Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder · Tug of War
Ebony and Ivory
Ebony and Ivory is in E major at 161.8 beats per minute.
Tempo
162 BPM · Vivacemedian of 162 analyses · 161.7–161.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 100%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 162people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 370.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 443.1Hz · +12 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.21dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.903Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.169Essentia'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
162 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 162 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 161.8 BPM one beat lasts 370.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 92.7 ms and a dotted eighth 278.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 80.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 323.6. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 443.1 Hz, which is 12 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 3.21 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 0.903 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 E 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 E major
Each of these differs from E 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 162 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1483.3 | 0.67 |
| Half note | 2 | 741.7 | 1.35 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 556.2 | 1.8 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 370.8 | 2.7 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 247.2 | 4.05 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 278.1 | 3.6 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 185.4 | 5.39 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 123.6 | 8.09 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 139.1 | 7.19 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 92.7 | 10.79 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 61.8 | 16.18 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 46.4 | 21.57 |
Half time 80.9 BPM · double time 323.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (370.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- StanEminem featuring DidoE major162BPM
- Party Out of BoundsThe B‐52sE major162BPM
- La Femme d’argentAirE major162BPM
- She Looks So Perfect5 Seconds of SummerE major162BPM
- SoupBlind MelonE major162BPM
- Love So RightBee GeesE major162BPM
- Honey Don’tThe BeatlesE major163BPM
- This Is a CallFoo FightersE major164BPM
- Where Is My Mind?PixiesE major164BPM
- All This and Heaven TooFlorence + the MachineE major164BPM
Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 162 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E majorAll songs at 162 BPME major at 160–169 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 6 recording ids into this one. Recording id 16910202-6b1a-4625-a500-462d8fdea617.