The B‐52s · The B‐52’s

Lava

Lava is in D major at 143.6 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

144 BPM · Allegromedian of 214 analyses · 143.3–143.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
98%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
214people who ran the extractor
One beat
417.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
451.1Hz · +43 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.9dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.78Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.105Essentia'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

214 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 98% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 214 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 143.6 BPM one beat lasts 417.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 104.5 ms and a dotted eighth 313.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 287.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 451.1 Hz, which is 43 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — far enough that playing along at 440 Hz will sound wrong. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.9 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 0.78 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 D major; 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 D major

Each of these differs from D major 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 144 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41671.30.6
Half note2835.71.2
Dotted quarter1.5626.71.6
Quarter note (one beat)1417.82.39
Quarter triplet0.667278.63.59
Dotted eighth0.75313.43.19
Eighth note0.5208.94.79
Eighth triplet0.333139.37.18
Dotted sixteenth0.375156.76.38
Sixteenth note0.25104.59.57
Sixteenth triplet0.16769.614.36
Thirty-second note0.12552.219.15

Half time 71.8 BPM · double time 287.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (417.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. BeautyMeat PuppetsD major144BPM
  2. Burning LoveElvis PresleyD major144BPM
  3. Mint CarThe CureD major144BPM
  4. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)The OffspringD major143BPM
  5. Moonage DaydreamDavid BowieD major144BPM
  6. But I Might Die TonightCat StevensD major144BPM
  7. The Fool On The HillThe BeatlesD major144BPM
  8. Up on Cripple CreekThe BandD major144BPM
  9. Find the RiverR.E.M.D major144BPM
  10. Alone, TogetherThe StrokesD major143BPM

Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 144 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D majorAll songs at 144 BPMD major at 140–149 BPMThe B‐52s

MusicBrainz collapses 16 recording ids into this one. Recording id 32154943-b259-4edb-a9d5-937b00419394.