Songs to walk in step with: the tempos of 13 chart songs, from 'Hype Boy' at 100 to 'APT.' at 149

A song's tempo is measured by how many beats come in one minute. That number is called BPM (beats per minute). If you take one step on every beat, the number of steps you walk in a minute matches the song's BPM. Walking research treats more than 100 steps a minute as 'moderate intensity' and more than 130 as 'vigorous intensity'. At those paces you use roughly 3 times and 6 times as much energy as when sitting still (a 2019 study by Tudor-Locke and colleagues, in which 76 people aged 21 to 40 walked on treadmills). We had a computer measure the tempo of the 100 songs on the Bugs weekly chart for early October (September 28 to October 4) and picked 13 songs with a clear beat. We measured the first and second halves of each song separately and kept only the songs where the two values matched, and we first checked that the measurement was right using 'APT.' (149) and 'Golden' (123), whose tempos are already known.

At a glance

Song	BPM	Walking intensity	Speed (70 cm stride)	Steps per song
ILLIT 'NOT CUTE ANYMORE'	99	Just below the threshold	4.2 km/h	About 220
NewJeans 'Hype Boy'	100	Moderate begins	4.2 km/h	About 300
AKMU 'Paradise of Rumors'	110	Moderate	4.6 km/h	About 400
RESCENE 'LOVE ATTACK'	112	Moderate	4.7 km/h	About 340
I.O.I 'Suddenly'	117	Moderate	4.9 km/h	About 380
SOYEON 'I'm gonna TOESA'	120	Moderate	5.0 km/h	About 420
CORTIS 'REDRED'	121	Moderate	5.1 km/h	About 330
HUNTR/X 'Golden'	123	Moderate	5.2 km/h	About 400
NMIXX 'Heavy Serenade'	130	Vigorous begins	5.5 km/h	About 390
ALLDAY PROJECT 'CRASH'	132	Vigorous	5.5 km/h	About 380
HANRORO '0+0'	136	Vigorous	5.7 km/h	About 435
BLACKPINK 'JUMP'	145	Vigorous	6.1 km/h	About 400
ROSÉ & Bruno Mars 'APT.'	149	Vigorous	6.3 km/h	About 420

BPM is the number of beats that come in one minute. A speed of 5 km/h means covering 5 kilometers in an hour; we calculated it with one step per beat and each step at 70 cm. Steps per song is the song length listed on Apple Music multiplied by the BPM.

The 100-step threshold

ILLIT 'NOT CUTE ANYMORE' · 99

It's just one beat short of 100. The first half and the second half both come out at 99. The song is short, at 2 minutes 12 seconds, so even walking to the very end takes only about 220 steps. The group choreography at 0:47, the part of this video that fans replay most, is in our October 19 list. Apple Music

NewJeans 'Hype Boy' · 100

It measured 99.99, exactly 100 when rounded. Keep your feet on the beat and you walk for 2 minutes 59 seconds at the very pace where 'moderate intensity' begins. We looked at the lyric '네 생각에 또 새벽 세 시' ('thinking of you, it's three at dawn again') in our October 22 list. Apple Music

Moderate intensity

AKMU 'Paradise of Rumors' · 110

The lyrics say '느리게 오래 걸어가요' ('walking slowly, for a long while'), but the beat is 110, past the 100-step threshold. The line comes after the key goes up a half step at 2:28, and even with the key change, the tempo stays at 110 to the end. The story of the key change is in our October 11 list. Apple Music

RESCENE 'LOVE ATTACK' · 112

'걸음마다 / 눈부신 나' ('with every step / I'm dazzling'). At 112, the beats come a little short of two per second. Walk on the beat for 3 minutes 2 seconds and it's about 340 steps. The story of five RESCENE songs, this one included, staying on the chart together is in our October 12 list. Apple Music

I.O.I 'Suddenly' · 117

As a speed, it's 4.9 km/h, a walk just under 5 km/h. In our October 19 list, we noted that 2:33, where the members come out one by one to dance in front of a mint-colored wall, is the peak of this video's 'Most replayed' graph. Apple Music

SOYEON 'I'm gonna TOESA' · 120

That's exactly two beats a second. Both the first half and the second half came out at 120.0. Walk for 3 minutes 32 seconds and it's about 420 steps. The scene in the music video where SOYEON becomes a grandmother is in our October 9 Hidden Details. Apple Music

CORTIS 'REDRED' · 121

'진짜배기처럼 밟아가 step' ('treading on like the real thing, step'). The lead photo of this article is from 0:40 in the music video, where the five members walk side by side across a plaza under an overpass. The 45-second end credits that follow the song are in our October 21 list. Apple Music

HUNTR/X 'Golden' · 123

Both the known tempo and our measurement came out at 123. At 3 minutes 15 seconds, it's about 400 steps. In our October 16 list, we counted that only five of its 40 lines have Korean in them. Below is the official lyric video. Apple Music

Vigorous intensity

NMIXX 'Heavy Serenade' · 130

It stands exactly at 130 (130.0), right where 'vigorous intensity' begins. 'Run run run' even shows up in the lyrics. The story of HANRORO writing this song's lyrics alone is in our NMIXX starter guide. Apple Music

ALLDAY PROJECT 'CRASH' · 132

At 1:43.6 the sound stops for 0.4 seconds, but at 132 one beat lasts 0.45 seconds, so the pause is shorter than a single beat. The beat is back before there's time to stop walking. The scene where a column of water shoots up is in our October 3 Hidden Details. Apple Music

HANRORO '0+0' · 136

'나의 내일이 뛰어오네' ('my tomorrow comes running'). At 3 minutes 12 seconds and 136, walking on the beat all the way to the end takes about 435 steps, the most steps per song of the 13. The story of '여름 코코아 겨울 수박도' ('summer cocoa, winter watermelon too') is in our October 20 list. Apple Music

BLACKPINK 'JUMP' · 145

Even the Korean title, '뛰어', means 'run' or 'jump'. At 145, one beat lasts 0.41 seconds, so during the 2.65 seconds of silence we pointed out in our October 17 list, a little over six beats pass without a sound. Apple Music

ROSÉ & Bruno Mars 'APT.' · 149

It's the fastest of the 13. Walking one 70 cm step per beat comes to 6.3 km/h. Over 2 minutes 50 seconds, that's about 420 steps. We counted how many times the title is sung in our October 14 list. Apple Music

What about slow songs? Lim Hyun Jung's '사랑은 봄비처럼... 이별은 겨울비처럼' ('Love Like Spring Rain... Parting Like Winter Rain') is 82 and DAY6's 'You Were Beautiful' is 84, so one step per beat falls well short of the 100-step threshold. The 13 songs above come to roughly 400 steps each, so 10,000 steps a day is about 25 songs like these.