Asia dominates the list of the world’s best city skylines for 2026

There are city skylines. And then there are city skylines that make you stop mid-walk to look up. A new ranking by luggage storage platform Radical Storage has named the world’s best city skylines for 2026 – and Asia more or less owns the list.

The index looked at the world’s top 100 cities from the Skyscraper Centre and scored them across five factors: the number of skyscrapers over 150 metres, the average height of each city’s ten tallest buildings, night-time skyline visibility, skyline density and the number of award-winning buildings.

Taking the top spot is Shenzhen, with a score of 7.1 out of 10. The Chinese city is known for its technology and manufacturing, but it also has plenty of skyscrapers – 679 over 150 metres, including 22 over 300 metres, with a top-ten average height of 418 metres.

Dubai ranks second, followed by Hong Kong in third. Hong Kong’s place will surprise absolutely no one who has ever stood by Victoria Harbour and watched that wall of high-rises switch on after dark. The city has 677 skyscrapers over 150 metres and one of the densest skylines in the top 10.

China dominates the ranking overall, taking six of the ten spots. Beyond Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Wuhan comes in fifth, Guangzhou sixth, Shanghai seventh and Chongqing joint ninth.

There are other Asian heavyweights, too. Kuala Lumpur comes in eighth place, helped by 277 skyscrapers over 150 metres and a skyline that includes Merdeka 118 and the Petronas Twin Towers. Tokyo places joint ninth, standing out less for supertall drama and more for night-time visibility, scoring 0.94 out of one after dark.

Top 10 cities with the world’s best skylines in 2026, according to Radical Storage:

1. Shenzhen, China
2. Dubai, UAE
3. Hong Kong, China
4. New York City, USA
5. Wuhan, China
6. Guangzhou, China
7. Shanghai, China
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9. Tokyo, Japan
10. Chongqing, China

Read the full list here. 

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