Queen · News of the World
We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You is in A minor at 87 beats per minute.
Tempo
87 BPM · Andantemedian of 162 analyses · 81.3–94 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 32%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 162people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 689.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 435.7Hz · -17 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.85dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.831Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.104Essentia'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
162 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Fewer than half of them — 32% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 162 readings; 9% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 81.3 to 94 BPM. That is a recording the detector cannot settle on — the readings are spread far enough that the median is a summary of a disagreement rather than a measurement anybody should trust to the decimal.
At 87 BPM one beat lasts 689.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 172.4 ms and a dotted eighth 517.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 43.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 174. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 435.7 Hz, which is 17 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 4.85 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 0.831 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 A 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 A minor
Each of these differs from A 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 87 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2758.6 | 0.36 |
| Half note | 2 | 1379.3 | 0.73 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 1034.5 | 0.97 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 689.7 | 1.45 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 459.8 | 2.18 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 517.2 | 1.93 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 344.8 | 2.9 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 229.9 | 4.35 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 258.6 | 3.87 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 172.4 | 5.8 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 114.9 | 8.7 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 86.2 | 11.6 |
Half time 43.5 BPM · double time 174 BPM. Every row is one beat (689.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- To Live and Die in L.A.Makaveli featuring Val YoungA minor87BPM
- Deep in the HoleAC/DCA minor87BPM
- RightDavid BowieA minor87BPM
- Cherub RockSmashing PumpkinsA minor88BPM
- The Train, Part 2 (Sir Lucious Left Foot Saves the Day)Big Boi feat. Sam ChrisA minor86BPM
- Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)The DoorsA minor86BPM
- Keep Ya Head Up2PacA minor86BPM
- Some Unholy WarAmy WinehouseA minor88BPM
- SecretMaroon 5A minor88BPM
- PrimaryThe CureA minor86BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 87 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 87 BPMA minor at 80–89 BPMQueen
MusicBrainz collapses 191 recording ids into this one. Recording id 83faeeb4-c78d-43ae-808c-978afc8fca89.