TempoPeek

Queen · A Kind of Magic

Who Wants to Live Forever

Who Wants to Live Forever is in E minor at 142.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

143 BPM · Allegromedian of 160 analyses · 140.5–143.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
160people who ran the extractor
One beat
420.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.5Hz · +6 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.95dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.113Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.884Essentia'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

160 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 160 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 140.5 to 143.2 BPM.

At 142.7 BPM one beat lasts 420.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 105.1 ms and a dotted eighth 315.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 285.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.5 Hz, which is 6 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 6.95 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 0.113 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 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 143 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41681.90.59
Half note2840.91.19
Dotted quarter1.5630.71.59
Quarter note (one beat)1420.52.38
Quarter triplet0.667280.33.57
Dotted eighth0.75315.33.17
Eighth note0.5210.24.76
Eighth triplet0.333140.27.14
Dotted sixteenth0.375157.76.34
Sixteenth note0.25105.19.51
Sixteenth triplet0.16770.114.27
Thirty-second note0.12552.619.03

Half time 71.4 BPM · double time 285.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (420.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Monkey NeedsShotgun MessiahE minor143BPM
  2. Planet ClaireThe B‐52sE minor142BPM
  3. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)David BowieE minor143BPM
  4. SomaSmashing PumpkinsE minor144BPM
  5. The Guitar ManBreadE minor144BPM
  6. Yellow BellyThriceE minor144BPM
  7. Fitzpleasurealt‐JE minor144BPM
  8. East Jesus NowhereGreen DayE minor144BPM
  9. Ride Across the RiverDire StraitsE minor145BPM
  10. Darts of PleasureFranz FerdinandE minor145BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 143 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 143 BPME minor at 140–149 BPMQueen

MusicBrainz collapses 52 recording ids into this one. Recording id 66e14245-87e5-4939-b743-3cbe3c5f7f55.