TempoPeek

Nine Inch Nails · The Downward Spiral

Hurt

Hurt is in A minor at 79.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

79 BPM · Andantemedian of 165 analyses · 79.2–80 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
93%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
165people who ran the extractor
One beat
756.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.57dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.075Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.172Essentia'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

165 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 93% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 165 readings; 93% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 79.3 BPM one beat lasts 756.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 189.2 ms and a dotted eighth 567.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 39.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 158.6. 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 6.57 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 0.075 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 79 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note43026.50.33
Half note21513.20.66
Dotted quarter1.51134.90.88
Quarter note (one beat)1756.61.32
Quarter triplet0.667504.41.98
Dotted eighth0.75567.51.76
Eighth note0.5378.32.64
Eighth triplet0.333252.23.97
Dotted sixteenth0.375283.73.52
Sixteenth note0.25189.25.29
Sixteenth triplet0.167126.17.93
Thirty-second note0.12594.610.57

Half time 39.7 BPM · double time 158.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (756.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. HurtChristina AguileraE minor145BPM
  2. HurtJohnny CashC major91BPM

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. Always Be My BabyMariah CareyA minor79BPM
  2. The OneFoo FightersA minor81BPM
  3. Sound Check (Gravity)GorillazA minor82BPM
  4. Boogie ManAerosmithA minor82BPM
  5. Grandma’s HandsBill WithersA minor82BPM
  6. Mercy on MeChristina AguileraA minor76BPM
  7. [White Blur 2]Aphex TwinA minor83BPM
  8. Brown SugarD’AngeloA minor83BPM
  9. Little OneBeckA minor83BPM
  10. Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasNeil DiamondA minor75BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 79 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 79 BPMA minor at 70–79 BPMNine Inch Nails

MusicBrainz collapses 158 recording ids into this one. Recording id ab7805a8-c161-403d-92bf-a92c8b8e17dc.