Madonna · Ray of Light
Drowned World/Substitute for Love
Drowned World/Substitute for Love is in E major at 139.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
140 BPM · Allegromedian of 163 analyses · 139.6–139.8 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 163people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 429.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.06dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.75Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.028Essentia'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
163 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 163 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 139.7 BPM one beat lasts 429.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107.4 ms and a dotted eighth 322.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 279.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below 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 4.06 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 0.75 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 E 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 E major
Each of these differs from E 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 140 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1718 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 859 | 1.16 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 644.2 | 1.55 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 429.5 | 2.33 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 286.3 | 3.49 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 322.1 | 3.1 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 214.7 | 4.66 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 143.2 | 6.99 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 161.1 | 6.21 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 107.4 | 9.31 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 71.6 | 13.97 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 53.7 | 18.63 |
Half time 69.9 BPM · double time 279.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (429.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- If Not for YouBob DylanE major140BPM
- Matthew & SonCat StevensE major140BPM
- MelissaThe Allman Brothers BandE major140BPM
- Para qué la vidaEnrique IglesiasE major140BPM
- Shadow on the SunAudioslaveE major140BPM
- Ordinary WorldDuran DuranE major140BPM
- InnocenceAvril LavigneE major139BPM
- Come AliveFoo FightersE major140BPM
- ShatteredThe Rolling StonesE major140BPM
- Please Please MeThe BeatlesE major139BPM
Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E majorAll songs at 140 BPME major at 130–139 BPMMadonna
MusicBrainz collapses 9 recording ids into this one. Recording id cd6f784d-ff2f-4a1e-8f0e-66fa33b665a7.