The Police · Synchronicity
King of Pain
King of Pain is in D major at 123.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
124 BPM · Allegromedian of 223 analyses · 123.8–124 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 223people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 484.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.5Hz · +6 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.39dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.588Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.166Essentia'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
223 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 223 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 123.9 BPM one beat lasts 484.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 121.1 ms and a dotted eighth 363.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 62 BPM, counted twice as fast 247.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.5 Hz, which is 6 cents above 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 5.39 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 0.588 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 124 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1937 | 0.52 |
| Half note | 2 | 968.5 | 1.03 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 726.4 | 1.38 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 484.3 | 2.07 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 322.8 | 3.1 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 363.2 | 2.75 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 242.1 | 4.13 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 161.4 | 6.2 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 181.6 | 5.51 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 121.1 | 8.26 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 80.7 | 12.39 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 60.5 | 16.52 |
Half time 62 BPM · double time 247.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (484.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Stiff Upper LipAC/DCD major124BPM
- Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)The ByrdsD major124BPM
- Booty ManCraig DavidD major124BPM
- One More Time / AerodynamicDaft PunkD major124BPM
- ContactDaft Punk feat. DJ FalconD major124BPM
- Where Do Broken Hearts GoWhitney HoustonD major124BPM
- Can’t Take It With YouThe Alan Parsons ProjectD major124BPM
- The Midnight SpecialCreedence Clearwater RevivalD major124BPM
- Morning Bell/AmnesiacRadioheadD major124BPM
- Wake Me UpAviciiD major124BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 124 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 124 BPMD major at 120–129 BPMThe Police
MusicBrainz collapses 55 recording ids into this one. Recording id a10f1f4c-0ab5-4bee-8329-a81317fd6aa3.