Tallest TV and Observation Towers: Top 10

Tallest TV and observation towers are led by Tokyo Skytree at 634 metres, ahead of China's Canton Tower and Toronto's CN Tower, a past record holder.

This Finepedia guide, written in October 2026, ranks the 10 tallest free-standing towers built mainly for broadcasting and sightseeing, from Japan and China to Russia, Iran and Canada. For each one we give its height, when it opened and what visitors can see or do at the top. For more on record-breaking structures, see the Finepedia guides Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World and Famous Clock Towers Around the World: Top 10.

How We Chose These

A tower differs from a skyscraper because most of its height is not made up of floors people live or work on. That is why the Burj Khalifa and other giant buildings are not included here; they appear in our tallest buildings guide. We also left out masts held up by guy wires, because they are not free-standing. Heights are measured from the ground to the top of the antenna or spire and follow the List of tallest freestanding structures, checked against the towers' own official figures and the World Federation of Great Towers. Each entry has a short profile, four key facts and a note on why it matters or a surprising detail.

The 10 Tallest Towers at a Glance

1. Tokyo Skytree Is the World's Tallest Tower

Tokyo Skytree rises 634 metres above the Sumida ward of Tokyo, making it the loftiest tower anywhere and one of the three tallest structures on the planet. It took over from the older Tokyo Tower as the main broadcast mast for the Kantō region, because new high-rise buildings were blocking the old tower's signals.

Key Facts

• Height: 634 metres, reached in early 2011
• Completed: 29 February 2012, with public opening on 22 May 2012
• Viewing decks: at 350 metres and 450 metres
• Owner: Tobu Railway, with a group of TV broadcasters led by NHK

Did You Know?

The height of 634 metres was chosen on purpose. In Japanese the numbers 6, 3 and 4 can be read as "mu-sa-shi", recalling Musashi, the old name of the province that once covered the Tokyo area.

2. Canton Tower Twists Above Guangzhou

Canton Tower stands beside the Pearl River in Guangzhou, in southern China. Its slim, twisted lattice narrows at the waist, which has earned it the nickname "slim waist". The main body is 450 metres tall, and an antenna takes it to 600 metres.

Key Facts

• Height: 600 metres including the antenna
• Opened: 29 September 2010, just before the Asian Games
• Record: briefly the tallest tower on Earth, until Tokyo Skytree passed it
• Rooftop: an open-air deck at 488 metres, opened in December 2011

Did You Know?

Near the very top, glass passenger pods called the Bubble Tram creep around the tower's rim. They are often described as a Ferris wheel, but the pods stay level on a track rather than hanging from a wheel, and one full circuit takes 20 to 40 minutes.

3. CN Tower Was a Record Holder for Decades

The CN Tower in downtown Toronto stands 553.3 metres tall and was built by the Canadian National railway company, which gave it its initials. No self-supporting structure on land in the Western Hemisphere is taller.

Key Facts

• Height: 553.3 metres
• Completed: 1976
• Record: the highest self-supporting structure on Earth from 1975 until 2007
• Visitors: more than two million a year

Why It Matters

In 1995 the American Society of Civil Engineers listed the CN Tower among the seven wonders of the modern world. A glass floor at 342 metres, added in 1994, lets visitors stand above the streets with nothing but thick glass beneath their feet.

4. Ostankino Tower Is Europe's Tallest Structure

Ostankino Tower in Moscow is a concrete TV and radio tower designed by the engineer Nikolai Nikitin. It opened in 1967, fifty years after the October Revolution, and was the first self-supporting structure ever to top 500 metres.

Key Facts

• Height: 540.1 metres
• Opened: 1967
• Record: the highest self-supporting structure anywhere from 1967 to 1974
• Title today: the highest structure of its kind in Europe

Did You Know?

A serious fire broke out inside the tower in 2000, closing its viewing platform and the Seventh Heaven restaurant for years. Before the fire, more than 10 million guests had visited the top in around three decades.

5. Oriental Pearl Tower Is Shanghai's Icon

The Oriental Pearl Tower stands in Lujiazui on the east bank of the Huangpu River, facing the historic Bund. Its pink spheres strung along concrete columns make it one of the most photographed sights in China.

