TempoPeek

David Bowie · Let’s Dance

Criminal World

Criminal World is in A major at 131.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

131 BPM · Allegromedian of 129 analyses · 130.3–131.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
92%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
129people who ran the extractor
One beat
457milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
438.7Hz · -5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.18dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.909Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.204Essentia'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

129 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 92% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 129 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 130.3 to 131.4 BPM.

At 131.3 BPM one beat lasts 457 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 114.2 ms and a dotted eighth 342.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 65.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 262.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.7 Hz, which is 5 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 4.18 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 0.909 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 A 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 A major

Each of these differs from A 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 131 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41827.90.55
Half note2913.91.09
Dotted quarter1.5685.51.46
Quarter note (one beat)14572.19
Quarter triplet0.667304.63.28
Dotted eighth0.75342.72.92
Eighth note0.5228.54.38
Eighth triplet0.333152.36.57
Dotted sixteenth0.375171.45.84
Sixteenth note0.25114.28.75
Sixteenth triplet0.16776.213.13
Thirty-second note0.12557.117.51

Half time 65.7 BPM · double time 262.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (457 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Let’s GoThe CarsA major131BPM
  2. Greatest Love of AllWhitney HoustonA major131BPM
  3. Life in Technicolor iiColdplayA major131BPM
  4. Stone EyesMeat PuppetsA major131BPM
  5. Think It OverThe Crickets feat. Buddy HollyA major131BPM
  6. Tiny MontgomeryBob Dylan & The BandA major132BPM
  7. Maxwell’s Silver HammerThe BeatlesA major132BPM
  8. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)Nine Inch NailsA major132BPM
  9. F.I.N.E.AerosmithA major132BPM
  10. Who Loves the SunThe Velvet UndergroundA major131BPM

Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 131 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A majorAll songs at 131 BPMA major at 130–139 BPMDavid Bowie

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 692284cd-40cb-4e57-b4bc-d5a5710f7fe7.