TempoPeek

Neil Young · After the Gold Rush

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Only Love Can Break Your Heart is in D major at 110.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

111 BPM · Moderatomedian of 195 analyses · 110.6–110.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
94%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
195people who ran the extractor
One beat
541.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
437Hz · -12 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.17dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.706Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.131Essentia'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

195 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 94% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 195 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 110.8 BPM one beat lasts 541.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 135.4 ms and a dotted eighth 406.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 55.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 221.6. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 437 Hz, which is 12 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 6.17 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 0.706 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 D 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 D major

Each of these differs from D 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 111 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42166.10.46
Half note210830.92
Dotted quarter1.5812.31.23
Quarter note (one beat)1541.51.85
Quarter triplet0.6673612.77
Dotted eighth0.75406.12.46
Eighth note0.5270.83.69
Eighth triplet0.333180.55.54
Dotted sixteenth0.375203.14.92
Sixteenth note0.25135.47.39
Sixteenth triplet0.16790.311.08
Thirty-second note0.12567.714.77

Half time 55.4 BPM · double time 221.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (541.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Lie In Our GravesDave Matthews BandD major111BPM
  2. CarouselambraLed ZeppelinD major111BPM
  3. You’ve Got Her in Your PocketThe White StripesD major111BPM
  4. ResolveFoo FightersD major111BPM
  5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine AnymoreThe Walker BrothersD major111BPM
  6. I Want a New DrugHuey Lewis and the NewsD major110BPM
  7. Bobo on the CornerBeastie BoysD major110BPM
  8. Never Too MuchLuther VandrossD major110BPM
  9. A Matter of TrustBilly JoelD major110BPM
  10. KissPrinceD major111BPM

Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 111 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D majorAll songs at 111 BPMD major at 110–119 BPMNeil Young

MusicBrainz collapses 28 recording ids into this one. Recording id 92e1e562-eefb-4891-9ad0-083d28e796b7.