TempoPeek

Carmen Twillie, African vocals by Lebo M · The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Circle of Life

Circle of Life is in B flat major at 83.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

84 BPM · Andantemedian of 218 analyses · 83.7–83.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
B♭ major2 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
218people who ran the extractor
One beat
716milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441Hz · +4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.72dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.023Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.947Essentia'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

218 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in B flat major, a key signature of 2 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 218 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 83.8 BPM one beat lasts 716 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 179 ms and a dotted eighth 537 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 41.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 167.6. A score would mark that Andante, 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 5.72 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 0.023 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 flat 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 84 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note428640.35
Half note214320.7
Dotted quarter1.510740.93
Quarter note (one beat)17161.4
Quarter triplet0.667477.32.1
Dotted eighth0.755371.86
Eighth note0.53582.79
Eighth triplet0.333238.74.19
Dotted sixteenth0.375268.53.72
Sixteenth note0.251795.59
Sixteenth triplet0.167119.38.38
Thirty-second note0.12589.511.17

Half time 41.9 BPM · double time 167.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (716 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Circle of LifeElton JohnB♭ major162BPM

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. Broken‐Hearted GirlBeyoncéB♭ major84BPM
  2. For Once in My LifeFrank SinatraB♭ major84BPM
  3. Almost FamousEminemB♭ major84BPM
  4. Turn Me OnNorah JonesB♭ major84BPM
  5. Love Is All AroundWet Wet WetB♭ major85BPM
  6. I Ain’t Mad at Cha2Pac feat. Danny BoyB♭ major85BPM
  7. National AnthemLana Del ReyB♭ major85BPM
  8. Clean UpDanny BrownB♭ major85BPM
  9. It Was a Good DayIce CubeB♭ major82BPM
  10. Weather StormCraig ArmstrongB♭ major82BPM

Recordings in B flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 84 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in B flat majorAll songs at 84 BPMB♭ major at 80–89 BPM

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id ba905205-612d-49e6-ad5e-30bbbbf20f56.