Pet Shop Boys · Actually

It’s a Sin

It’s a Sin is in C minor at 127 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

127 BPM · Allegromedian of 216 analyses · 126.9–127.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C minor3 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
216people who ran the extractor
One beat
472.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441Hz · +4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.48dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.892Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.172Essentia'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 — 100% — put it in C minor, a key signature of 3 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 216 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 127 BPM one beat lasts 472.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 118.1 ms and a dotted eighth 354.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 63.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 254. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441 Hz, which is 4 cents above 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 2.48 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 0.892 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 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 C minor

Each of these differs from C 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 127 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41889.80.53
Half note2944.91.06
Dotted quarter1.5708.71.41
Quarter note (one beat)1472.42.12
Quarter triplet0.6673153.18
Dotted eighth0.75354.32.82
Eighth note0.5236.24.23
Eighth triplet0.333157.56.35
Dotted sixteenth0.375177.25.64
Sixteenth note0.25118.18.47
Sixteenth triplet0.16778.712.7
Thirty-second note0.12559.116.93

Half time 63.5 BPM · double time 254 BPM. Every row is one beat (472.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. After MidnightEric ClaptonC minor126BPM
  2. A Girl Like YouEdwyn CollinsC minor126BPM
  3. A Moment to Myselfdeadmau5C minor128BPM
  4. Parallel UniverseRed Hot Chili PeppersC minor126BPM
  5. Jailbait (original mix)AviciiC minor128BPM
  6. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)EurythmicsC minor126BPM
  7. FeverMichael BubléC minor128BPM
  8. Uhh AhhBoyz II MenC minor126BPM
  9. A Piece of MonologueScannerC minor126BPM
  10. Let’s Go to BedThe CureC minor128BPM

Recordings in C minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 127 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C minorAll songs at 127 BPMC minor at 120–129 BPMPet Shop Boys

MusicBrainz collapses 25 recording ids into this one. Recording id 787bb29b-a832-4861-8af0-ff0db92e04f7.