The Police · Reggatta de Blanc
Message in a Bottle
Message in a Bottle is in A major at 151.1 beats per minute.
Tempo
151 BPM · Allegromedian of 438 analyses · 150.4–151.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 77%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 438people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 397.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.34dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.847Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.247Essentia'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
438 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 77% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 438 readings; 89% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 151.1 BPM one beat lasts 397.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 99.3 ms and a dotted eighth 297.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 75.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 302.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.8 Hz, which is 3 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.34 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 0.847 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 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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 151 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1588.4 | 0.63 |
| Half note | 2 | 794.2 | 1.26 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 595.6 | 1.68 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 397.1 | 2.52 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 264.7 | 3.78 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 297.8 | 3.36 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 198.5 | 5.04 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 132.4 | 7.56 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 148.9 | 6.72 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 99.3 | 10.07 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 66.2 | 15.11 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 49.6 | 20.15 |
Half time 75.6 BPM · double time 302.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (397.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Done Too SoonNeil DiamondA major151BPM
- Don’t Let Me Be Lonely TonightJames TaylorA major151BPM
- Love’s HolidayEarth, Wind & FireA major151BPM
- Just Like HeavenThe CureA major151BPM
- Southern AccentsJohnny CashA major151BPM
- Brand New CadillacThe ClashA major151BPM
- LolaThe KinksA major152BPM
- Et je t’aime encoreCéline DionA major152BPM
- Girl, You Have No Faith in MedicineThe White StripesA major152BPM
- Wrong WaySublimeA major151BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 151 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 151 BPMA major at 150–159 BPMThe Police
MusicBrainz collapses 132 recording ids into this one. Recording id b9264011-47c5-4603-b840-7c27b0ccb2b9.