TempoPeek

The Beatles · Please Please Me

Please Please Me

Please Please Me is in E major at 138.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

139 BPM · Allegromedian of 266 analyses · 126–139.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
78%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
266people who ran the extractor
One beat
432milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
433.6Hz · -25.5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.82dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.947Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.1Essentia'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

266 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 78% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 266 readings; 87% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 126 to 139.4 BPM.

At 138.9 BPM one beat lasts 432 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 108 ms and a dotted eighth 324 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 277.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 433.6 Hz, which is 25.5 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 2.82 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 0.947 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 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 E major

Each of these differs from E 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 139 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41727.90.58
Half note2863.91.16
Dotted quarter1.5647.91.54
Quarter note (one beat)14322.32
Quarter triplet0.6672883.47
Dotted eighth0.753243.09
Eighth note0.52164.63
Eighth triplet0.3331446.95
Dotted sixteenth0.3751626.17
Sixteenth note0.251089.26
Sixteenth triplet0.1677213.89
Thirty-second note0.1255418.52

Half time 69.5 BPM · double time 277.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (432 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. InnocenceAvril LavigneE major139BPM
  2. A Certain RomanceArctic MonkeysE major139BPM
  3. Tea in the SaharaThe PoliceE major139BPM
  4. ParachutesColdplayE major139BPM
  5. ParklifeBlur starring Phil DanielsE major139BPM
  6. In Your HonorFoo FightersE major139BPM
  7. Big Pimpin’ / PapercutJay‐Z / Linkin ParkE major138BPM
  8. Matthew & SonCat StevensE major140BPM
  9. Underneath It AllNo Doubt featuring Lady SawE major138BPM
  10. Drowned World/Substitute for LoveMadonnaE major140BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 139 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 139 BPME major at 130–139 BPMThe Beatles

MusicBrainz collapses 125 recording ids into this one. Recording id b720b11f-2c00-4f48-83b9-4aa9d3207e8c.