The Velvet Underground & Nico · Blood Ties

Heroin

Heroin is in C major at 154.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

154 BPM · Allegromedian of 140 analyses · 143–184.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
51%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
140people who ran the extractor
One beat
388.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.17dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.672Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.024Essentia'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

140 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 51% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 140 readings; 6% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 143 to 184.6 BPM. That is a recording the detector cannot settle on — the readings are spread far enough that the median is a summary of a disagreement rather than a measurement anybody should trust to the decimal.

At 154.4 BPM one beat lasts 388.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 97.2 ms and a dotted eighth 291.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 77.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 308.8. 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 4.17 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 0.672 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 C 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 C major

Each of these differs from C 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 154 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41554.40.64
Half note2777.21.29
Dotted quarter1.5582.91.72
Quarter note (one beat)1388.62.57
Quarter triplet0.667259.13.86
Dotted eighth0.75291.53.43
Eighth note0.5194.35.15
Eighth triplet0.333129.57.72
Dotted sixteenth0.375145.76.86
Sixteenth note0.2597.210.29
Sixteenth triplet0.16764.815.44
Thirty-second note0.12548.620.59

Half time 77.2 BPM · double time 308.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (388.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. HeroinThe Velvet UndergroundD♭ major144BPM
  2. HeroinLana Del ReyA major120BPM

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. Rock ’n’ Roll With MeDavid BowieC major154BPM
  2. The Nearness of YouNorah JonesC major154BPM
  3. Santa Claus Is Coming to TownThe CrystalsC major155BPM
  4. Let There Be More LightPink FloydC major155BPM
  5. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)Jay‐ZC major154BPM
  6. So LonelyThe PoliceC major155BPM
  7. SongbirdEva CassidyC major154BPM
  8. Bringin’ On the HeartbreakDef LeppardC major155BPM
  9. ChangeLana Del ReyC major155BPM
  10. Walk – Don’t RunThe VenturesC major155BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 154 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 154 BPMC major at 150–159 BPMThe Velvet Underground & Nico

MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id 78646e0f-2abb-4266-976a-787c53ed99f1.