What BPM is reggaeton?
Reggaeton is 88-100 BPM, and 96 is a fair single number. The machine above is playing reggaeton at 96 BPM - press Space to hear it, then move the tempo and listen for where it stops sounding like reggaeton.
Why reggaeton lives at 88-100 BPM
Reggaeton is 88-100 BPM, and the number has come down over time. The dembow riddim it is built on - the Jamaican dancehall pattern from 1990 - ran at 96-100, and the reggaeton of the 2000s, the Daddy Yankee and Don Omar years, stayed there at 94-98. The last decade pulled it slower: much of the Bad Bunny era sits at 88-94, and the dembow-adjacent Dominican style pushes the other way to 110-120. If you want one number, 96 is the classic and 92 the modern one.
The tempo is fixed by the rhythm itself. Dembow is kick on 1 and 3 with the snare landing on the "a" of 1 and the "and" of 2 - a three-against-four pattern - and that lopsidedness reads clearly between about 85 and 105. Faster, and the snare hits blur together into a straight backbeat; slower, and the gaps are long enough that the pattern loses its lean. No swing: the syncopation is written into the hits and the grid stays straight.
96 BPM in milliseconds
For setting delay times, checking a sample's length, or programming by ear: at 96 BPM one bar of 4/4 is 2,500 ms and a 16th note is 156 ms.
| At 96 BPM | Length | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| One bar (4/4) | 2,500 ms | 0.40 Hz |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 625 ms | 1.60 Hz |
| Dotted 8th | 469 ms | 2.13 Hz |
| 8th note | 312 ms | 3.20 Hz |
| 8th-note triplet | 208 ms | 4.80 Hz |
| 16th note | 156 ms | 6.40 Hz |
| 32nd note | 78 ms | 12.80 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. Reggaeton with its nearest neighbours by tempo:
| Genre | BPM | Typical | Felt pulse | Swing | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hip Hop | 80-100 | 90 | as written | 0-40, by style | Hip hop |
| Boom Bap | 88-94 | 91 | as written | 16-24 | Hip hop |
| 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 |
Frequently asked
What is the reggaeton beat called?
Dembow. The pattern - boom, ch-boom-chick - is named after Shabba Ranks' 1990 track "Dem Bow", whose riddim by Steely & Clevie became the template for the entire genre.
What BPM is dembow?
The Jamaican original and the reggaeton usage sit at 90-100. Dominican dembow, a separate faster genre that took the same name, is 110-125.
Can I make reggaeton 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 reggaeton 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 funk?95-115 BPM
- What BPM is afrobeats?100-115 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.