The Art Newspaper reveals in exclusivity World’s Top 100 most visited museums in 2025

Culture remains a stable, strong element of appeal for global travelers and locals. The Art Newspaper’s annual survey of visitor numbers, which compiles figures from leading art museums worldwide.

As the globe’s most iconic institutions continue to welcome millions of visitors annually, some are still struggling to regain pre-pandemic numbers. Some long-established museums still struggle to return to their pre-Covid glory.

The Art Newspaper‘s survey shows that 2025 saw over 200 million visits to the top 100 museums. This represents a substantial recovery from the pandemic low of 54 million in 2020, though still short of the 230 million recorded in 2019.

Meanwhile, newly opened museums, particularly in Asia and Latin America, are attracting unprecedented attention. In regions such as the Middle East and East Asia, demand appears almost limitless, while highly museum-dense cities like London and New York are also seeing successful launches.

United Kingdom

London’s National Gallery illustrates the challenge of the recovery for major cultural institutions. Despite reopening its Sainsbury Wing in May 2025 with a redesigned entrance and rehung galleries featuring works from Leonardo da Vinci to Vincent van Gogh, the museum’s 2025 visitor total reached nearly 4.2 million—30% higher than the previous year but still 30% below 2019. Monthly averages remained around 15% lower than pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that the reopening bump may be temporary. If trends continue, the National Gallery is expected to reach approximately 4.9 million visitors in 2026.

Nearby, the National Portrait Gallery returned to pre-pandemic levels with 1.5 million visitors, while the newly opened V&A East Storehouse in Stratford attracted nearly 60,000 visitors per month—exceeding its annual target in just five months. This success bodes well for the full V&A East, scheduled to open later in 2026.

The UK museum sector shows a mixed picture. The British Museum reported a strong 6.4 million visitors, while London’s Natural History Museum recorded a record 7.1 million visitors. Oxford and Cambridge museums, such as the Ashmolean and Fitzwilliam, also saw healthy growth. Conversely, Tate galleries remain below 2019 levels, with Tate Modern down 26% and Tate Britain down 36%. Internal data shared with The Art Newspaper revealed that while domestic visitors had largely returned, international visitors, particularly young Europeans, were still underrepresented—a trend attributed to Brexit.

Europe

Mainland Europe saw relatively steady attendance. Spain’s Prado Museum in Madrid surpassed 3.5 million visitors for the first time, although director Miguel Falomir emphasized that the museum’s success is measured by quality, not sheer numbers. Paris’s Louvre remained at the top of the list with over 9 million visitors, despite challenges including theft, ticket fraud, and leadership changes. Other major European museums, including the Musée d’Orsay, Vatican Museums, and Florence’s Uffizi, maintained high attendance. Northern Europe displayed mixed results: Amsterdam’s Stedelijk and Van Gogh Museums benefited from an Anselm Kiefer exhibition, while Berlin’s Humboldt Forum saw a slight decline after introducing ticket charges.

Russia’s museums continued to thrive despite an almost compelte absence of foreign visitors due to the country’s relative isolation since its invasion of Ukraine.  The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg surpassed 5 million visitors, outpacing both the Hermitage and Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery.

Asia, the Middle East, and Australia

Asia continues to lead in visitor growth. Shanghai Museum East recorded 4.6 million visits in 2025, while the original branch brought in 2.4 million. Hong Kong’s M+ and Palace Museum maintained steady figures, and Korea’s National Museum in Seoul surged 70% to 6.5 million visitors. Japan saw mixed results, with Tokyo National Museum slightly up and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum declining 14%.

In Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria led with 3 million visitors, boosted by a record-breaking Yayoi Kusama exhibition. Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales saw 2.4 million visitors, nearly double 2019 figures, while Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art recorded just under 1.2 million.

Israel’s museum attendance suffered due to ongoing conflict, with the Israel Museum closing twice weekly and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art limited to 244 operational days, though both still exceeded one million visitors. The largest art museum is however Le Louvre Abu Dhabi, which recorded over 1.4 million visitors in 2025.

They are no reliable figures of the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum outside Cairo. After its formal opening in November, the museum reported it was receiving up to 18,000 visitors a day. The Art Newspaper explains that it would then equate to around 6.5 million annually, similar to the British Museum attendance.

United States

U.S. museums saw mixed trends. Natural disasters and political disruptions affected attendance, notably the Los Angeles wildfires and the federal government shutdown. The Getty Villa’s visitor count dropped 58% due to prolonged closures, while the Getty Center remained stable at 1.3 million visitors. Washington, D.C.’s federally funded museums lost visitors due to the shutdown, with the National Gallery of Art down 28% and the National Museum of African American History and Culture down 13%.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York remained the U.S.’s top museum, drawing nearly 6 million visitors after reopening its revamped Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Other leading institutions included the National Gallery of Art, MoMA, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Smaller museums, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Morgan Library and Museum, saw substantial growth, sometimes exceeding 20% year-on-year.

Latin America

Latin America experienced remarkable growth, particularly in Mexico and Brazil. Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología set a record with 5.1 million visitors, while Brazil’s São Paulo-based Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand more than doubled its attendance to 1.2 million, aided by a popular Claude Monet exhibition. Other institutions, including Instituto Tomie Ohtake and Casa Fiat de Cultura, also reported large gains.

Overall, 2025 showcased the resilience and evolving landscape of global museums. While Europe and the U.S. maintained steady attendance, Asia and Latin America witnessed surging interest, fueled by blockbuster exhibitions and new venues. Immersive experiences remain popular, yet 2025 also marked the return of the classics, with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist exhibitions dominating audiences worldwide.

Source: The Art Newspaper, annual visitor-numbers survey 2025

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