Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band · Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Edition

Born to Run

Born to Run is in E major at 137.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

138 BPM · Allegromedian of 193 analyses · 136.3–155.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
87%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
193people who ran the extractor
One beat
436.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441Hz · +4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
1.66dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.893Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.197Essentia'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

193 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 87% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 193 readings; 55% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 136.3 to 155.5 BPM.

At 137.5 BPM one beat lasts 436.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 109.1 ms and a dotted eighth 327.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 68.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 275. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441 Hz, which is 4 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 1.66 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 0.893 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 E 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 E major

Each of these differs from E 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 138 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41745.50.57
Half note2872.71.15
Dotted quarter1.5654.51.53
Quarter note (one beat)1436.42.29
Quarter triplet0.667290.93.44
Dotted eighth0.75327.33.06
Eighth note0.5218.24.58
Eighth triplet0.333145.56.88
Dotted sixteenth0.375163.66.11
Sixteenth note0.25109.19.17
Sixteenth triplet0.16772.713.75
Thirty-second note0.12554.518.33

Half time 68.8 BPM · double time 275 BPM. Every row is one beat (436.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Born to RunBruce SpringsteenE major147BPM
  2. Born to RunFrankie Goes to HollywoodE major155BPM

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. Day TripperThe BeatlesE major138BPM
  2. Scared to Be LonelyMartin Garrix & Dua LipaE major137BPM
  3. Words in the WaterThriceE major138BPM
  4. Bad InfluenceP!nkE major138BPM
  5. Safest Place to HideBackstreet BoysE major138BPM
  6. Underneath It AllNo Doubt featuring Lady SawE major138BPM
  7. Big Pimpin’ / PapercutJay‐Z / Linkin ParkE major138BPM
  8. ParachutesColdplayE major139BPM
  9. ParklifeBlur starring Phil DanielsE major139BPM
  10. In Your HonorFoo FightersE major139BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 138 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 138 BPME major at 130–139 BPMBruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

MusicBrainz collapses 1,753 recording ids into this one. Recording id fa0d2ca1-8988-49eb-b8ef-09594f3a6ce2.