TempoPeek

Van Halen · 5150

Why Can’t This Be Love

Why Can’t This Be Love is in C major at 88.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

89 BPM · Andantemedian of 169 analyses · 88.4–88.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
169people who ran the extractor
One beat
678milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
436.5Hz · -14 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.45dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.869Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.12Essentia'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

169 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 169 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 88.5 BPM one beat lasts 678 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 169.5 ms and a dotted eighth 508.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 44.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 177. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 436.5 Hz, which is 14 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 4.45 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 0.869 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 89 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42711.90.37
Half note21355.90.74
Dotted quarter1.51016.90.98
Quarter note (one beat)16781.48
Quarter triplet0.6674522.21
Dotted eighth0.75508.51.97
Eighth note0.53392.95
Eighth triplet0.3332264.43
Dotted sixteenth0.375254.23.93
Sixteenth note0.25169.55.9
Sixteenth triplet0.1671138.85
Thirty-second note0.12584.711.8

Half time 44.3 BPM · double time 177 BPM. Every row is one beat (678 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Walkin’ BluesEric ClaptonC major88BPM
  2. Sheena Is a Punk RockerRamonesC major88BPM
  3. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy BearElvis PresleyC major89BPM
  4. Coming Back to LifePink FloydC major88BPM
  5. The Road I’m On3 Doors DownC major88BPM
  6. Fall to PiecesAvril LavigneC major89BPM
  7. Count on MeBruno MarsC major89BPM
  8. All I NeedRadioheadC major88BPM
  9. In LimboRadioheadC major89BPM
  10. The Doo‐Bop SongMiles DavisC major88BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 89 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 89 BPMC major at 80–89 BPMVan Halen

MusicBrainz collapses 47 recording ids into this one. Recording id 1ebdbeff-95e0-475f-97f5-ca3099f939dd.