Florence + the Machine · Ceremonials

Breaking Down

Breaking Down is in A flat major at 110 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

110 BPM · Moderatomedian of 190 analyses · 109.9–110.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A♭ major4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
78%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
190people who ran the extractor
One beat
545.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.75dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.82Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.232Essentia'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

190 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 78% — put it in A flat major, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 190 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 110 BPM one beat lasts 545.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 136.4 ms and a dotted eighth 409.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 55 BPM, counted twice as fast 220. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 2.75 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 0.82 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 110 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42181.80.46
Half note21090.90.92
Dotted quarter1.5818.21.22
Quarter note (one beat)1545.51.83
Quarter triplet0.667363.62.75
Dotted eighth0.75409.12.44
Eighth note0.5272.73.67
Eighth triplet0.333181.85.5
Dotted sixteenth0.375204.54.89
Sixteenth note0.25136.47.33
Sixteenth triplet0.16790.911
Thirty-second note0.12568.214.67

Half time 55 BPM · double time 220 BPM. Every row is one beat (545.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Quiet TimesDidoA♭ major110BPM
  2. EpilogueTim DaviesA♭ major110BPM
  3. BoyInstupendoA♭ major110BPM
  4. Somebody to LoveQueenA♭ major110BPM
  5. Hungry HeartBruce SpringsteenA♭ major110BPM
  6. So Swell When You’re WellAretha FranklinA♭ major111BPM
  7. The Best Is Yet to ComeFrank Sinatra & Count BasieA♭ major109BPM
  8. DesireU2A♭ major108BPM
  9. Atlantic CityBruce SpringsteenA♭ major108BPM
  10. My DestinyLionel RichieA♭ major112BPM

Recordings in A flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 110 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A flat majorAll songs at 110 BPMA♭ major at 110–119 BPMFlorence + the Machine

MusicBrainz collapses 4 recording ids into this one. Recording id be68ed11-98f8-48e0-9727-81e4262fff62.