What BPM is Deep house?

Deep house has a median tempo of 124 BPM. Half of all deep house sits between 122 and 126 BPM, measured across 20,719 analysed tracks. The genre's editorial range is 118–125 BPM; our catalog sits a little above it.

House · 1980s Chicago — present

Measured 13 August 2026 from 20,719 deep house tracks in our catalog. 1,438 tempo outliers removed by a Tukey IQR fence. No track needed a half-time correction. 184 tracks (0.9%) carry a tempo our detectors flagged for review; they are included in these figures.

Method: how we correct half-time BPM detection — why fast genres get stored at half speed, and the rule we apply before publishing a median.

Median BPM

124

Middle half

122–126

9 in 10

120–128

Mean

124

Tracks measured

20,719

BPM distribution

20,719 tracks · median 124 BPM · most of the catalog sits between 122 and 126 BPM · 1438 outliers removed by IQR filter.

Median Middle half (Q1–Q3) Edge of range

How tightly does deep house hold its tempo?

Half of all deep house sits inside a 4 BPM window, 122 to 126. Widen to nine tracks in ten and the band runs 120–128 BPM. No house genre charted below spreads wider — Progressive house holds to 2 BPM.

10th percentile 120 · lower quartile 122 · median 124 · upper quartile 126 · 90th percentile 128 BPM

How deep house tempo has shifted

Across 4,618 deep house tracks spanning 1996–2026, the median has crept up by 1.5 BPM (from 124 to 126) with the highest median in 2026 (126 BPM) and the lowest in 2008 (122 BPM).

Median per year Inter-quartile band

Why this tempo?

Deep house settled at 118–125 BPM because it prioritizes groove over urgency. The tempo sits low enough to accommodate the genre's signature slow-attack bass lines and extended chord progressions—typically 8 or 16 bars—without feeling static. Chicago's original house pioneers used drum machines like the TR-808 and TR-909, which naturally favored this range for soulful, four-on-the-floor pocket. Unlike faster house variants, deep house's patient mixing philosophy demands space: DJs blend tracks across 6–10 minute sections, allowing atmospheric layers and vocal samples to breathe. The dancefloor function is meditative rather than peak-time; the tempo sustains energy without demanding constant BPM escalation.

Where your track fits

Three reference points along the BPM axis for deep house, with what the position implies about the track.

122BPM

Groovy side

Lower quartile — patient builds, deeper grooves, long blends.

124BPM

Genre centre

Median — what most tracks in the catalog actually sound like.

126BPM

Peak-time edge

Upper quartile — pushes the floor, bridges into faster neighbours.

Where deep house sits on the tempo axis

Median BPM of deep house compared to neighbouring genres in the same family. Closer medians mean easier cross-genre transitions.

120124128

Popular deep house tracks at the median BPM

Catalog tracks within ±2 BPM of 124, sorted by popularity.

When the Feeling Is Gone

Just What I Said (Everything In Its Right Place)

Top deep house artists in the catalog

Names you’ll meet often when building deep house sets.

Dominant Camelot keys

Where deep house producers cluster harmonically. 73% minor · 27% major

8A11.3%6A8.1%5A8.0%7A7.4%9A6.6%4A5.6%3A5.6%2A5.0%

8A is the most crowded key in deep house: 11.3% of the 20,717 tracks we have a key for, 9.6× the rarest key in the genre (1B, 1.2%).

Producing deep house — tempo notes

›Anchor your kick pattern at 120–122 BPM to allow sidechain compression on bass to feel deliberate rather than rushed; deep house thrives on perceived weight, not velocity.
›Compose melodic hooks and pad progressions in 16-bar phrases at 121 BPM; this length matches the standard deep house blend window and gives DJs natural cue points.
›Set your swing or shuffle on hi-hats to 55–65% at 124 BPM to create pocket without destabilizing the four-on-the-floor foundation that anchors the genre.

Mixing deep house sets — tempo notes

›Use 8–10 minute blend lengths between tracks; at 120 BPM, this allows two full breakdowns and a clean phrase boundary re-entry without jarring the room.
›EQ incoming bass at 60–80 Hz with a high-pass filter set to roll off gradually; deep house relies on sub clarity, and overlapping lows at 123 BPM will muddy the pocket.
›Beatmatch within a ±2 BPM window (e.g., 120–122 BPM); deep house's slow attack elements are sensitive to tempo drift, and listeners perceive even small variations as mixing error.

All 124 BPM tracks How to mix deep house EDM genre BPM chart BPM for every genre

FAQ

What BPM is Deep house?⌄

Has deep house's BPM changed over time?⌄

Yes — across the 20,719 tracks we measured, the median has varied year to year. The chart on this page shows the full year-by-year picture.

At what BPM should I produce a deep house track?⌄

Anchor your kick at 124 BPM for the genre centre. 126 BPM is the upper-quartile edge if you're producing for peak-time. Below 122 BPM you're outside the middle half of what we measured.

What Camelot keys are most common in deep house?⌄

The dominant Camelot keys in our deep house catalog are 8A, 6A, 5A. 73% of tracks are in minor keys (A); 27% major (B). 8A is the most crowded key in deep house: 11.3% of the 20,717 tracks we have a key for, 9.6× the rarest key in the genre (1B, 1.2%).

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