Bruce Springsteen · Born to Run
Thunder Road
Thunder Road is in F major at 140.3 beats per minute.
Tempo
140 BPM · Allegromedian of 233 analyses · 140.2–142.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 96%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 233people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 427.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438.7Hz · -5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.4dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.735Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.17Essentia'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
233 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 233 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 140.2 to 142.1 BPM.
At 140.3 BPM one beat lasts 427.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 106.9 ms and a dotted eighth 320.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 70.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 280.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.7 Hz, which is 5 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 4.4 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 0.735 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 140 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1710.6 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 855.3 | 1.17 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 641.5 | 1.56 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 427.7 | 2.34 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 285.1 | 3.51 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 320.7 | 3.12 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 213.8 | 4.68 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 142.6 | 7.02 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 160.4 | 6.24 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 106.9 | 9.35 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 71.3 | 14.03 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 53.5 | 18.71 |
Half time 70.2 BPM · double time 280.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (427.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
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
- Honey, HoneyABBAF major141BPM
- UnmistakableBackstreet BoysF major140BPM
- Another Saturday NightCat StevensF major140BPM
- It’s Still Rock and Roll to MeBilly JoelF major141BPM
- Border Song (Holy Moses)Aretha FranklinF major140BPM
- Low RiderWarF major140BPM
- SmoochMiles Davis QuartetF major140BPM
- TutuMiles DavisF major141BPM
- GirlsBeastie BoysF major139BPM
- WinDavid BowieF major139BPM
Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in F majorAll songs at 140 BPMF major at 140–149 BPMBruce Springsteen
MusicBrainz collapses 317 recording ids into this one. Recording id bbcedc0f-2fff-42f4-9ca6-6d2263d1a042.