Michael Jackson · Thriller
Beat It
Beat It is in E flat minor at 138.8 beats per minute.
Tempo
139 BPM · Allegromedian of 216 analyses · 138.7–138.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E♭ minor6 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 216people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 432.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 446.4Hz · +25 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.84dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.883Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.364Essentia'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
216 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in E flat minor, a key signature of 6 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 216 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 138.8 BPM one beat lasts 432.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 108.1 ms and a dotted eighth 324.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 277.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 446.4 Hz, which is 25 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 4.84 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 0.883 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 flat minor; 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♭ minor
Each of these differs from E♭ minor 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 139 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1729.1 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 864.6 | 1.16 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 648.4 | 1.54 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 432.3 | 2.31 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 288.2 | 3.47 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 324.2 | 3.08 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 216.1 | 4.63 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 144.1 | 6.94 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 162.1 | 6.17 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 108.1 | 9.25 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 72 | 13.88 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 54 | 18.51 |
Half time 69.4 BPM · double time 277.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (432.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Civil WarGuns N’ RosesE♭ minor140BPM
- Shanti / AshtangiMadonnaE♭ minor140BPM
- Kiss KissChris Brown feat. T‐PainE♭ minor140BPM
- Ace of SpadesMotörheadE♭ minor140BPM
- BiscuitPortisheadE♭ minor136BPM
- IsobelDidoE♭ minor136BPM
- Alive 1997Daft PunkE♭ minor136BPM
- I Believe to My SoulRay CharlesE♭ minor143BPM
- Four HorsemenThe ClashE♭ minor143BPM
- Le vol d’un angeCéline DionE♭ minor134BPM
Recordings in E flat minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 139 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E flat minorAll songs at 139 BPME♭ minor at 130–139 BPMMichael Jackson
MusicBrainz collapses 65 recording ids into this one. Recording id de798de6-70fc-49f6-b580-339cd2e62052.