TempoPeek

Boney M. · Nightflight to Venus

Rivers of Babylon

Rivers of Babylon is in C major at 115.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

116 BPM · Moderatomedian of 241 analyses · 114.9–116.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
89%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
241people who ran the extractor
One beat
519.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.05dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.903Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.282Essentia'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

241 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 89% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 241 readings; 91% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 114.9 to 116.6 BPM.

At 115.5 BPM one beat lasts 519.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 129.9 ms and a dotted eighth 389.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 57.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 231. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 4.05 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 0.903 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 116 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42077.90.48
Half note210390.96
Dotted quarter1.5779.21.28
Quarter note (one beat)1519.51.93
Quarter triplet0.667346.32.89
Dotted eighth0.75389.62.57
Eighth note0.5259.73.85
Eighth triplet0.333173.25.78
Dotted sixteenth0.375194.85.13
Sixteenth note0.25129.97.7
Sixteenth triplet0.16786.611.55
Thirty-second note0.12564.915.4

Half time 57.8 BPM · double time 231 BPM. Every row is one beat (519.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. KissArt of Noise feat. Tom JonesC major116BPM
  2. Please Be NakedThe 1975C major115BPM
  3. Deacon BluesSteely DanC major116BPM
  4. Walk AwayKelly ClarksonC major116BPM
  5. Human TouchBruce SpringsteenC major115BPM
  6. Don’t Answer MeThe Alan Parsons ProjectC major115BPM
  7. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)Kelly ClarksonC major116BPM
  8. I Should Be So LuckyKylie MinogueC major116BPM
  9. If I Had Possession Over Judgement DayEric ClaptonC major115BPM
  10. #9 DreamJohn LennonC major115BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 116 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 116 BPMC major at 110–119 BPMBoney M.

MusicBrainz collapses 36 recording ids into this one. Recording id 9474c7a7-3aa9-4981-8bd0-828cf04b8186.