About this chart race
The Empire State Building held the record for nearly four decades, longer than any building since. The Burj Khalifa's 828 m is more than twice the Empire State Building's 381 m, and no building has come within 140 m of it since it opened in 2010.
This animated ranking shows how height changed across 61 series between 1930 and 2026. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2026, Burj Khalifa leads with 828 m.
Included in this race
Burj Khalifa, Merdeka Maybank Tower, Shanghai Tower, Mecca Royal Clock Tower, Ping An Finance Centre, Lotte World Tower, One World Trade Center, Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, CITIC Tower, Taipei 101, Shanghai World Fin. Center, International Commerce Centre, Petronas Tower 2, Petronas Tower 1, Zifeng Tower, Willis Tower, KK100, Guangzhou IFC, Trump Tower Chicago, Jin Mao Tower, World Trade Center North, World Trade Center South, International Finance Centre, CITIC Plaza, Shun Hing Square, Empire State Building, Central Plaza, Bank of China Tower, Emirates Office Tower, 85 Sky Tower, Aon Center, 875 North Michigan Avenue, Chrysler Building, Bank of America Plaza, U.S. Bank Tower, Franklin Center, JPMorgan Chase Tower, Wells Fargo Plaza, First Canadian Place, 70 Pine Street, 40 Wall Street, Renaissance Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, Chase Tower, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, U.S. Steel Tower, 28 Liberty Street, MetLife Building, Woolworth Building, Moscow State University, Palace of Culture (Warsaw), 20 Exchange Place, Terminal Tower, Metropolitan Life Tower, 500 Fifth Avenue, One Grand Central Place, Singer Building, Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Temple Building, Palmolive Building.
Source
Data from Wikipedia / CTBUH. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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