Black Sabbath · Never Say Die!
Never Say Die
Never Say Die is in D minor at 97.5 beats per minute.
Tempo
98 BPM · Andantemedian of 172 analyses · 97.5–97.8 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 95%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 172people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 615.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 438Hz · -8 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.14dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.951Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.14Essentia'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
172 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 172 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 97.5 BPM one beat lasts 615.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 153.8 ms and a dotted eighth 461.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 48.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 195. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438 Hz, which is 8 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 2.14 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 0.951 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 minor; 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 minor
Each of these differs from D minor 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 98 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2461.5 | 0.41 |
| Half note | 2 | 1230.8 | 0.81 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 923.1 | 1.08 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 615.4 | 1.63 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 410.3 | 2.44 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 461.5 | 2.17 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 307.7 | 3.25 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 205.1 | 4.88 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 230.8 | 4.33 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 153.8 | 6.5 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 102.6 | 9.75 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 76.9 | 13 |
Half time 48.8 BPM · double time 195 BPM. Every row is one beat (615.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- After MidnightJ.J. CaleD minor98BPM
- The FurorAC/DCD minor97BPM
- Big in JapanAlphavilleD minor98BPM
- I'm a GunShotgun MessiahD minor97BPM
- WastelandBilly IdolD minor97BPM
- Love Will Conquer AllLionel RichieD minor98BPM
- Fire Your GunsAC/DCD minor99BPM
- I’m Gonna Make You Love MeDiana Ross & The Supremes with The TemptationsD minor99BPM
- Check the RhimeA Tribe Called QuestD minor96BPM
- Frozen HeartCastD minor96BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 98 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 98 BPMD minor at 90–99 BPMBlack Sabbath
MusicBrainz collapses 13 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4bad78ec-2f45-43fd-892e-311798774d58.