TempoPeek

The Killers · Hot Fuss

Smile Like You Mean It

Smile Like You Mean It is in F sharp major at 125 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

125 BPM · Allegromedian of 165 analyses · 125–125 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F♯ major6 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
165people who ran the extractor
One beat
480milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.69dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.95Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.071Essentia'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

165 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 95% — put it in F sharp major, a key signature of 6 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 165 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 125 BPM one beat lasts 480 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 120 ms and a dotted eighth 360 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 250. 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 2.69 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 0.95 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 F sharp 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 F♯ major

Each of these differs from F♯ 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 125 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note419200.52
Half note29601.04
Dotted quarter1.57201.39
Quarter note (one beat)14802.08
Quarter triplet0.6673203.13
Dotted eighth0.753602.78
Eighth note0.52404.17
Eighth triplet0.3331606.25
Dotted sixteenth0.3751805.56
Sixteenth note0.251208.33
Sixteenth triplet0.1678012.5
Thirty-second note0.1256016.67

Half time 62.5 BPM · double time 250 BPM. Every row is one beat (480 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. A Sky Full of StarsColdplayF♯ major125BPM
  2. LukaSuzanne VegaF♯ major125BPM
  3. House of FireAlice CooperF♯ major125BPM
  4. Can You Feel ItThe JacksonsF♯ major126BPM
  5. The NightsAviciiF♯ major126BPM
  6. Sand in My ShoesDidoF♯ major126BPM
  7. Say You WillForeignerF♯ major126BPM
  8. Fade Into Darkness (instrumental club mix)AviciiF♯ major126BPM
  9. Born This WayLady GagaF♯ major124BPM
  10. The Winner Takes It AllABBAF♯ major126BPM

Recordings in F sharp major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 125 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F sharp majorAll songs at 125 BPMF♯ major at 120–129 BPMThe Killers

MusicBrainz collapses 73 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4381732e-4db2-4ed3-8151-e889f5118b34.