Led Zeppelin · Houses of the Holy

The Rain Song

The Rain Song is in C major at 162.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

163 BPM · Vivacemedian of 267 analyses · 162.8–163 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
92%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
267people who ran the extractor
One beat
368.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.7Hz · -1 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.69dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.338Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.034Essentia'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

267 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 92% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 267 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 162.9 BPM one beat lasts 368.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 92.1 ms and a dotted eighth 276.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 81.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 325.8. A score would mark that Vivace, 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 4.69 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 0.338 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 163 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41473.30.68
Half note2736.61.36
Dotted quarter1.5552.51.81
Quarter note (one beat)1368.32.72
Quarter triplet0.667245.54.07
Dotted eighth0.75276.23.62
Eighth note0.5184.25.43
Eighth triplet0.333122.88.15
Dotted sixteenth0.375138.17.24
Sixteenth note0.2592.110.86
Sixteenth triplet0.16761.416.29
Thirty-second note0.1254621.72

Half time 81.5 BPM · double time 325.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (368.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Diamonds and PearlsPrince & The New Power GenerationC major163BPM
  2. San Francisco Bay BluesEric ClaptonC major163BPM
  3. Hurdy Gurdy ManDonovanC major163BPM
  4. Bullet Proof..I Wish I WasRadioheadC major163BPM
  5. SuperwomanAlicia KeysC major163BPM
  6. I’m DownAerosmithC major163BPM
  7. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?Carole KingC major162BPM
  8. The BlessingJohn Coltrane & Don CherryC major164BPM
  9. Who KnowsAvril LavigneC major162BPM
  10. Echo BeachMartha and the MuffinsC major164BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 163 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 163 BPMC major at 160–169 BPMLed Zeppelin

MusicBrainz collapses 368 recording ids into this one. Recording id ff650e55-0136-4bb5-bbe5-dc429edae5c5.