ZZ Top · Afterburner
Can’t Stop Rockin’
Can’t Stop Rockin’ is in C major at 149 beats per minute.
Tempo
149 BPM · Allegromedian of 128 analyses · 148.9–149.1 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 98%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 128people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 402.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.78dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.963Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.366Essentia'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
128 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 98% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 128 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 149 BPM one beat lasts 402.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 100.7 ms and a dotted eighth 302 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 74.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 298. 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 2.78 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 0.963 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 C 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 C major
Each of these differs from C 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 149 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1610.7 | 0.62 |
| Half note | 2 | 805.4 | 1.24 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 604 | 1.66 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 402.7 | 2.48 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 268.5 | 3.72 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 302 | 3.31 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 201.3 | 4.97 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 134.2 | 7.45 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 151 | 6.62 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 100.7 | 9.93 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 67.1 | 14.9 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 50.3 | 19.87 |
Half time 74.5 BPM · double time 298 BPM. Every row is one beat (402.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Be Good to YourselfJourneyC major149BPM
- RunSnow PatrolC major149BPM
- Shoot the MoonNorah JonesC major149BPM
- Hey BartenderBlues BrothersC major149BPM
- A Whiter Shade of PaleProcol HarumC major149BPM
- My Love, My LifeABBAC major149BPM
- Wrong ’Em BoyoThe ClashC major148BPM
- Lean On MeBill WithersC major148BPM
- Bye Bye JohnnyChuck BerryC major148BPM
- Fat Old SunPink FloydC major148BPM
Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 149 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C majorAll songs at 149 BPMC major at 140–149 BPMZZ Top
MusicBrainz collapses 6 recording ids into this one. Recording id a57eccfc-306e-4b38-89b2-da5c087f8557.