TempoPeek

Queen · The Works

I Want to Break Free

I Want to Break Free is in E major at 108.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

109 BPM · Moderatomedian of 224 analyses · 108.6–109 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
224people who ran the extractor
One beat
552milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.2Hz · -3 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.82dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.734Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.197Essentia'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

224 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 224 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 108.7 BPM one beat lasts 552 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 138 ms and a dotted eighth 414 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 54.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 217.4. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.2 Hz, which is 3 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 5.82 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 0.734 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 109 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42207.90.45
Half note211040.91
Dotted quarter1.58281.21
Quarter note (one beat)15521.81
Quarter triplet0.6673682.72
Dotted eighth0.754142.42
Eighth note0.52763.62
Eighth triplet0.3331845.44
Dotted sixteenth0.3752074.83
Sixteenth note0.251387.25
Sixteenth triplet0.1679210.87
Thirty-second note0.1256914.49

Half time 54.4 BPM · double time 217.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (552 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. New Kid in TownEaglesE major108BPM
  2. Cruel SummerBananaramaE major108BPM
  3. Prodigal SonThe Rolling StonesE major108BPM
  4. Voodoo People (Dust Brothers remix)The ProdigyE major108BPM
  5. After the Dance (instrumental)Marvin GayeE major109BPM
  6. StandR.E.M.E major109BPM
  7. I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)Aretha Franklin with George MichaelE major108BPM
  8. PhotographEd SheeranE major108BPM
  9. Heart’s Done TimeAerosmithE major108BPM
  10. Aún existe amorCéline DionE major108BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 109 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 109 BPME major at 100–109 BPMQueen

MusicBrainz collapses 76 recording ids into this one. Recording id 8f0a2dcc-67f6-4510-bd59-ffd820217832.