David Bowie · The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Moonage Daydream
Moonage Daydream is in D major at 144 beats per minute.
Tempo
144 BPM · Allegromedian of 539 analyses · 144–144.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 75%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 539people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 416.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438.2Hz · -7 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.77dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.881Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.184Essentia'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
539 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 75% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 539 readings; 93% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 144 BPM one beat lasts 416.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 104.2 ms and a dotted eighth 312.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 72 BPM, counted twice as fast 288. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.2 Hz, which is 7 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 3.77 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 0.881 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 D 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 D major
Each of these differs from D 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 144 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1666.7 | 0.6 |
| Half note | 2 | 833.3 | 1.2 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 625 | 1.6 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 416.7 | 2.4 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 277.8 | 3.6 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 312.5 | 3.2 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 208.3 | 4.8 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 138.9 | 7.2 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 156.3 | 6.4 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 104.2 | 9.6 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 69.4 | 14.4 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 52.1 | 19.2 |
Half time 72 BPM · double time 288 BPM. Every row is one beat (416.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- But I Might Die TonightCat StevensD major144BPM
- The Fool On The HillThe BeatlesD major144BPM
- Up on Cripple CreekThe BandD major144BPM
- Find the RiverR.E.M.D major144BPM
- Mint CarThe CureD major144BPM
- Us and ThemPink FloydD major144BPM
- BeautyMeat PuppetsD major144BPM
- Burning LoveElvis PresleyD major144BPM
- LavaThe B‐52sD major144BPM
- A Groovy Kind of LovePhil CollinsD major144BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 144 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 144 BPMD major at 140–149 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 97 recording ids into this one. Recording id c0f27bed-7986-4c88-a9c6-1d16ebc9817b.