The Box Tops · Tear Off!
The Letter
The Letter is in A minor at 139.3 beats per minute.
Tempo
139 BPM · Allegromedian of 164 analyses · 137.1–139.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 57%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 164people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 430.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438.5Hz · -6 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.32dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.831Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.047Essentia'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
164 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 57% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 164 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 137.1 to 139.9 BPM.
At 139.3 BPM one beat lasts 430.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107.7 ms and a dotted eighth 323 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 278.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.5 Hz, which is 6 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 4.32 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 139 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1722.9 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 861.5 | 1.16 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 646.1 | 1.55 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 430.7 | 2.32 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 287.2 | 3.48 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 323 | 3.1 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 215.4 | 4.64 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 143.6 | 6.97 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 161.5 | 6.19 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 107.7 | 9.29 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 71.8 | 13.93 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 53.8 | 18.57 |
Half time 69.7 BPM · double time 278.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (430.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Presence of the LordEric ClaptonA minor139BPM
- One More Cup of CoffeeBob DylanA minor139BPM
- See YouDepeche ModeA minor140BPM
- Up the KhyberPink FloydA minor140BPM
- Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal FamilyDavid BowieA minor139BPM
- JihadShotgun MessiahA minor140BPM
- Cosmic LoveFlorence + the MachineA minor140BPM
- New EyesClean Bandit feat. LizzoA minor140BPM
- LovesongThe CureA minor140BPM
- Happiness Is a Warm GunThe BeatlesA minor140BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 139 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 139 BPMA minor at 130–139 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 6 recording ids into this one. Recording id 546be4b8-39bf-4cae-a029-1d12e462b2a2.