5 min readUpdated
How to Find the BPM of a Song
BPM — beats per minute — tells you how fast a song is. You need it to beatmatch as a DJ, to set your DAW's project tempo, or to practice a song at its real speed. There are three ways to find it: detect it from the audio, tap along to the beat, or count the beats yourself and work it out. Each one checks the others.
What is BPM, and what counts as a beat?
BPM stands for beats per minute, the unit tempo is measured in. A song at 120 BPM has 120 beats every minute — two per second — and one at 60 BPM has one beat per second. "Tempo finder" and "BPM finder" mean the same thing.
The beat is the steady pulse you would clap or tap your foot to. In 4/4, the time signature of most popular music, it is the quarter note: four beats to a bar. In 6/8, the pulse most people feel is the dotted quarter note — two beats to a bar, each split into three — so the BPM is usually given for that pulse.
If you're not sure what time signature a song is in, the Time Signature Tool explains how each one is counted.
Method 1: Detect the BPM from the audio
Upload an audio file of the song to the BPM Finder. It finds each beat in the recording and works out the tempo from the time between them, and it detects the song's key at the same time. A full-length song can take up to a minute to analyze.
Alongside the BPM it shows the half-time and double-time values, and it warns you when the beat in the recording is faint. When the beat is faint, or the number doesn't feel right, check it by tapping.
Half time and double time
The most common wrong answer is exactly half or double the real tempo. A song you feel at 85 BPM might be read as 170 if every hi-hat or eighth note is counted as a beat, and a 140 BPM track might be read as 70 if only the kick and snare pattern is followed. Both numbers describe the same music; the right one is the pulse a listener taps their foot to.
Genres often have a convention: drum and bass is usually written at around 170 BPM even though its drums can feel like 85. If a reading seems half or double what you hear, use the half-time or double-time value instead.
Method 2: Tap along to the beat
- Open the Tap Tempo BPM Counter, or the Tap tempo tab of the BPM Finder.
- Play the song and tap the button, or press Space, on every beat — once per beat, not on every note.
- Keep tapping. Each tap is a little early or late, and those errors average out the longer you tap, so the reading settles as you go.
Tapping is useful where a single number from the audio can't tell the whole story: live recordings that speed up and slow down, songs with a loose groove, and quiet or beatless passages. It also lets you choose between half and double time, because you tap the pulse you feel.
Method 3: Count the beats and work it out
With no app at all, count the beats against a clock and multiply:
- Start a timer and count the beats, starting from 1 on the first beat after you start timing.
- Stop after a set time: 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
- Work out the BPM: beats counted × 60 ÷ seconds counted. That's ×4 for 15 seconds, ×2 for 30 seconds, and the count itself for a full minute.
For example, 30 beats in 15 seconds is 30 × 4 = 120 BPM. The longer you count, the more precise the result: miscounting by one beat changes the answer by 4 BPM over 15 seconds, by 2 BPM over 30 seconds, and by 1 BPM over a full minute.
Check the BPM with a metronome
To confirm a tempo, set the Online Metronome to it and start it on a beat of the song. If the clicks stay with the beat, the BPM is right. If they slowly drift ahead, the real tempo is slower; if they fall behind, it's faster.
Songs recorded to a click track at a steady tempo keep that tempo throughout, so one BPM describes them exactly. Live recordings often drift, and some songs change tempo between sections — for those, the BPM is an average, and tapping each section separately shows how it changes.
Using the BPM
DJs match the BPM of two tracks so their beats line up during a mix. Producers set the project tempo in their DAW so loops, delays and the grid line up with the recording. Musicians practice a song slowly with a metronome and raise the tempo until they reach its real BPM. The song's key matters for the same jobs — see How to Find the Key of a Song.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I count the BPM of a song?
Count the beats for a set time and multiply: beats × 60 ÷ seconds. 30 beats in 15 seconds is 120 BPM, and 60 beats in 30 seconds is also 120 BPM. Counting for longer gives a more precise answer, because a miscounted beat matters less.
How can I measure tempo without an app?
Use any clock or timer. Tap your foot to the beat, count the beats for 15, 30 or 60 seconds, then multiply by 4, 2 or 1 to get beats per minute.
Why does my BPM finder show double or half the tempo?
Detection can lock onto a faster layer of the rhythm, such as eighth notes, and report double the tempo, or onto a slower pattern and report half. Both describe the same music; the correct BPM is the pulse you tap your foot to. Tap along to check, or use the half-time or double-time value.
What if a song changes tempo?
Live recordings often speed up and slow down, and some songs change tempo between sections. Tap along to each section separately to find its BPM; a single number for the whole song is an average.
How do I find the BPM of a song in 6/8?
Tap the pulse you feel, which in 6/8 is usually the dotted quarter note — two beats per bar. That gives the BPM most musicians use. Counting every eighth note instead gives three times that number.
How do I check that a BPM is right?
Play a metronome at that BPM along with the song, starting on a beat. If the clicks stay with the beat, the BPM is right; if they drift ahead the real tempo is slower, and if they fall behind it is faster.
Is BPM the same as tempo?
Tempo is how fast a song is, and BPM (beats per minute) is the unit used to measure it, so a song's tempo is usually given as its BPM.