Jay‐Z + Alicia Keys · The Blueprint 3
Empire State of Mind
Empire State of Mind is in E flat minor at 86.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
87 BPM · Andantemedian of 228 analyses · 86.6–86.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E♭ minor6 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 93%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 228people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 692milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.72dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.964Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.47Essentia'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
228 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 93% — put it in E flat minor, a key signature of 6 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 228 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 86.7 BPM one beat lasts 692 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 173 ms and a dotted eighth 519 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 43.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 173.4. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 2.72 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 0.964 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 87 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2768.2 | 0.36 |
| Half note | 2 | 1384.1 | 0.72 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 1038.1 | 0.96 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 692 | 1.45 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 461.4 | 2.17 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 519 | 1.93 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 346 | 2.89 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 230.7 | 4.34 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 259.5 | 3.85 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 173 | 5.78 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 115.3 | 8.67 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 86.5 | 11.56 |
Half time 43.4 BPM · double time 173.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (692 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Love Me TomorrowChicagoE♭ minor87BPM
- Rude BoyRihannaE♭ minor87BPM
- Diamond Is ForeverJay‐ZE♭ minor86BPM
- I Can’t Stand the RainTina TurnerE♭ minor88BPM
- My Favorite ThingsJohn ColtraneE♭ minor89BPM
- Slow CheetahRed Hot Chili PeppersE♭ minor89BPM
- Dear Mama2PacE♭ minor84BPM
- Heaven and HellBlack SabbathE♭ minor90BPM
- Down With the SicknessDisturbedE♭ minor90BPM
- Remember Me?Eminem featuring RBX and Sticky FingazE♭ minor90BPM
Recordings in E flat minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 87 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E flat minorAll songs at 87 BPME♭ minor at 80–89 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4a9818ba-5963-4761-864f-7d96841053d2.