What BPM is afrobeats?
Afrobeats is 100-115 BPM, and 110 is a fair single number. The machine above is playing afrobeats at 110 BPM - press Space to hear it, then move the tempo and listen for where it stops sounding like afrobeats.
Why afrobeats lives at 100-115 BPM
Afrobeats - the modern West African pop style - is 100-115 BPM, and most of it sits at 100-110. The older Afrobeat, Fela Kuti's, is a different music and mostly faster, 110-130, with long arrangements built for horn sections. The pop descendant kept the interlocking percussion and slowed it to a tempo where a vocal can sit on top of it comfortably, and the result is a window just below house and just above hip hop, which is part of why it travels so well between the two.
What fixes the range is the percussion. Afrobeats grooves are three or four short parts - a shaker, a conga figure, a rim, a bell - that each sound incomplete and lock into a swing when they run together. Between 100 and 112 those parts stay audible as separate lines; faster, and they merge into a single texture, which is fine for afro house at 122 but loses the conversation. Swing is 8-14 - present, not heavy. The groove above is at 110 with 14 swing.
110 BPM in milliseconds
For setting delay times, checking a sample's length, or programming by ear: at 110 BPM one bar of 4/4 is 2,182 ms and a 16th note is 136 ms.
| At 110 BPM | Length | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| One bar (4/4) | 2,182 ms | 0.46 Hz |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 545 ms | 1.83 Hz |
| Dotted 8th | 409 ms | 2.44 Hz |
| 8th note | 273 ms | 3.67 Hz |
| 8th-note triplet | 182 ms | 5.50 Hz |
| 16th note | 136 ms | 7.33 Hz |
| 32nd note | 68 ms | 14.67 Hz |
The genres either side
Tempo windows overlap, and what separates neighbours is usually swing and where the snare falls rather than the number itself. Afrobeats with its nearest neighbours by tempo:
| Genre | BPM | Typical | Felt pulse | Swing | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reggaeton | 88-100 | 96 | as written | 0 | Latin |
| Funk | 95-115 | 104 | as written | 10-16 | Funk and soul |
| Afrobeats | 100-115 | 110 | as written | 8-14 | African |
| Amapiano | 110-115 | 112 | as written | 6-12 | Dance |
| Disco | 110-125 | 120 | as written | 8-14 | Funk and soul |
Frequently asked
What is the difference between Afrobeat and afrobeats?
Afrobeat is the 1970s Nigerian style, horn-led, long-form and usually 110-130 BPM. Afrobeats (with the s) is the 2010s pop style at 100-115. The drum programming on this page works for both; the tempo and what goes on top are what differ.
Is afrobeats the same tempo as dancehall?
Close: dancehall is 90-105 and afrobeats 100-115, and the overlap around 100-105 is where a lot of the crossover records sit.
Can I make afrobeats at a different tempo?
Yes, and the edges of the window are where the interesting records live. The point of the range is that inside it a listener hears afrobeats before they hear anything else; outside it, the same drum pattern reads as a neighbouring style. Drag the tempo on this page to hear the crossover happen.
Go deeper
Every genre's tempo
- What BPM is lo-fi hip hop?70-85 BPM
- What BPM is hip hop?80-100 BPM
- What BPM is boom bap?88-94 BPM
- What BPM is reggaeton?88-100 BPM
- What BPM is funk?95-115 BPM
- What BPM is amapiano?110-115 BPM
- What BPM is disco?110-125 BPM
- What BPM is afro house?118-126 BPM
- What BPM is house?120-128 BPM
- What BPM is UK garage?130-135 BPM
- What BPM is techno?128-140 BPM
- What BPM is the Amen break?136-137 BPM
- What BPM is trap?130-150 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is drill?138-145 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is phonk?130-160 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is dubstep?138-142 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is jungle?160-175 BPM
- What BPM is drum and bass?170-176 BPM
- What BPM is neurofunk?172-176 BPM
BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.
Made by Max Berggren.