Backstreet Boys · Black & Blue

Time

Time is in F major at 78.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

79 BPM · Andantemedian of 141 analyses · 78.9–78.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
141people who ran the extractor
One beat
760.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.84dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.85Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.287Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

141 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 141 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 78.9 BPM one beat lasts 760.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 190.1 ms and a dotted eighth 570.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 39.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 157.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.84 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.85 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in F major; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with F major

Each of these differs from F major by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 79 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note43041.80.33
Half note21520.90.66
Dotted quarter1.51140.70.88
Quarter note (one beat)1760.51.32
Quarter triplet0.6675071.97
Dotted eighth0.75570.31.75
Eighth note0.5380.22.63
Eighth triplet0.333253.53.95
Dotted sixteenth0.375285.23.51
Sixteenth note0.25190.15.26
Sixteenth triplet0.167126.77.89
Thirty-second note0.12595.110.52

Half time 39.5 BPM · double time 157.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (760.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. TimeDavid BowieC major148BPM
  2. TimePink FloydA major121BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. I’m Supposed to Die Tonight50 CentF major80BPM
  2. End GameTaylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran & FutureF major80BPM
  3. Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)Ella FitzgeraldF major78BPM
  4. DisappearBeyoncéF major78BPM
  5. RendezvousCraig DavidF major80BPM
  6. RehabRihannaF major80BPM
  7. Where Are We Now?David BowieF major80BPM
  8. Rimshot (outro)Erykah BaduF major80BPM
  9. What About LoveHeartF major80BPM
  10. On & OnErykah BaduF major80BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 79 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 79 BPMF major at 70–79 BPMBackstreet Boys

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 62079f9d-5556-4952-a464-361794c92155.