Key Facts

• Height: 468 metres including a 137-metre antenna
• Built: from 1991 to 1994
• Record: China's tallest structure until 2007
• Design: large spheres linked by three columns, with several observation decks

Did You Know?

Its designers said the spheres were inspired by a line in a Tang dynasty poem by Bai Juyi, which compares the notes of a lute to pearls of different sizes falling onto a jade plate.

6. Milad Tower Rises Over Tehran

Milad Tower is the tallest structure in Iran and stands in the north-west of Tehran. It began as part of a 1970s plan for a new city centre that was never built, and only the tower was finally completed decades later.

Key Facts

• Height: 435 metres from base to antenna tip
• Opened: 7 October 2008
• Building time: about 11 years
• Head: a big 12-storey pod whose roof sits at 315 metres

Why It Matters

Milad Tower is part of a larger trade and convention centre with a hotel and conference halls. It also regularly hosts Iran's leading film event, the Fajr festival.

7. Kuala Lumpur Tower Watches for the New Moon

Kuala Lumpur Tower, known locally as KL Tower or Menara Kuala Lumpur, stands on Bukit Nanas hill in the centre of the Malaysian capital. Its pod holds a revolving restaurant and the highest public viewpoint in the city.

Key Facts

• Height: 421 metres including the antenna
• Groundbreaking: 1 October 1991
• Opened to the public: 23 July 1996
• Pod roof: 336.5 metres above the ground

Did You Know?

The tower doubles as an Islamic observatory. Experts use it to look for the thin crescent moon that marks the start of holy months such as Ramadan, and an annual race sees runners climb its stairs to the top.

8. Tianjin's TV Tower Leads the North

Tianjin's Radio and Television Tower stands in the port city of Tianjin, south-east of Beijing, and is used mainly for broadcasting. On completion in 1991 it ranked among the tallest towers in Asia.

Key Facts

• Height: 415.2 metres
• Completed: 1991
• Cost: about 45 million US dollars
• Pod: a viewing level roughly two-thirds up the shaft

Why It Matters

The World Federation of Great Towers counts it as a member; that club is made up of leading towers around the globe that share ideas on safety, tourism and operation. It helped start a wave of tall TV towers across China in the 1990s.

9. Central Radio & TV Tower Overlooks Beijing

The Central Radio & TV Tower in western Beijing was finished in 1992 and carries transmitters for the national broadcaster CCTV. No structure in the capital stood higher until the China Zun skyscraper passed it in 2018.

Key Facts

• Height: 405 metres
• Completed: 1992
• Observation deck: at 238 metres
• Stairs: 1,484 steps up to the deck

Did You Know?

Every year runners take part in a race that starts with two laps around the base of the tower and ends with a climb of all 1,484 steps to the observation deck. A revolving restaurant offers a calmer way to enjoy the view.

10. Zhongyuan Tower Is a Steel Giant

Zhongyuan Tower, also called the Henan Radio and Television Tower, stands in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province in central China. It combines broadcasting with tourism, shops, dining and cultural shows.

Key Facts

• Height: 388 metres, including a 120-metre antenna
• Completed: October 2009 (opened to visitors around 2011)
• Steel: about 22,000 tonnes
• Record: the second-tallest steel tower after Tokyo Skytree

Did You Know?

From above, the tower's footprint resembles a five-petalled plum flower, which is also Henan's provincial emblem, and five petals sound like "five blessings" in Chinese.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tower is the tallest on Earth?

At 634 metres, Tokyo Skytree is the highest tower ever built. Only two buildings, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, stand taller among all free-standing structures.

Which towers just missed the top 10?

The Kyiv TV Tower in Ukraine, a steel lattice tower about 385 metres tall, comes 11th. The Tashkent Tower in Uzbekistan, at about 375 metres, comes 12th.

Conclusion

From Tokyo and Guangzhou to Toronto and Moscow, these ten towers carry signals to millions of homes and give visitors some of the highest views on Earth. Many also serve as symbols of the cities they stand in. For more on record-breaking structures, read the Finepedia guides Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World and Famous Clock Towers Around the World: Top 10.