David Bowie · The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Star

Star is in C major at 139.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

140 BPM · Allegromedian of 351 analyses · 139.5–140.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
70%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
351people who ran the extractor
One beat
430.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439Hz · -4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.2dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.858Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.039Essentia'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

351 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 70% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 351 readings; 93% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 139.5 BPM one beat lasts 430.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107.5 ms and a dotted eighth 322.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 279. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439 Hz, which is 4 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.2 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 0.858 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 C 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 C major

Each of these differs from C 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 valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41720.40.58
Half note2860.21.16
Dotted quarter1.5645.21.55
Quarter note (one beat)1430.12.32
Quarter triplet0.667286.73.49
Dotted eighth0.75322.63.1
Eighth note0.5215.14.65
Eighth triplet0.333143.46.98
Dotted sixteenth0.375161.36.2
Sixteenth note0.25107.59.3
Sixteenth triplet0.16771.713.95
Thirty-second note0.12553.818.6

Half time 69.8 BPM · double time 279 BPM. Every row is one beat (430.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. ParadiseColdplayC major140BPM
  2. She’s So ColdThe Rolling StonesC major140BPM
  3. Let It BeThe BeatlesC major140BPM
  4. AngieThe Rolling StonesC major140BPM
  5. Hard Headed WomanCat StevensC major140BPM
  6. Serpentine FireEarth, Wind & FireC major140BPM
  7. WorkIggy AzaleaC major140BPM
  8. Where Are Ü NowJack Ü with Justin BieberC major140BPM
  9. Every NightImagine DragonsC major140BPM
  10. Ebb and FlowPink FloydC major139BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 140 BPMC major at 130–139 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 26 recording ids into this one. Recording id 674e786f-19ac-462b-98ab-e5340248a7f2.