Bruce Springsteen · Born in the U.S.A.

Dancing in the Dark

Dancing in the Dark is in B major at 148.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

149 BPM · Allegromedian of 295 analyses · 148.1–148.8 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B major5 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
96%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
295people who ran the extractor
One beat
403.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.5Hz · +2 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.66dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.898Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.251Essentia'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

295 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in B major, a key signature of 5 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 295 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 148.7 BPM one beat lasts 403.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 100.9 ms and a dotted eighth 302.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 74.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 297.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.5 Hz, which is 2 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.66 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 0.898 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 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 B major

Each of these differs from B 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 149 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note416140.62
Half note28071.24
Dotted quarter1.5605.21.65
Quarter note (one beat)1403.52.48
Quarter triplet0.6672693.72
Dotted eighth0.75302.63.3
Eighth note0.5201.74.96
Eighth triplet0.333134.57.44
Dotted sixteenth0.375151.36.61
Sixteenth note0.25100.99.91
Sixteenth triplet0.16767.214.87
Thirty-second note0.12550.419.83

Half time 74.4 BPM · double time 297.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (403.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. London’s BurningThe ClashB major148BPM
  2. How to Draw / PetrichorThe 1975B major148BPM
  3. Love ManOtis ReddingB major151BPM
  4. Hate & WarThe ClashB major151BPM
  5. I’m YoursJason MrazB major151BPM
  6. You Can Let GoBackstreet BoysB major146BPM
  7. Gone Too SoonMichael JacksonB major145BPM
  8. You Found MeThe FrayB major152BPM
  9. Skinny LoveBon IverB major153BPM
  10. Whatcha See Is Whatcha GetThe DramaticsB major153BPM

Recordings in B major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 149 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B majorAll songs at 149 BPMB major at 140–149 BPMBruce Springsteen

MusicBrainz collapses 159 recording ids into this one. Recording id f2f99a81-9375-4557-8138-2a0a297f5c85.