Guns N’ Roses · Use Your Illusion II

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is in F sharp major at 132.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

133 BPM · Allegromedian of 210 analyses · 132.5–132.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F♯ major6 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
210people who ran the extractor
One beat
452.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.13dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.786Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.113Essentia'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

210 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in F sharp major, a key signature of 6 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 210 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 132.5 BPM one beat lasts 452.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 113.2 ms and a dotted eighth 339.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 66.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 265. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 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 3.13 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 0.786 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 F sharp 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 F♯ major

Each of these differs from F♯ 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 133 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41811.30.55
Half note2905.71.1
Dotted quarter1.5679.21.47
Quarter note (one beat)1452.82.21
Quarter triplet0.667301.93.31
Dotted eighth0.75339.62.94
Eighth note0.5226.44.42
Eighth triplet0.333150.96.63
Dotted sixteenth0.375169.85.89
Sixteenth note0.25113.28.83
Sixteenth triplet0.16775.513.25
Thirty-second note0.12556.617.67

Half time 66.3 BPM · double time 265 BPM. Every row is one beat (452.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Knockin’ on Heaven’s DoorEric ClaptonG major132BPM
  2. Knockin’ on Heaven’s DoorBob DylanG major139BPM

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. Virginia PlainRoxy MusicF♯ major131BPM
  2. You Belong With MeTaylor SwiftF♯ major130BPM
  3. I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of itThe 1975F♯ major130BPM
  4. When Love Takes OverDavid Guetta feat. Kelly RowlandF♯ major130BPM
  5. We Were So CloseTim DaviesF♯ major130BPM
  6. That’s MeABBAF♯ major129BPM
  7. More Than ThisRoxy MusicF♯ major128BPM
  8. The Tears of a ClownSmokey Robinson & The MiraclesF♯ major128BPM
  9. City With No ChildrenArcade FireF♯ major128BPM
  10. Tell It Like It T‐I‐IsThe B‐52’sF♯ major137BPM

Recordings in F sharp major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 133 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F sharp majorAll songs at 133 BPMF♯ major at 130–139 BPMGuns N’ Roses

MusicBrainz collapses 158 recording ids into this one. Recording id 60e32de8-b6f7-4919-9f57-ba9c9974cf89.