CN Tower about to drop off list of the world's 10 tallest structures

It wasn't too long ago that Toronto boasted the claim of the world's tallest freestanding structure, but not even two decades since the CN Tower last wore the crown of the tallest self-supporting thing humanity had ever constructed, the internationally recognized landmark is about to be pushed off the top ten of a list it once dominated.

The CN Tower held the rank of the tallest freestanding structure for an impressive 32-year reign from its topping-out in 1975 until 2007, when it was overtaken in height by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

A total of eight skyscrapers and observation towers have filled the gap between these two titans in the almost two decades since the Burj topped out, but that's all set to change very soon.

Another statement of a building under construction in the Middle East will soon claim the top title — and push Toronto's own CN Tower off the list — of the world's ten tallest freestanding structures in the process.

Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower is racing towards the title of the world's tallest building with a planned one-kilometre height — almost twice the height of the CN Tower.

It seemed like a bit of a pipe dream when construction started in 2013, and even more so when work was halted in 2018 amid widespread purges within the Saudi power structure. Construction eventually resumed only to halt again during the pandemic, and restart yet again in 2023.

Now, the Jeddah Tower has raced 430 metres into the sky, and most recently surpassed its 108th of 167 floors at the end of July. 

A short 10,400 kilometres away, the CN Tower, now a half-century old, still stands proudly above Toronto, but its prominence on the global stage is about to fall off the list of the ten tallest freestanding structures in the world.

Excluding guyed communications masts and ocean oil platforms that are largely below the surface, the CN Tower currently sits in tenth place among the world's tallest freestanding, above-surface structures.

1. Burj Khalifa (829.8 metres) - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2. Merdeka 118 (680.5 metres) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3. Tokyo Skytree (634 metres) - Tokyo, Japan
4. Shanghai Tower (632 metres) - Shanghai, China
5. Canton Tower (604 metres) - Guangzhou, China
6. Mecca Royal Clock Tower (601 metres) - Mecca, Saudi Arabia
7. Ping An Finance Centre (599 metres) - Shenzhen, China
8. Goldin Finance 117 (597 metres) - Tianjin, China
9. Lotte World Tower (555.7 metres) - Seoul, South Korea
10. CN Tower (553 metres) - Toronto, Canada

Once the Jeddah Tower crosses the 553-metre mark, the CN Tower — while still the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere — will fall to 11th place.