TempoPeek

Nine Inch Nails · The Downward Spiral

The Downward Spiral

The Downward Spiral is in A minor at 100.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

101 BPM · Andantemedian of 141 analyses · 100.3–100.8 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
73%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
141people who ran the extractor
One beat
597milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
444.3Hz · +17 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.35dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.462Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.05Essentia'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

141 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 73% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 141 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 100.5 BPM one beat lasts 597 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 149.3 ms and a dotted eighth 447.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 50.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 201. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 444.3 Hz, which is 17 cents above 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 4.35 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 0.462 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 101 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42388.10.42
Half note211940.84
Dotted quarter1.5895.51.12
Quarter note (one beat)15971.67
Quarter triplet0.6673982.51
Dotted eighth0.75447.82.23
Eighth note0.5298.53.35
Eighth triplet0.3331995.02
Dotted sixteenth0.375223.94.47
Sixteenth note0.25149.36.7
Sixteenth triplet0.16799.510.05
Thirty-second note0.12574.613.4

Half time 50.3 BPM · double time 201 BPM. Every row is one beat (597 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. If You Want Me to StayThe Red Hot Chili PeppersA minor101BPM
  2. Here Comes the HotstepperIni KamozeA minor100BPM
  3. Creeping DeathMetallicaA minor100BPM
  4. Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s HeadGorillazA minor100BPM
  5. The Same Deep Water as YouThe CureA minor100BPM
  6. Hey MamaThe Black Eyed PeasA minor100BPM
  7. Theme From “Rawhide”Blues BrothersA minor101BPM
  8. BailamosEnrique IglesiasA minor100BPM
  9. Stupid GirlsP!nkA minor100BPM
  10. Interstellar OverdrivePink FloydA minor100BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 101 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 101 BPMA minor at 100–109 BPMNine Inch Nails

MusicBrainz collapses 20 recording ids into this one. Recording id 05166c96-7f2f-42f2-8b8c-de0fc58e34b2.