Foreigner · 4
Break It Up
Break It Up is in E flat minor at 123.3 beats per minute.
Tempo
123 BPM · Allegromedian of 139 analyses · 123.1–123.4 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E♭ minor6 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 96%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 139people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 486.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.5Hz · +6 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.94dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.61Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.123Essentia'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
139 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in E flat minor, a key signature of 6 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 139 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 123.3 BPM one beat lasts 486.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 121.7 ms and a dotted eighth 365 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 246.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.5 Hz, which is 6 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 4.94 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 0.61 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 E flat minor; 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 E♭ minor
Each of these differs from E♭ minor 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 123 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1946.5 | 0.51 |
| Half note | 2 | 973.2 | 1.03 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 729.9 | 1.37 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 486.6 | 2.06 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 324.4 | 3.08 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 365 | 2.74 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 243.3 | 4.11 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 162.2 | 6.17 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 182.5 | 5.48 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 121.7 | 8.22 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 81.1 | 12.33 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 60.8 | 16.44 |
Half time 61.7 BPM · double time 246.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (486.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Leave Me AloneMichael JacksonE♭ minor124BPM
- BulletproofLa RouxE♭ minor123BPM
- World in My EyesDepeche ModeE♭ minor122BPM
- The West SidePhil CollinsE♭ minor125BPM
- You Make MeAviciiE♭ minor125BPM
- DerezzedDaft PunkE♭ minor120BPM
- Hang In Long EnoughPhil CollinsE♭ minor120BPM
- Reach Out I’ll Be ThereFour TopsE♭ minor120BPM
- BOPDaBabyE♭ minor127BPM
- Money HoneyLady GagaE♭ minor119BPM
Recordings in E flat minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 123 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E flat minorAll songs at 123 BPME♭ minor at 120–129 BPMForeigner
MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id c4eb2539-544a-464e-bdcb-a09c79f72aaa.