The city-state of Singapore has over 4,300 completed high-rises, the majority of which are located in the Downtown Core. In the city, there are 59 skyscrapers that rise higher than 140 metres (459 ft). Three buildings share the title of tallest building in Singapore: United Overseas Bank Plaza One, Republic Plaza and Overseas Union Bank Centre. The three towers, which share the title of 106th-tallest building in the world, are each 280 m (919 ft) tall. There is a height restriction of 280 metres (919 ft) for structures in the central business district (only Raffles Place, Marina Bay Sands, Kallang River, Kallang and Mountbatten) of Singapore because of the proximity of Paya Lebar Airbase.

Singapore's history of skyscrapers began with the 1939 completion of the 17-storey Cathay Building. The 70-metre (230 ft) structure was, at the time of its completion, the tallest building in Southeast Asia; it was superseded by the 87-metre (285 ft) Asia Insurance Building in 1954, which remained the tallest in Singapore until the 100 m (328 ft) Shaw Centre was completed in 1958. Singapore went through a major building boom in the 1970s and 1980s that resulted from the city's rapid industrialisation. During this time, the Overseas Union Bank Centre became the tallest building in the city-state; the 280 m (919 ft) structure was also the tallest building in the world outside of North America from its 1986 completion until 1989, when the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong was completed. The skyscraper-building boom continued during the 1990s and 2000s, with 30 skyscrapers at least 140 m (459 ft) tall, many of them residential towers, constructed from 1990 through 2008.