Michael Jackson · Dangerous
Black or White
Black or White is in A major at 114.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
115 BPM · Moderatomedian of 364 analyses · 114.8–115.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 94%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 364people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 522.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.34dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.771Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.206Essentia'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
364 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 364 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 114.9 BPM one beat lasts 522.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 130.5 ms and a dotted eighth 391.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 57.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 229.8. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 5.34 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 0.771 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 A 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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 115 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2088.8 | 0.48 |
| Half note | 2 | 1044.4 | 0.96 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 783.3 | 1.28 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 522.2 | 1.92 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 348.1 | 2.87 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 391.6 | 2.55 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 261.1 | 3.83 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 174.1 | 5.75 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 195.8 | 5.11 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 130.5 | 7.66 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 87 | 11.49 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 65.3 | 15.32 |
Half time 57.5 BPM · double time 229.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (522.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Every Breaking WaveU2A major115BPM
- Everything She WantsWham!A major115BPM
- AmsterdamImagine DragonsA major115BPM
- AliveThe Black Eyed PeasA major115BPM
- Elephant TalkKing CrimsonA major115BPM
- Cold TurkeyPlastic Ono BandA major115BPM
- Off My LineSpin DoctorsA major115BPM
- Cigarettes & AlcoholOasisA major115BPM
- Twentieth Century FoxThe DoorsA major115BPM
- Don’t Bring Me DownElectric Light OrchestraA major115BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 115 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 115 BPMA major at 110–119 BPMMichael Jackson
MusicBrainz collapses 50 recording ids into this one. Recording id 43a8d041-d666-4b14-807a-5ac0df35a69a.