These are the 10 tallest buildings known on this planet, as of 22 May 2005:
  1. Taipei 101, Taipei, completed 2004, 101 stories, 508m - 1,667ft
  2. Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, completed 1998, 88 stories, 452m - 1,483ft
  3. Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, completed 1998, 88 stories, 452m - 1,483ft
  4. Sears Tower, Chicago, completed 1974, 110 stories, 442m - 1450ft
  5. Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, completed 1999, 88 stories, 421m - 1,381ft
  6. Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong, completed 2003, 88 stories 415m - 1,362ft
  7. CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China, completed 1996, 80 stories, 391m - 1,283ft
  8. Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China, completed 1996, 69 stories, 384m - 1,260ft
  9. Empire State Building, New York, completed 1931, 102 stories, 381m - 1,250ft
  10. Central Plaza, Hong Kong, completed 1992, 78 stories, 374m - 1,227ft

And there are five buildings taller than the Petronas Towers currently under construction, so the list is due for a shakeup.






Editor's note, 2010:

Currently, the list stands at

Burj Khalifa, Dubai
Taipei 101, Taipei
Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai
International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong
Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur
Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur
Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing
Willis Tower, Chicago
Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou
Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago

This writeup needs to be superseded, and you could be the one to do it!