TempoPeek

David Bowie · Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps

Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes is in A flat major at 120.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

121 BPM · Allegromedian of 408 analyses · 120.5–121.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A♭ major4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
90%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
408people who ran the extractor
One beat
496.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
442Hz · +8 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.1dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.826Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.276Essentia'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

408 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 90% — put it in A flat major, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 408 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 120.9 BPM one beat lasts 496.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 124.1 ms and a dotted eighth 372.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 60.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 241.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442 Hz, which is 8 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 4.1 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 0.826 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 A flat 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 A♭ major

Each of these differs from A♭ 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 121 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41985.10.5
Half note2992.61.01
Dotted quarter1.5744.41.34
Quarter note (one beat)1496.32.02
Quarter triplet0.667330.93.02
Dotted eighth0.75372.22.69
Eighth note0.5248.14.03
Eighth triplet0.333165.46.05
Dotted sixteenth0.375186.15.37
Sixteenth note0.25124.18.06
Sixteenth triplet0.16782.712.09
Thirty-second note0.1256216.12

Half time 60.5 BPM · double time 241.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (496.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Buddy HollyWeezerA♭ major121BPM
  2. It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)The 1975A♭ major121BPM
  3. CelebrationKool & the GangA♭ major121BPM
  4. The TrollsTim DaviesA♭ major121BPM
  5. The Legend of John Henry’s HammerJohnny CashA♭ major120BPM
  6. Save MeAretha FranklinA♭ major120BPM
  7. La Mémoire d’AbrahamCéline DionA♭ major120BPM
  8. We R Who We RKe$haA♭ major120BPM
  9. Boys (Summer Time Love)SabrinaA♭ major120BPM
  10. Waves (Robin Schulz radio edit)Mr. ProbzA♭ major120BPM

Recordings in A flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 121 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A flat majorAll songs at 121 BPMA♭ major at 120–129 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 113 recording ids into this one. Recording id 13d3bf6a-63ff-449f-873c-dcf279801d36.