The Louvre held its crown as the planet's busiest art museum in 2025, but a Korean newcomer stormed into the global top three.
Quick answer: 1. Louvre, 2. Vatican Museums, 3. National Museum of Korea, 4. British Museum, 5. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6. State Russian Museum, 7. National Museum of Anthropology, 8. Shanghai Museum East, 9. Tate Modern, 10. National Gallery.
Every spring, The Art Newspaper publishes the definitive census of museum-going: how many people walked through the doors of the world's great art museums in the previous calendar year. This list ranks the ten most-visited for 2025, from the Louvre's nine million to the newly rebuilt National Gallery in London. It's a snapshot of where the world went to look at art — and the 2025 numbers tell a story of shifting gravity, with Seoul's National Museum of Korea vaulting into third place and China's brand-new Shanghai Museum East cracking the top ten in its first full year.
The world's most-visited museum for decades running, the Louvre drew just over nine million people to see the Mona Lisa and its encyclopedic collection. Its 2025 total dwarfs every rival by more than two million visitors.
Second in the world, the Vatican Museums funnel millions through galleries that culminate in the Sistine Chapel. Its nearly seven million visitors kept it comfortably ahead of the field.
The survey's biggest riser, up more than 70% year over year, the National Museum of Korea vaulted to third worldwide on a wave of global interest in Korean culture.
The UK's most-visited museum held roughly level with 2024. Free admission keeps its encyclopedic collection among the busiest in the world.
The most-visited art museum in the Americas, the Met rose about 4% year over year to just under six million visitors.
The largest repository of Russian fine art, the State Russian Museum continued strong growth in 2025 to surpass five million visitors.
Mexico's flagship museum of pre-Columbian art and artifacts, counted in the survey's art-museum ranking, drew just over five million visitors.
One of the newest entrants on the list, the vast East branch opened fully in 2024 and pulled in roughly 4.6 million visitors in its first complete year.
The world's most-visited museum of modern art, Tate Modern remains popular but is still running about 26% below its 2019 peak.
London's National Gallery surged 29% year over year following the reopening of its redesigned Sainsbury Wing, rounding out the global top ten.
| # | Name | city | country | founded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louvre | Paris | France | 1793 |
| 2 | Vatican Museums | Vatican City | Vatican City | 1506 |
| 3 | National Museum of Korea | Seoul | South Korea | 1945 |
| 4 | British Museum | London | United Kingdom | 1753 |
| 5 | Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York City | United States | 1870 |
| 6 | State Russian Museum | Saint Petersburg | Russia | 1895 |
| 7 | National Museum of Anthropology | Mexico City | Mexico | 1964 |
| 8 | Shanghai Museum East | Shanghai | China | 2024 |
| 9 | Tate Modern | London | United Kingdom | 2000 |
| 10 | National Gallery | London | United Kingdom | 1824 |
Museums are ranked by total reported visitors during the 2025 calendar year, as compiled by The Art Newspaper's annual museum attendance survey (published 31 March 2026). Inclusion follows the survey's own definition of "art museums," which counts encyclopedic and national museums; general-interest and science museums are excluded. Where an institution operates multiple sites, the single-institution figure used by the survey is applied. The Louvre's 2025 total is drawn from The Art Newspaper's survey data. Rank 1 is the highest visitor count. A reader can reproduce the order by sorting the reported 2025 visitor totals in descending order.
The Louvre in Paris, with about 9,046,000 visitors in 2025 — its position as the world's busiest museum, unchanged for decades. It drew more than two million more visitors than the second-place Vatican Museums.
By total reported visitors during the 2025 calendar year, as compiled by The Art Newspaper's annual museum attendance survey published on 31 March 2026. The survey counts encyclopedic and national art museums; general-interest and science museums are excluded.
The National Museum of Korea in Seoul, up more than 70% year over year to about 6.5 million visitors, vaulting it to third in the world on surging interest in Korean culture.
Yes. Shanghai Museum East, whose vast new building opened fully in 2024, drew roughly 4.6 million visitors in its first complete year and entered the global top ten at number eight.