Bruno Mars · Unorthodox Jukebox

When I Was Your Man

When I Was Your Man is in C major at 146.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

146 BPM · Allegromedian of 246 analyses · 145.2–146.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
100%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
246people who ran the extractor
One beat
410.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.2Hz · -3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.48dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.329Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.001Essentia'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

246 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 246 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 145.2 to 146.3 BPM.

At 146.2 BPM one beat lasts 410.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 102.6 ms and a dotted eighth 307.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 292.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.2 Hz, which is 3 cents below 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 6.48 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 0.329 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 146 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41641.60.61
Half note2820.81.22
Dotted quarter1.5615.61.62
Quarter note (one beat)1410.42.44
Quarter triplet0.667273.63.65
Dotted eighth0.75307.83.25
Eighth note0.5205.24.87
Eighth triplet0.333136.87.31
Dotted sixteenth0.375153.96.5
Sixteenth note0.25102.69.75
Sixteenth triplet0.16768.414.62
Thirty-second note0.12551.319.49

Half time 73.1 BPM · double time 292.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (410.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. A Whiter Shade of PaleAnnie LennoxC major146BPM
  2. Tomorrow Never CameLana Del Rey ft. Sean Ono LennonC major146BPM
  3. More BluesPink FloydC major147BPM
  4. Long Road to RuinFoo FightersC major147BPM
  5. More Than She KnowsSpin DoctorsC major147BPM
  6. I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your LoveChicagoC major146BPM
  7. RehabAmy WinehouseC major145BPM
  8. L’esprit d’escalierJetC major145BPM
  9. Loves Me Like a RockPaul SimonC major145BPM
  10. UnderdogAudio AdrenalineC major145BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 146 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 146 BPMC major at 140–149 BPMBruno Mars

MusicBrainz collapses 4 recording ids into this one. Recording id 126241da-d2cb-42c2-a40e-f30909057647.