TempoPeek

Queen · Innuendo

The Show Must Go On

The Show Must Go On is in B minor at 84.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

84 BPM · Andantemedian of 281 analyses · 83.9–166.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B minor2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
83%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
281people who ran the extractor
One beat
713.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.09dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.742Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.991Essentia'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

281 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 83% — put it in B minor, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 281 readings; 53% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 83.9 to 166.1 BPM.

At 84.1 BPM one beat lasts 713.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 178.4 ms and a dotted eighth 535.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 42.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 168.2. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 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 6.09 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 0.742 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 B 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 B minor

Each of these differs from B 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 84 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42853.70.35
Half note21426.90.7
Dotted quarter1.51070.20.93
Quarter note (one beat)1713.41.4
Quarter triplet0.667475.62.1
Dotted eighth0.75535.11.87
Eighth note0.5356.72.8
Eighth triplet0.333237.84.2
Dotted sixteenth0.375267.53.74
Sixteenth note0.25178.45.61
Sixteenth triplet0.167118.98.41
Thirty-second note0.12589.211.21

Half time 42.1 BPM · double time 168.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (713.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. The Show Must Go OnPink FloydG major129BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. StrangersPortisheadB minor84BPM
  2. I Can’t Tell You WhyEaglesB minor85BPM
  3. Heaven HelpLenny KravitzB minor86BPM
  4. 10 BandsDrakeB minor87BPM
  5. Hands UpThe Black Eyed PeasB minor87BPM
  6. Alone Again OrLoveB minor87BPM
  7. Miss IndependentKelly ClarksonB minor88BPM
  8. Wandering StarPortisheadB minor80BPM
  9. GrindAlice in ChainsB minor89BPM
  10. Havana AffairRamonesB minor89BPM

Recordings in B minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 84 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B minorAll songs at 84 BPMB minor at 80–89 BPMQueen

MusicBrainz collapses 39 recording ids into this one. Recording id e4678e4a-3cb1-497b-9b66-a0c1fec1a85e.