U2 · Pop
Staring at the Sun
Staring at the Sun is in D minor at 140.2 beats per minute.
Tempo
140 BPM · Allegromedian of 135 analyses · 140.2–141.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 83%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 135people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 428milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.64dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.787Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.155Essentia'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
135 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 83% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 135 readings; 90% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 140.2 BPM one beat lasts 428 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107 ms and a dotted eighth 321 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 70.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 280.4. 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 3.64 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 0.787 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 D 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 D minor
Each of these differs from D 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 140 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1711.8 | 0.58 |
| Half note | 2 | 855.9 | 1.17 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 641.9 | 1.56 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 428 | 2.34 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 285.3 | 3.51 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 321 | 3.12 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 214 | 4.67 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 142.7 | 7.01 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 160.5 | 6.23 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 107 | 9.35 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 71.3 | 14.02 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 53.5 | 18.69 |
Half time 70.1 BPM · double time 280.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (428 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Don’t Stand So Close to MeThe PoliceD minor140BPM
- I Come in PeaceShotgun MessiahD minor140BPM
- Sky Fits HeavenMadonnaD minor140BPM
- Feds Watching2 Chainz featuring PharrellD minor140BPM
- The Prophet’s SongQueenD minor140BPM
- I Hate You Then I Love YouCéline Dion duet with Luciano PavarottiD minor141BPM
- Old ManNeil YoungD minor141BPM
- The Call of KtuluMetallicaD minor139BPM
- Chug All NightEaglesD minor139BPM
- Up to My Neck in YouAC/DCD minor139BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 140 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 140 BPMD minor at 140–149 BPMU2
MusicBrainz collapses 49 recording ids into this one. Recording id 69169a0a-396e-469d-be63-4dcca10cbf00.