass through the tower.

28. Marina 101, 425 m (1,394 ft)

• Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Structure completed: 2017
• Architect: National Engineering Bureau; developer Sheffield Holdings (the 2021 list named Emaar Properties as architect)
• Floors: 101
• Function: Residential and hotel

Marina 101 stands in Dubai Marina, where it is the second-tallest building in Dubai after the Burj Khalifa. The structure was finished in 2017, but fit-out was delayed for years and sources disagree on when it was fully completed and opened.

29. Trump International Hotel & Tower, 423.2 m (1,388 ft)

• Location: Chicago, United States
• Completed: 2009
• Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Floors: 98
• Function: Residential and hotel

The tower stands on the north bank of the Chicago River. Its setbacks step back at heights chosen to line up with neighbouring buildings, and a riverside walk runs along its base.

30. Jin Mao Tower, 420.5 m (1,380 ft)

• Location: Shanghai, China
• Completed: 1999
• Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Floors: 88
• Function: Hotel and office

Jin Mao’s stepped silhouette is based on the traditional Chinese pagoda, and the number eight, considered lucky, recurs in its design, including its 88 floors. The tower has been reported as certified under LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance. It now ranks 37th in the world.

Summary

Positions 16 to 30 of the 2021 list are all between 420 m and 454 m, roughly four times the height of a 30 story building. Since 2021 newer towers have pushed them down to between 19th and 37th place worldwide. For the stories behind some of these and other landmarks, see famous buildings history, and for a very different tall-building story, read about the Tower of David in Venezuela.

Sources and further reading

• Wikipedia, “List of tallest buildings” (as of 2026; accessed 31 October 2026), following CTBUH criteria.
• CTBUH Skyscraper Center database.
• Wikipedia articles on The Exchange 106, Marina 101 and Centre Point (accessed 31 October 2026).