List of average genre tempo (BPM) levels?

Question

I've been told before that a genre such as drum and bass averages a BPM of 160-180, whereas dubstep is around 140 BPM and hip-hop is around 115 BPM.

Does anyone know where I can get a list of popular genres with their average BPM?

I think the BPM Database could help you, but you'll have to carry out the computation of the average yourself by retrieving all songs under a given genre. — Anthony Labarre, Commented Nov 9, 2011 at 13:00
the stupid protection status of this question doesn't allow me to post this as an answer (if I don't lose a week or something pretending to bother about other people's ignorance) but here's a very good list of tempos: classical, jazz, and organized by dance genre. It also specifies a catch with songs that tend to be written "alla breve". — ZJR, Commented Aug 16, 2016 at 17:51

19 revs, 10 users 38% · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-30 20:04:58Z

Let's start a list!

Hip Hop is around 80-115 BPM
Triphop / Downtempo around 90-110 BPM
Concert marches are typically ~120 BPM.
House varies between 118 and 135 BPM
- UK garage/2-step is usually between 130-135 BPM
- UK funky is around 130 BPM
Techno 120-160 BPM
- Generally around 120-135
- Acid Techno 135-150
- Schranz around 150
Dubstep is around ~~140 BPM~~ 70's to 100 (mostly 80-90)
- Dubstep is not 140 BPM. I don't know why that number gets thrown around, but most dubstep is from the 70's to 100, with most falling in-between 80 and 90. In many songs it's often for a double-time break to happen, at which point it will reach 140~200, respectively, but it shouldn't be timed that way. – n_b
- *Dubstep is 70 - 75 BPM, which is equivalent to 140 - 150 BPM depending on if you count the snare on the 2 and 4 or the 3 of the measure.
Screamers are usually 130-150 BPM
Hardstyle is around 150 BPM
Juke/Footwork is around 160 BPM
Drum and Bass averages a BPM of 160-180
- Oldschool jungle is around 160-170
- Drum & Bass and Drumstep and Neurofunk 170-180
Grime 140 BPM

Some of the basic tempo markings

Good list, but the ones from "Largo" and down are tempo notations itself, although a lot of composers have used the notations as part of the piece name. — awe, Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 9:01
Also, take a look at Wikipedia article about Tempo (markings) and BPM. Some genre like Speedcore can achieve extreme tempo above 300 BPM. — Andrew T., Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 5:36
Dubstep is produced with DAWs at 140BPM, But If you see how the Rhythm goes Musically it's actually 70BPM — RishiNandha Vanchi, Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 8:22

nilon · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-12 16:42:27Z

Classical music averages around 120-140 BPM.

When you consider the tempos there's an even broader range.

2 Answers 2