The Clash · London Calling

Four Horsemen

Four Horsemen is in E flat minor at 143 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

143 BPM · Allegromedian of 180 analyses · 140.5–143.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E♭ minor6 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
59%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
180people who ran the extractor
One beat
419.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
455Hz · +58 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.68dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.951Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.281Essentia'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

180 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 59% — put it in E flat minor, a key signature of 6 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 180 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 140.5 to 143.3 BPM.

At 143 BPM one beat lasts 419.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 104.9 ms and a dotted eighth 314.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 286. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 455 Hz, which is 58 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — far enough that playing along at 440 Hz will sound wrong. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 2.68 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 0.951 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 flat 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 E♭ minor

Each of these differs from E♭ 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 143 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41678.30.6
Half note2839.21.19
Dotted quarter1.5629.41.59
Quarter note (one beat)1419.62.38
Quarter triplet0.667279.73.58
Dotted eighth0.75314.73.18
Eighth note0.5209.84.77
Eighth triplet0.333139.97.15
Dotted sixteenth0.375157.36.36
Sixteenth note0.25104.99.53
Sixteenth triplet0.16769.914.3
Thirty-second note0.12552.419.07

Half time 71.5 BPM · double time 286 BPM. Every row is one beat (419.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. I Believe to My SoulRay CharlesE♭ minor143BPM
  2. Midnight ShowThe KillersE♭ minor144BPM
  3. Ace of SpadesMotörheadE♭ minor140BPM
  4. Kiss KissChris Brown feat. T‐PainE♭ minor140BPM
  5. Cemeteries of LondonColdplayE♭ minor146BPM
  6. Civil WarGuns N’ RosesE♭ minor140BPM
  7. Shanti / AshtangiMadonnaE♭ minor140BPM
  8. Beat ItMichael JacksonE♭ minor139BPM
  9. BiscuitPortisheadE♭ minor136BPM
  10. IsobelDidoE♭ minor136BPM

Recordings in E flat minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 143 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E flat minorAll songs at 143 BPME♭ minor at 140–149 BPMThe Clash

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 47ad3f7f-9285-4dcf-b391-b98f4c8d9ea4.