TempoPeek

The Darkness · Permission to Land

I Believe in a Thing Called Love

I Believe in a Thing Called Love is in E major at 128.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

128 BPM · Allegromedian of 160 analyses · 128.1–128.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
79%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
160people who ran the extractor
One beat
468milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
1.99dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.939Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.003Essentia'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

160 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 79% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 160 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 128.2 BPM one beat lasts 468 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 117 ms and a dotted eighth 351 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 64.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 256.4. A score would mark that Allegro, 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 1.99 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 0.939 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 128 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41872.10.53
Half note29361.07
Dotted quarter1.57021.42
Quarter note (one beat)14682.14
Quarter triplet0.6673123.21
Dotted eighth0.753512.85
Eighth note0.52344.27
Eighth triplet0.3331566.41
Dotted sixteenth0.375175.55.7
Sixteenth note0.251178.55
Sixteenth triplet0.1677812.82
Thirty-second note0.12558.517.09

Half time 64.1 BPM · double time 256.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (468 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. The Time (Dirty Bit)The Black Eyed PeasE major128BPM
  2. Moves Like JaggerMaroon 5 featuring Christina AguileraE major128BPM
  3. The Closest Thing to CrazyKatie MeluaE major128BPM
  4. OverdoseAC/DCE major128BPM
  5. Good FeelingFlo RidaE major128BPM
  6. It’s TrickyRun‐D.M.C.E major128BPM
  7. Goodbye FriendDavid Guetta feat. The ScriptE major128BPM
  8. I Can Only ImagineDavid Guetta feat. Chris Brown & Lil WayneE major128BPM
  9. Danny SaysFoo FightersE major128BPM
  10. Moonlight ShadowMike OldfieldE major129BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 128 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 128 BPME major at 120–129 BPM

MusicBrainz collapses 37 recording ids into this one. Recording id 2afe5070-b737-4b24-85d2-ea4cafbfbbaa.