House · 1980s Chicago — present
What BPM is House?
House sits at 126 BPM at the median, with most tracks between 124 and 129 BPM. The genre's editorial range is 120–128 BPM; our catalog measures slightly tighter.
Median BPM
126
Common range
124–129
Mean
127
Tracks measured
951
BPM distribution
951 tracks · median 126 BPM · most of the catalog sits between 124 and 129 BPM · 49 outliers removed by IQR filter.
How house tempo has shifted
Across 609 house tracks spanning 2013–2026, the median has crept up by 4.0 BPM (from 124 to 128) with the highest median in 2025 (129 BPM) and the lowest in 2014 (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 126, 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.