Man has always desired to reach the top, be it by building a gigantic ship like the Titanic, the huge airship or the tallest building in the world. Even in the Bible, we read about people in the city of Babylon, who decided to build a tower so high that it would have its top in the heavens. They called it the 'Tower of Babel'. It has been and still is man's innermost desire to be above the others, and this desire has resulted in the construction of skyscrapers rising hundreds of meters into the air, overlooking the thousands of ordinary brick-and-mortar buildings of the concrete jungle in the urban landscape. Tallest Building in the World During the first 90 years of this century, the title of the tallest building in the world was enjoyed by USA, who constructed several famous tall buildings. Chicago's Sears Tower, completed in 1974, held this prestigious title for more than 20 years. However, in 1996, Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur snatched away the title. But there were a lot of contentions with regards to which is the tallest, Sears or Petronas. To put an end to the debate, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which is the official body who has the authority to determine which building deserves the title of the 'tallest building in the world', came up with four basic categories for measuring tall buildings. They make their decision based on four factors such as height to the architectural top of the building, height of highest occupied floor in the building, height to the top of the roof, height to the top of the antenna, and then give their verdict. Which is the Tallest Building in the World Today? The tallest building today is 'Burj Khalifa' of Dubai, UAE. Standing at a fantastic height of 2716 feet or 828m, this building breaks the record of the previous record holder, Taiwan 101. Officially opened on Jan. 4, 2010, this record breaker was welcomed with a fabulous celebration of laser show and fireworks that seemed to be shooting from the building itself. The tower itself cost $150 billion to build. This needle-shaped skyscrapers' construction began in 2004 and was known as Burj Dubai during its construction. However, with the economic downturn, Dubai found itself crumbling under the weight of its debts. Abu Dhabi, Dubai's oil rich neighbor then helped bail the nation out by lending $10 billion (£6.13bn) to pay off the debts. Thus, in gratitude for the warm, salvaging gesture, Dubai renamed the building Burj Khalifa, after Abu Dhabi's leader, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan. Besides being the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa also has the most stories and the highest occupied floor of any building in the world. It has been built in a 'Y' shape with three wings to keep the weight balanced. The building boasts of housing the world's first Armani hotel on the bottom floors. It also comprises 900 Dubai residences, 37 floors of office space, and a superb dining restaurant and observation deck on the 124th floor. People can ascend to the deck via the longest lift in the world, which takes only two minutes to travel 504 meters. Let's now find out some more about the other tall buildings on this planet. Which are Some of the Tallest Buildings in the World?

Building Name	City and Country	Year of Completion	Height (feet)	Floors
Burj Khalifa	Dubai, The United Arab Emirates	2010	2,716	160
Taipei 101	Taipei, Taiwan	2004	1,667	101
World Financial Center	Shanghai, China	2008	1,614	101
Petronas Tower 1	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	1,483	88
Petronas Tower 2	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	1,483	88
Greenland Financial Center	Nanjing, China	2009	1,476	66
Sears Tower	Chicago, United States	1974	1451	108
Guangzhou West Tower	Guangzhou, China	2009	1,435	103
Jin Mao Building	Shanghai, China	1999	1,381	88
Two International Finance Center	Hong Kong	2003	1,362	88

Potential Ten Tallest Buildings in the World by 2015

Building Name	City and Country	Year of Completion	Height (meters)	Floors
Burj Khalifa	Dubai, The United Arab Emirates	2010	828	160
Pingan International Finance Center	Shenzhen, China	2015 (Under Construction)	646	115
Light Tower	Seoul, South Korea	2015 (Under Construction)	640.1	133
Shanghai Tower	Shanghai, China	2015 (Under Construction)	632	128
Abraj Al Bait Towers	Mecca, Saudi Arabia	2011 (Under Construction)	591	85
Lotte World Premium Tower	Seoul, South Korea	2014 (Under Construction)	554.7	123
One World Trade Center	New York City, United States	2013 (Under Construction)	541.3	108
Hyundai Global Business Center	Seoul, South Korea	2014 (Under Construction)	539.8	110
Pentominium	Dubai, The United Arab Emirates	2014 (Under Construction)	516	122
Burj Al Alam	Dubai, The United Arab Emirates	2015 (On Hold)	510	108

After having a look at the prospective tallest buildings coming up by the year 2015, we find that Burj Khalifa of Dubai will continue to reign as the tallest building in the world!