Piano Guidance
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Is 60 BPM too slow music?

Larghetto (less slow) is 60–66 BPM. Adagio (moderately slow) is 66–76 BPM. Andante (walking speed) is 76–108 BPM. Moderato (moderate) is 108–120 BPM.

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What Are Beats Per Minute and What Can BPM Tell You?

You might hear the term “BPM” a lot from doctors or fitness enthusiasts, but what is BPM? It stands for “Beats Per Minute”—but it isn’t just useful for determining your heart rate! Knowing the BPM for a song is useful in the world of A/V content creation as well. Here’s our quick guide to understand BPM and how it can be useful in your creative process.

How to Count the BPM in Music

Determining the BPM of a song is fairly simple, but a little musical background may be helpful. On sheet music, instrumentation is written out using musical notation, which is divided into small sections called measures. Each measure is then comprised of a series of music notes, which are the melody and/or harmony of a song. From there, a time signature is used to determine how many beats are in a measure, which is then how the composer determines how many notes are allowed in each measure. Thus, the tempo determines the performance speed of the music. So when you count how many beats are in one minute of a song played at a specific tempo, you can quickly determine the Beats Per Minute or BPM. And if you’re pressed for time, count the beats in 15 seconds of music, and then multiply that number by 4. Voila!

How to Use BPM and Tempo in Your Creative Projects

Why is this useful? The tempo of a song generally correlates with the kind of mood a song will set in a video or any project that utilizes music to invoke a specific feeling in the audience. The higher the BPM, the faster the song, which is great for scenes that are joyful, exciting, or need to move quickly or intensely. Meanwhile, a lower BPM means the song is slower, which is fitting scenes that are sad, dramatic or romantic. Different tempos fall into specific ranges, which are helpful when determining the BPM as well as what music works best for your project:

Largo (very slow) is 40–60 BPM.

Larghetto (less slow) is 60–66 BPM.

Andante (walking speed) is 76–108 BPM.

Moderato (moderate) is 108–120 BPM.

Allegro (fast) is 120–168 BPM.

Presto (faster) is 168–200 BPM.

Prestissimo (even faster) is 200+ BPM.

Searching by BPM to Find the Perfect Song

Did you know that you can search for music by BPM right on Storyblocks? There’s a slider on the left side of the search results page that runs from 0–250 BPM. Every track also includes its BPM on the preview page for reference. So, the next time you’re looking for music to use in your next project, try searching by BPM and see what turns up—it may just be the perfect track to amp up your project to the next level! Join Our Creative Community Access the best video tips, design hacks, and deals straight to your inbox.

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What is world's most famous song?

According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.

This is a compendium of the best-selling music singles. The criterion for inclusion is to sell at least ten million copies worldwide. The singles listed here were cited by reliable sources from various media, such as digital journalism, newspapers, magazines, and books. According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.[1] The song, recognized as "the best-selling single of all time", was released before the pop/rock singles-chart era and "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later". Guinness World Records also states that double A-side charity single "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight" (1997) by Elton John (rewritten as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, rather than Marilyn Monroe in the original 1973 version), is "the biggest-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s, having accumulated worldwide sales of 33 million copies". This makes it the second-best-selling physical single of all time.[1] Two best-selling singles lists are displayed here relating first to physical singles (mainly CD and vinyl singles) and second to digital singles (digitally downloaded tracks which first became available to purchase in the early 2000s).

Best-selling physical singles

15 million physical copies or more

10–14.9 million copies

Best-selling digital singles

15 million digital copies or more

10–14.99 million copies

Best-selling singles by year worldwide

See also

Notes

References

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