The Beatles · Please Please Me

Twist and Shout

Twist and Shout is in D major at 125.6 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

126 BPM · Allegromedian of 186 analyses · 125.4–125.8 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
89%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
186people who ran the extractor
One beat
477.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.31dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.955Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.194Essentia'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

186 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 89% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 186 readings; 94% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 125.6 BPM one beat lasts 477.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119.4 ms and a dotted eighth 358.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 251.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 2.31 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 0.955 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 126 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41910.80.52
Half note2955.41.05
Dotted quarter1.5716.61.4
Quarter note (one beat)1477.72.09
Quarter triplet0.667318.53.14
Dotted eighth0.75358.32.79
Eighth note0.5238.94.19
Eighth triplet0.333159.26.28
Dotted sixteenth0.375179.15.58
Sixteenth note0.25119.48.37
Sixteenth triplet0.16779.612.56
Thirty-second note0.12559.716.75

Half time 62.8 BPM · double time 251.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (477.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Twist and ShoutThe Isley BrothersF major124BPM

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. RazorFoo FightersD major126BPM
  2. In God’s CountryU2D major126BPM
  3. Let’s GrooveEarth, Wind & FireD major126BPM
  4. I Think I Like ItBostonD major126BPM
  5. Crying SongPink FloydD major126BPM
  6. Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…)QueenD major126BPM
  7. Poison ArrowABCD major126BPM
  8. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I WantThe SmithsD major125BPM
  9. The Loco-MotionGrand Funk RailroadD major125BPM
  10. LunaSmashing PumpkinsD major125BPM

Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 126 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D majorAll songs at 126 BPMD major at 120–129 BPMThe Beatles

MusicBrainz collapses 289 recording ids into this one. Recording id 735027a3-d183-42a0-a691-7be6c166df2f.