TempoPeek

Van Morrison · Astral Weeks

Sweet Thing

Sweet Thing is in A major at 172.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

172 BPM · Vivacemedian of 154 analyses · 116.4–172.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
96%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
154people who ran the extractor
One beat
348.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
435.1Hz · -19.5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.7dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.243Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.08Essentia'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

154 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 154 readings; 84% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 116.4 to 172.3 BPM.

At 172.3 BPM one beat lasts 348.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 87.1 ms and a dotted eighth 261.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 86.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 344.6. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 435.1 Hz, which is 19.5 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 4.7 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 0.243 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 172 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41392.90.72
Half note2696.51.44
Dotted quarter1.5522.31.91
Quarter note (one beat)1348.22.87
Quarter triplet0.667232.24.31
Dotted eighth0.75261.23.83
Eighth note0.5174.15.74
Eighth triplet0.333116.18.62
Dotted sixteenth0.375130.67.66
Sixteenth note0.2587.111.49
Sixteenth triplet0.1675817.23
Thirty-second note0.12543.522.97

Half time 86.2 BPM · double time 344.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (348.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Sweet ThingDavid BowieC major120BPM

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

  1. Under the BridgeRed Hot Chili PeppersA major172BPM
  2. Bitter Sweet SymphonyThe VerveA major172BPM
  3. Oh! DarlingThe BeatlesA major172BPM
  4. WonderwallOasisA major172BPM
  5. Boys Don’t CryThe CureA major172BPM
  6. Communication BreakdownLed ZeppelinA major172BPM
  7. Always on the RunLenny KravitzA major172BPM
  8. Tom SawyerRushA major172BPM
  9. The GrouchGreen DayA major172BPM
  10. Walk OnNeil YoungA major172BPM

Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 172 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A majorAll songs at 172 BPMA major at 170–179 BPMVan Morrison

MusicBrainz collapses 10 recording ids into this one. Recording id 2966248f-dea6-4485-abca-54bc4c45978c.