Earthquakes generally are characterized by 6 components: 3 translation components and 3 rotational components. However, it is observed that due to the lack of resources in measuring, and the complex behaviour of earthquake’s rotational components, its impact is not generally considered in the seismic design and analysis of engineering structures. However, recent studies reveal the fact that the influence of the earthquake’s rotational components on the seismic structural response of the engineering structures is not negligible. Moreover, its impact on the behaviour of tall buildings has not been properly addressed, so far, in the literature. This study focuses on the seismic performance of a linear 20-storey tall steel building with steel shear walls, subjected to earthquake excitation (3 translation and 3 rotation components). It highlights the significant endowment of the earthquake’s rotational components to the seismic structural response of steel buildings. The 2015 Lefkada earthquake data, having rotational components, is considered for the current study. The linear time history analysis is done using ETABS.