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BPM by genre, measured from real sets

Most BPM-by-genre charts are copied from other BPM-by-genre charts, and they give a single round number per genre. This one is measured from records actually played in DJ sets, and it gives the range as well — which is the part you need when you are deciding what fits next.

Published 31 August 2026 · MixReady

MixReady studied more than 70,000 published DJ sets and growing, spanning four decades and 200+ genre labels, with over a million track-to-track transitions and growing. What we determined: the tempo table below, for 27 genres with enough played records to be worth reporting — each with the median and the range the middle half of records fall in.

The table

Typical is the median. Middle half is where half of all played records in that genre sit — a quarter fall below it and a quarter above.

Genre	Typical BPM	Middle half
Hip-Hop	102	90–132
Trap / Future Bass	108	92–140
Rock	113	93–129
Pop	115	96–127
Electronica	120	100–130
Nu Disco / Disco	121	114–124
Organic House	121	120–122
Afro House	122	120–124
Indie Dance	122	118–125
Deep House	123	120–125
Progressive House	123	122–126
Melodic House & Techno	124	122–126
Dance / Pop	125	119–130
House	125	123–128
Tech House	126	124–128
Minimal / Deep Tech	127	125–129
Techno (peak time / driving)	128	125–134
Breaks / Breakbeat / UK Bass	128	116–134
Bass House	128	126–130
Mainstage	128	126–130
Techno (raw / deep / hypnotic)	134	126–140
Trance (main floor)	138	130–140
Psy-Trance	138	112–144
Dubstep	140	93–145
Hard Dance / Hardcore / Neo Rave	150	124–158
Hard Techno	151	145–156
Drum & Bass	174 half-time 87	172–178

About that drum & bass row. In catalogue metadata drum & bass is almost always stored at 87, not 174 — the median we measured was 87.0, with a very tight middle half of 86–89. That is not a different tempo, it is the same music counted half-time. We have printed the figure DJs actually use. It is the clearest example of why a BPM number is meaningless without knowing which pulse it counts, and it is a real trap when you sort a library by tempo: your drum & bass will file itself next to your hip-hop.

What the ranges tell you that the medians do not

The width of the middle-half column is the useful signal, and it splits the field into two kinds of genre.

Tight genres — Organic House (120–122), Drum & Bass, Tech House (124–128), Progressive House (122–126). The tempo is part of the genre's definition. You can assume a tempo before you hear the record.
Wide genres — Hip-Hop (90–132), Trap / Future Bass (92–140), Dubstep (93–145), Psy-Trance (112–144). The label describes a feel rather than a tempo, usually because the genre lives across a half-time boundary. Never assume; check the record.

The practical version. Wide ranges are where beginners get caught out planning a set from genre labels alone. "Two dubstep tracks" can be 93 and 145 — a set built on the assumption that a genre implies a tempo will fall apart exactly there.

The crowded middle

Sixteen of the 27 genres have a typical tempo between 120 and 128. That is why the house family mixes so freely — deep house, progressive, melodic, house, tech house, minimal and peak-time techno are all within a few BPM of one another, well inside the 6% blend range. It is also why crossing out of that band, into trance at 138 or drum & bass at 174, is a deliberate move rather than a blend.

Our companion study on which genres actually mix together shows the same structure from the other direction: the genres that trade tracks most freely are the ones stacked in this band.

Caveats. Genre labels and tempo values are catalogue metadata, so they carry that taxonomy's opinions — and a track can be labelled one genre and played in a set of another. Only genres with more than 3,000 played records are listed, so this is not the full 200+ label set. Figures describe records as played in sets, which is not the same as a genre's full catalogue. The corpus leans electronic, so Rock, Pop and Hip-Hop here mean the parts of those genres that turn up in DJ sets.

FAQ

What BPM is house music?

House sits at a median of 125 BPM, with the middle half of tracks between 123 and 128. Tech house is a touch faster at 126, deep house and progressive house a touch slower at 123.

What BPM is techno?

Peak-time techno sits at a median of 128 BPM with a middle half of 125 to 134. The raw, deep and hypnotic side runs faster at 134, and hard techno at 151.

What BPM is drum and bass?

Drum and bass is played at about 174 BPM. It is frequently catalogued at half that figure, around 87, because the underlying pulse is half-time — the same music described two ways.

What BPM range can you mix between? · What genres mix well together? · How to plan a DJ set

Citing this study. You are welcome to quote from it or link to it, including commercially, with attribution to MixReady and a link back to this page. If you are quoting a figure, please carry its caveats with it — most of them change what the number means.

What this is, and is not. These findings come from our own corpus of published DJ sets and from our reading of it. They describe what that corpus shows rather than a settled fact about DJing, and a different corpus or a different method could reasonably reach a different answer. We stand behind the measurements and the limitations stated alongside them, and we will correct anything we get wrong.

These numbers will move. The corpus grows continuously, so figures are accurate as of the publication date above and are revised as it does. Where a revision changes a conclusion rather than a decimal, we say so on the page.