History of the world's tallest buildings
The buildings that were the tallest secular skyscrapers, which excludes religious buildings, were:
The list of tallest buildings is based on the default metric of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), that of measuring to the highest architectural element. Other criteria would generate a different list. Shanghai World Financial Center is not on the above list, but it surpassed Taipei 101 in 2008 to become the building with the highest occupied floor. Using the criteria of highest tip (including antennae), the World Trade Center in New York City was the world's tallest building from 1972 to 2000, until the Sears Tower in Chicago (which already had a higher occupied floor than the World Trade Center) had its antenna extended to give that building the world's tallest tip; a title it held until the 2010 completion of Burj Khalifa. Petronas Towers and Taipei 101 were never the world's tallest buildings by the highest–tip criteria.
List of tallest buildings by U.S. state and territory
The building heights compared here are calculated from the ground level to the architectural top and include heights of all habitable structures irrespective of number of occupied floors. Non-freestanding structures, observational towers, and communication towers are excluded (North Dakota boasts the largest guyed mast structure in the world), as are antennas extending from the structure top. However integral spires are included, facilitating One World Trade Center to be considered taller than Willis Tower, even though the highest occupied floor of Willis Tower is higher than that of One World Trade Center. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is considered the arbiter for any dispute. For more information, see building heights.