Michael Jackson · Bad

Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal is in A minor at 118.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 268 analyses · 118.1–118.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
76%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
268people who ran the extractor
One beat
508milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.25dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.934Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.548Essentia'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

268 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 76% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 268 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 118.1 BPM one beat lasts 508 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127 ms and a dotted eighth 381 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 59.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 236.2. 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 5.25 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 0.934 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 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 A minor

Each of these differs from A 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 118 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42032.20.49
Half note21016.10.98
Dotted quarter1.5762.11.31
Quarter note (one beat)15081.97
Quarter triplet0.667338.72.95
Dotted eighth0.753812.62
Eighth note0.52543.94
Eighth triplet0.333169.35.9
Dotted sixteenth0.375190.55.25
Sixteenth note0.251277.87
Sixteenth triplet0.16784.711.81
Thirty-second note0.12563.515.75

Half time 59.1 BPM · double time 236.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (508 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Smooth CriminalAlien Ant FarmF major127BPM

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. No One Like YouScorpionsA minor118BPM
  2. SittingCat StevensA minor118BPM
  3. KlavierRammsteinA minor118BPM
  4. Stacy’s MomFountains of WayneA minor118BPM
  5. God Fearing ManBen HarperA minor118BPM
  6. Is There Anybody Out There?Pink FloydA minor118BPM
  7. RescueAshantiA minor118BPM
  8. The House of the Rising SunThe AnimalsA minor118BPM
  9. I Do Not Want ThisNine Inch NailsA minor118BPM
  10. Neat Neat NeatThe DamnedA minor118BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 118 BPMA minor at 110–119 BPMMichael Jackson

MusicBrainz collapses 50 recording ids into this one. Recording id 774e840c-164b-434c-8f2e-359eab5b050d.