David Bowie · “Heroes”

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast is in A major at 125.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

125 BPM · Allegromedian of 232 analyses · 124.3–125.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
47%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
232people who ran the extractor
One beat
479.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
446.7Hz · +26 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.69dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.883Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.241Essentia'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 — 47% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 232 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 125.1 BPM one beat lasts 479.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119.9 ms and a dotted eighth 359.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 250.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 446.7 Hz, which is 26 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 4.69 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 0.883 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 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 125 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41918.50.52
Half note2959.21.04
Dotted quarter1.5719.41.39
Quarter note (one beat)1479.62.09
Quarter triplet0.667319.73.13
Dotted eighth0.75359.72.78
Eighth note0.5239.84.17
Eighth triplet0.333159.96.26
Dotted sixteenth0.375179.95.56
Sixteenth note0.25119.98.34
Sixteenth triplet0.16779.912.51
Thirty-second note0.1256016.68

Half time 62.6 BPM · double time 250.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (479.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Guitar Flute & StringMobyA major125BPM
  2. re: stacksBon IverA major125BPM
  3. DisappearINXSA major125BPM
  4. Dear BoyAviciiA major125BPM
  5. Demon DaysGorillazA major125BPM
  6. Blue Dress / Interlude #3Depeche ModeA major125BPM
  7. Finish What Ya StartedVan HalenA major125BPM
  8. Social DiseaseBon JoviA major125BPM
  9. Digital LoveDaft PunkA major125BPM
  10. Digital Love (Boris Dlugosch remix)Daft PunkA major125BPM

Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 125 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A majorAll songs at 125 BPMA major at 120–129 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 12 recording ids into this one. Recording id eddc8656-54cd-416c-b4aa-87502bb3ac22.