Cream · Wheels of Fire

Sitting on Top of the World

Sitting on Top of the World is in G minor at 144.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

145 BPM · Allegromedian of 232 analyses · 133.1–164.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
G minor2 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
38%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
232people who ran the extractor
One beat
414.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
438.7Hz · -5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.51dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.558Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.028Essentia'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

232 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Fewer than half of them — 38% — put it in G minor, a key signature of 2 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 232 readings; 20% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 133.1 to 164.1 BPM. That is a recording the detector cannot settle on — the readings are spread far enough that the median is a summary of a disagreement rather than a measurement anybody should trust to the decimal.

At 144.7 BPM one beat lasts 414.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 103.7 ms and a dotted eighth 311 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 72.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 289.4. 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 3.51 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 0.558 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 G 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 G minor

Each of these differs from G 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 145 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41658.60.6
Half note2829.31.21
Dotted quarter1.56221.61
Quarter note (one beat)1414.72.41
Quarter triplet0.667276.43.62
Dotted eighth0.753113.22
Eighth note0.5207.34.82
Eighth triplet0.333138.27.24
Dotted sixteenth0.375155.56.43
Sixteenth note0.25103.79.65
Sixteenth triplet0.16769.114.47
Thirty-second note0.12551.819.29

Half time 72.4 BPM · double time 289.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (414.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. PlushStone Temple PilotsG minor144BPM
  2. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?Bryan AdamsG minor145BPM
  3. PsychoSystem of a DownG minor145BPM
  4. Shine On You Crazy DiamondPink FloydG minor144BPM
  5. Get Down, Make LoveQueenG minor144BPM
  6. Never AgainKelly ClarksonG minor146BPM
  7. The WhispererDavid Guetta feat. SiaG minor143BPM
  8. I Still Get JealousLouis ArmstrongG minor147BPM
  9. MythBeach HouseG minor142BPM
  10. Hand of DoomBlack SabbathG minor142BPM

Recordings in G minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 145 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in G minorAll songs at 145 BPMG minor at 140–149 BPMCream

MusicBrainz collapses 37 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4c468ccd-48c7-4f09-977d-aea3200f1c66.