TempoPeek

Blondie · Eat to the Beat

The Hardest Part

The Hardest Part is in B minor at 117.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

117 BPM · Moderatomedian of 132 analyses · 117–117.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B minor2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
65%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
132people who ran the extractor
One beat
512.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
445.4Hz · +21 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.13dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.94Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.257Essentia'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

132 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 65% — put it in B minor, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 132 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 117.1 BPM one beat lasts 512.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 128.1 ms and a dotted eighth 384.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 234.2. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 445.4 Hz, which is 21 cents above 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 3.13 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 0.94 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 B 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 B minor

Each of these differs from B 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 117 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42049.50.49
Half note21024.80.98
Dotted quarter1.5768.61.3
Quarter note (one beat)1512.41.95
Quarter triplet0.667341.62.93
Dotted eighth0.75384.32.6
Eighth note0.5256.23.9
Eighth triplet0.333170.85.86
Dotted sixteenth0.375192.15.2
Sixteenth note0.25128.17.81
Sixteenth triplet0.16785.411.71
Thirty-second note0.1256415.61

Half time 58.6 BPM · double time 234.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (512.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. The Hardest PartColdplayE♭ major124BPM

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. Tuff EnuffThe Fabulous ThunderbirdsB minor117BPM
  2. Know YourselfDrakeB minor115BPM
  3. People Are StrangeThe DoorsB minor120BPM
  4. Government HookerLady GagaB minor120BPM
  5. Is It My BodyAlice CooperB minor114BPM
  6. Corazón espinadoSantana featuring ManáB minor120BPM
  7. Blue Morning, Blue DayForeignerB minor120BPM
  8. Penny LaneThe BeatlesB minor113BPM
  9. Stone Cold CrazyQueenB minor121BPM
  10. Immigrant SongLed ZeppelinB minor113BPM

Recordings in B minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 117 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B minorAll songs at 117 BPMB minor at 110–119 BPMBlondie

MusicBrainz collapses 9 recording ids into this one. Recording id 9d695187-6cd2-4936-aa18-f7d969648dd5.