TempoPeek

Elvis Costello · My Aim Is True

Pay It Back

Pay It Back is in C major at 130.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

131 BPM · Allegromedian of 146 analyses · 130.6–131.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
67%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
146people who ran the extractor
One beat
458.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
444.3Hz · +17 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.83dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.926Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.344Essentia'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

146 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 67% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 146 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 130.8 BPM one beat lasts 458.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 114.7 ms and a dotted eighth 344 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 65.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 261.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 444.3 Hz, which is 17 cents above 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 4.83 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 0.926 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 131 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41834.90.55
Half note2917.41.09
Dotted quarter1.5688.11.45
Quarter note (one beat)1458.72.18
Quarter triplet0.667305.83.27
Dotted eighth0.753442.91
Eighth note0.5229.44.36
Eighth triplet0.333152.96.54
Dotted sixteenth0.3751725.81
Sixteenth note0.25114.78.72
Sixteenth triplet0.16776.513.08
Thirty-second note0.12557.317.44

Half time 65.4 BPM · double time 261.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (458.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Since U Been GoneKelly ClarksonC major131BPM
  2. Open Your EyesSnow PatrolC major131BPM
  3. Big MeFoo FightersC major131BPM
  4. Church of the Poison MindCulture ClubC major131BPM
  5. Time After TimeCyndi LauperC major131BPM
  6. Touch and GoThe CarsC major131BPM
  7. Born to Be My BabyBon JoviC major131BPM
  8. Stringsblink‐182C major130BPM
  9. Fool in the RainLed ZeppelinC major130BPM
  10. Fragments of TimeDaft Punk feat. Todd EdwardsC major130BPM

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

All songs in C majorAll songs at 131 BPMC major at 130–139 BPMElvis Costello

MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id 99a2a445-9fab-48a1-a508-a6e3b3a8a1d5.