Huey Lewis and the News · Sports

I Want a New Drug

I Want a New Drug is in D major at 110.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

110 BPM · Moderatomedian of 179 analyses · 110.3–110.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
179people who ran the extractor
One beat
544milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.7Hz · -1 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.68dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.924Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.555Essentia'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

179 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 179 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 110.3 BPM one beat lasts 544 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 136 ms and a dotted eighth 408 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 55.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 220.6. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.7 Hz, which is 1 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 3.68 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 0.924 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 110 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42175.90.46
Half note21087.90.92
Dotted quarter1.58161.23
Quarter note (one beat)15441.84
Quarter triplet0.667362.62.76
Dotted eighth0.754082.45
Eighth note0.52723.68
Eighth triplet0.333181.35.52
Dotted sixteenth0.3752044.9
Sixteenth note0.251367.35
Sixteenth triplet0.16790.711.03
Thirty-second note0.1256814.71

Half time 55.2 BPM · double time 220.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (544 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Bobo on the CornerBeastie BoysD major110BPM
  2. Never Too MuchLuther VandrossD major110BPM
  3. A Matter of TrustBilly JoelD major110BPM
  4. ResolveFoo FightersD major111BPM
  5. CarouselambraLed ZeppelinD major111BPM
  6. You’ve Got Her in Your PocketThe White StripesD major111BPM
  7. With or Without YouU2D major110BPM
  8. Only Love Can Break Your HeartNeil YoungD major111BPM
  9. Without LoveBon JoviD major110BPM
  10. Lie In Our GravesDave Matthews BandD major111BPM

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

All songs in D majorAll songs at 110 BPMD major at 110–119 BPMHuey Lewis and the News

MusicBrainz collapses 17 recording ids into this one. Recording id 338eb331-c08a-422c-b45c-b4fdcad774e9.