Elton John · Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is in F major at 120.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

121 BPM · Allegromedian of 491 analyses · 120.7–121.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F major1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
491people who ran the extractor
One beat
496.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.82dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.645Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.031Essentia'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

491 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in F major, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 491 readings; 92% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 120.9 BPM one beat lasts 496.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 124.1 ms and a dotted eighth 372.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 60.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 241.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.8 Hz, which is 3 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 4.82 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 0.645 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 F 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 F major

Each of these differs from F 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 121 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41985.10.5
Half note2992.61.01
Dotted quarter1.5744.41.34
Quarter note (one beat)1496.32.02
Quarter triplet0.667330.93.02
Dotted eighth0.75372.22.69
Eighth note0.5248.14.03
Eighth triplet0.333165.46.05
Dotted sixteenth0.375186.15.37
Sixteenth note0.25124.18.06
Sixteenth triplet0.16782.712.09
Thirty-second note0.1256216.12

Half time 60.5 BPM · double time 241.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (496.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Glass OnionThe BeatlesF major121BPM
  2. (Love Is) The Tender TrapFrank SinatraF major121BPM
  3. Don’t Leave Me This WayThelma HoustonF major121BPM
  4. Not FairLily AllenF major121BPM
  5. DreamsFleetwood MacF major120BPM
  6. The Living Daylightsa‐haF major120BPM
  7. Lost CauseBeckF major120BPM
  8. Suburban WarArcade FireF major120BPM
  9. Smoke AgainChance the Rapper feat. Ab‐SoulF major120BPM
  10. NightvisionDaft PunkF major120BPM

Recordings in F major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 121 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F majorAll songs at 121 BPMF major at 120–129 BPMElton John

MusicBrainz collapses 41 recording ids into this one. Recording id e492bc5b-469e-497b-903d-64a9713deee0.