Johnny Cash · American IV: The Man Comes Around

Hurt

Hurt is in C major at 91.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

91 BPM · Andantemedian of 251 analyses · 90.9–91.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
99%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
251people who ran the extractor
One beat
658.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.91dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.227Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
0.932Essentia'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

251 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 251 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 91.1 BPM one beat lasts 658.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 164.7 ms and a dotted eighth 494 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 45.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 182.2. A score would mark that Andante, 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 5.91 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 0.227 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 91 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42634.50.38
Half note21317.20.76
Dotted quarter1.5987.91.01
Quarter note (one beat)1658.61.52
Quarter triplet0.667439.12.28
Dotted eighth0.754942.02
Eighth note0.5329.33.04
Eighth triplet0.333219.54.56
Dotted sixteenth0.3752474.05
Sixteenth note0.25164.76.07
Sixteenth triplet0.167109.89.11
Thirty-second note0.12582.312.15

Half time 45.6 BPM · double time 182.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (658.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. HurtChristina AguileraE minor145BPM
  2. HurtNine Inch NailsA minor79BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. InvincibleMuseC major91BPM
  2. Universal TravelerAirC major91BPM
  3. LoreleiCocteau TwinsC major91BPM
  4. For Your LifeLed ZeppelinC major91BPM
  5. The StrokeBilly SquierC major91BPM
  6. WhyAnnie LennoxC major91BPM
  7. Give It AwayRed Hot Chili PeppersC major92BPM
  8. California Love (original version)2Pac feat. Dr. Dre, Roger TroutmanC major92BPM
  9. I RobotThe Alan Parsons ProjectC major91BPM
  10. In the Sweet By and ByJohnny CashC major90BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 91 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 91 BPMC major at 90–99 BPMJohnny Cash

MusicBrainz collapses 8 recording ids into this one. Recording id 25d8de5e-3662-4ffd-8dea-511a696ac3e7.