The World’s Most Visited Museums

In an annual visitor-numbers survey compiled by The Art Newspaper, the results are in for 2025 - and some of the museums may surprise you.

The Louvre continues to be the world's most visited museum

However, it is unlikely you will be surprised by the museum in the number one spot: the Louvre continues to lead with around 9 million visitors, reinforcing its status as a cultural landmark. Coming in second place with 6.9 million visitors is the Vatican Museums in Vatican City. But beyond these familiar frontrunners, the data reveals an evolving museum landscape.

Museums across Asia are climbing the rankings, with the National Museum of Korea in Seoul coming in third with 6.5 million visitors in 2025. This is a whopping 70 percent increase from 2024 which The Art Newspaper suggests may be down to an increase in worldwide interest in Korean culture. Another Asian museum within the top 10 and doing better than the prior year is the Shanghai Museum East. It debuted in 2024 with 4.2 million visitors but has gained more foot traffic in 2025 with about 4.5 million visitors - putting it eighth in the global visitor rankings.

Even as Asia rises, major Western institutions remain deeply influential. The British Museum (6.4 million visitors) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (5.9 million visitors) continue to rank among the most visited globally, drawing millions with their encyclopedic collections and blockbuster exhibitions.

The Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, for instance, had 5 million visitors in 2025 - an increase of just over one third compared to its 2024 patronage. This museum was fractionally behind the Russian State Museum in St Petersburg which had a 41 percent rise in visitor numbers in 2025.

You can see the full list of the world’s 100 most visited museums compiled on Airtable.