TempoPeek

Alanis Morissette · Jagged Little Pill

Ironic

Ironic is in B major at 85.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

85 BPM · Andantemedian of 324 analyses · 85.2–85.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B major5 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
324people who ran the extractor
One beat
703.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
442.3Hz · +9 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.64dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.532Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.995Essentia'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

324 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in B major, a key signature of 5 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 324 readings; 91% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 85.3 BPM one beat lasts 703.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 175.8 ms and a dotted eighth 527.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 42.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 170.6. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 442.3 Hz, which is 9 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 6.64 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 0.532 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 B 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 B major

Each of these differs from B 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 85 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42813.60.36
Half note21406.80.71
Dotted quarter1.51055.10.95
Quarter note (one beat)1703.41.42
Quarter triplet0.667468.92.13
Dotted eighth0.75527.51.9
Eighth note0.5351.72.84
Eighth triplet0.333234.54.26
Dotted sixteenth0.375263.83.79
Sixteenth note0.25175.85.69
Sixteenth triplet0.167117.28.53
Thirty-second note0.12587.911.37

Half time 42.7 BPM · double time 170.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (703.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. I Need You TonightBackstreet BoysB major85BPM
  2. Woman in LoveBarbra StreisandB major85BPM
  3. Listen to Your HeartRoxetteB major86BPM
  4. On Your OwnBlurB major84BPM
  5. YellowColdplayB major87BPM
  6. I Miss YouBeyoncéB major84BPM
  7. What Do I GetBuzzcocksB major88BPM
  8. King of HollywoodEaglesB major88BPM
  9. I’m Movin’ OnJohnny CashB major88BPM
  10. NORTHFACE$NotB major89BPM

Recordings in B major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 85 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B majorAll songs at 85 BPMB major at 80–89 BPMAlanis Morissette

MusicBrainz collapses 61 recording ids into this one. Recording id 245329cb-8cdb-43ba-8fe4-0b3e1aad8761.