TempoPeek

David Bowie · Aladdin Sane

Time

Time is in C major at 147.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

148 BPM · Allegromedian of 270 analyses · 147.7–148 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
270people who ran the extractor
One beat
406.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.38dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.892Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.048Essentia'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

270 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 270 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 147.7 BPM one beat lasts 406.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 101.6 ms and a dotted eighth 304.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 295.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.8 Hz, which is 3 cents above 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 6.38 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 0.892 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 148 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41624.90.62
Half note2812.51.23
Dotted quarter1.5609.31.64
Quarter note (one beat)1406.22.46
Quarter triplet0.667270.83.69
Dotted eighth0.75304.73.28
Eighth note0.5203.14.92
Eighth triplet0.333135.47.39
Dotted sixteenth0.375152.36.56
Sixteenth note0.25101.69.85
Sixteenth triplet0.16767.714.77
Thirty-second note0.12550.819.69

Half time 73.9 BPM · double time 295.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (406.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. TimePink FloydA major121BPM
  2. TimeBackstreet BoysF major79BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Splish SplashBobby DarinC major148BPM
  2. Don’t CryAsiaC major148BPM
  3. The Long Black VeilJohnny CashC major148BPM
  4. I’m Loving Every Moment With YouCéline DionC major148BPM
  5. Unsuspecting Sunday AfternoonBackstreet BoysC major148BPM
  6. I Looked at YouThe DoorsC major148BPM
  7. DissidentPearl JamC major148BPM
  8. All the Small Thingsblink‐182C major148BPM
  9. My SharonaThe KnackC major148BPM
  10. Fat Old SunPink FloydC major148BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 148 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 148 BPMC major at 140–149 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 61 recording ids into this one. Recording id cce9ca15-d362-475f-bab2-879580a55b3a.