Blondie · Parallel Lines
Hanging on the Telephone
Hanging on the Telephone is in C minor at 151.8 beats per minute.
Tempo
152 BPM · Allegromedian of 411 analyses · 150.7–152.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C minor3 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 93%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 411people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 395.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 435.2Hz · -19 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.58dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.936Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.145Essentia'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
411 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 93% — put it in C minor, a key signature of 3 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 411 readings; 94% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 150.7 to 152.3 BPM.
At 151.8 BPM one beat lasts 395.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 98.8 ms and a dotted eighth 296.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 75.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 303.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 435.2 Hz, which is 19 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 4.58 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 0.936 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 C minor; 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 C minor
Each of these differs from C minor 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 152 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1581 | 0.63 |
| Half note | 2 | 790.5 | 1.27 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 592.9 | 1.69 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 395.3 | 2.53 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 263.5 | 3.8 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 296.4 | 3.37 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 197.6 | 5.06 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 131.8 | 7.59 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 148.2 | 6.75 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 98.8 | 10.12 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 65.9 | 15.18 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 49.4 | 20.24 |
Half time 75.9 BPM · double time 303.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (395.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- MustaphaQueenC minor152BPM
- A New Machine, Part 1Pink FloydC minor151BPM
- The Rockafeller SkankFatboy SlimC minor153BPM
- SkyfallAdeleC minor151BPM
- Breakfast in AmericaSupertrampC minor151BPM
- High HopesPink FloydC minor150BPM
- Be With YouBeyoncéC minor150BPM
- Heat MiserMassive AttackC minor150BPM
- BiologicalAirC minor150BPM
- High SpeedColdplayC minor155BPM
Recordings in C minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 152 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C minorAll songs at 152 BPMC minor at 150–159 BPMBlondie
MusicBrainz collapses 37 recording ids into this one. Recording id ca758251-2553-4e00-8914-14751de89e2c.