What BPM is House?
House has a median tempo of 125 BPM. Half of all house sits between 124 and 128 BPM, measured across 19,870 analysed tracks. The genre's editorial range is 120–128 BPM; our catalog measures slightly tighter.
House · 1980s Chicago — present
Measured 13 August 2026 from 19,870 house tracks in our catalog. 1,114 tempo outliers removed by a Tukey IQR fence. No track needed a half-time correction. 85 tracks (0.4%) 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
125
Middle half
124–128
9 in 10
122–130
Mean
126
Tracks measured
19,870
BPM distribution
19,870 tracks · median 125 BPM · most of the catalog sits between 124 and 128 BPM · 1114 outliers removed by IQR filter.
How tightly does house hold its tempo?
Half of all house sits inside a 4 BPM window, 124 to 128. Widen to nine tracks in ten and the band runs 122–130 BPM. No house genre charted below spreads wider — Progressive house holds to 2 BPM.
10th percentile 122 · lower quartile 124 · median 125 · upper quartile 128 · 90th percentile 130 BPM
How house tempo has shifted
Across 4,730 house tracks spanning 1988–2026, the median has crept up by 5.0 BPM (from 123 to 128) with the highest median in 2025 (128 BPM) and the lowest in 1988 (123 BPM).
Why this tempo?
House music settled at 120–128 BPM because the tempo aligns with the human heartbeat under exertion and the four-on-the-floor kick pattern's natural swing on a dancefloor. Chicago's early house pioneers in the 1980s worked with drum machines like the TR-808 and TR-909, which had no tempo ceiling; 120–128 BPM emerged as the sweet spot where kick decay and snare placement felt organic, where a 16-bar phrase landed cleanly, and where dancers could sustain energy for hours. The range also accommodates both stripped-down minimal variants and soulful, synth-heavy cuts without losing groove coherence. This tempo became the genre's bedrock precisely because it's neither too fast to lose pocket nor too slow to maintain momentum.
Where your track fits
Three reference points along the BPM axis for house, with what the position implies about the track.
Groovy side
Lower quartile — patient builds, deeper grooves, long blends.
Genre centre
Median — what most tracks in the catalog actually sound like.
Peak-time edge
Upper quartile — pushes the floor, bridges into faster neighbours.
Where house sits on the tempo axis
Median BPM of house compared to neighbouring genres in the same family. Closer medians mean easier cross-genre transitions.
Popular house tracks at the median BPM
Catalog tracks within ±2 BPM of 125, sorted by popularity.
Top house artists in the catalog
Names you’ll meet often when building house sets.
Producing house — tempo notes
- ›Anchor your kick at 124 BPM with a 250–300 ms decay; this length prevents mud on the second kick of a pair while maintaining the four-on-the-floor pocket.
- ›Set sidechain compression to release over 1–2 beats at 124 BPM so pads and bass breathe with the kick without losing presence.
- ›If layering a sub-bass, keep it tight to the kick's attack at 120–128 BPM; use a high-pass filter above 60 Hz on parallel elements to avoid phase cancellation.
Mixing house sets — tempo notes
- ›Blend two tracks over 16–32 bars at 124 BPM using a long crossfader arc; house dancers expect gradual builds, not sharp cuts.
- ›EQ incoming tracks: reduce 400–800 Hz to prevent kick clash, boost 2–4 kHz for vocal clarity in the mix.
- ›Use a 4-bar loop of the incoming track's kick pattern to confirm phase lock before full blend; even 10 ms drift becomes obvious at 128 BPM over a minute.
FAQ
What BPM is House?⌄
Has house's BPM changed over time?⌄
At what BPM should I produce a house track?⌄
What Camelot keys are most common in house?⌄
Plan a chemistry-scored set