Tracy Chapman · Tracy Chapman
Fast Car
Fast Car is in A major at 104.1 beats per minute.
Tempo
104 BPM · Andantemedian of 272 analyses · 104–104.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 97%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 272people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 576.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.34dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.601Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.091Essentia'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
272 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 272 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 104.1 BPM one beat lasts 576.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 144.1 ms and a dotted eighth 432.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 52.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 208.2. A score would mark that Andante, 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 5.34 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 0.601 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 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 A major
Each of these differs from A 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 104 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2305.5 | 0.43 |
| Half note | 2 | 1152.7 | 0.87 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 864.6 | 1.16 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 576.4 | 1.74 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 384.2 | 2.6 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 432.3 | 2.31 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 288.2 | 3.47 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 192.1 | 5.21 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 216.1 | 4.63 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 144.1 | 6.94 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 96.1 | 10.41 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 72 | 13.88 |
Half time 52.1 BPM · double time 208.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (576.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.
Closest in key and tempo
- SupersonicOasisA major104BPM
- Two PrincesSpin DoctorsA major104BPM
- Chasing CarsSnow PatrolA major104BPM
- In the EveningLed ZeppelinA major104BPM
- TubthumpingChumbawambaA major104BPM
- Let Me Put My Love Into YouAC/DCA major104BPM
- Hello Mary LouCreedence Clearwater RevivalA major104BPM
- Fantastic VoyageDavid BowieA major103BPM
- MMMBopHansonA major105BPM
- Mothers of the DisappearedU2A major103BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 104 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 104 BPMA major at 100–109 BPMTracy Chapman
MusicBrainz collapses 27 recording ids into this one. Recording id 883821fc-9bbc-4e04-be79-b4b12c4c4a4e.