What BPM Is House Music? Every Subgenre

Short answer: house music sits between 118 and 128 BPM, with 122–126 as the modern club standard. But “house” covers a dozen subgenres, and each one has a tempo pocket where it feels right. Pick the wrong pocket and your track reads as the wrong genre — a 128 BPM “deep house” track is just tech house with pads.

After 25 years producing across styles, here’s the working chart I actually use, with notes on why each range exists.

House BPM chart by subgenre

(The full cross-genre version — 30+ genres — lives in the free Se7en BPM Index, no signup.)

Why these ranges exist

Dance floors set the rules, not producers. House tempos cluster where bodies move comfortably for hours: roughly two steps per second. Below ~118 BPM the groove leans toward downtempo and afro pockets; above ~128 the energy reads as techno or bass music. DJs also need mixable ranges — a deep house set lives within a few BPM of itself so blends stay musical.

Groove density compensates for tempo. Deep house at 121 BPM feels full because of swing, ghost notes and syncopated bass. Tech house at 126 strips the groove back to make room for the extra speed. As a rule: the faster your house track, the simpler the groove skeleton should be.

Choosing a tempo for your track

1. Start from the reference, not the default. Your DAW’s 120 BPM default is a coincidence, not a decision. Pick three reference tracks in your target subgenre, check their BPM, and start there.
2. Test the half-time feel. If your 124 BPM idea drags, try 122 with more swing before reaching for 128 — energy comes from groove tension more than raw speed.
3. Mind the vocal. Vocal house lives slower (118–122) because lyrics need air. Chopped vocal samples tolerate faster pockets.
4. DJ-proof it. If you want club and playlist support, stay inside the subgenre’s mixable range. A 119 BPM tech house track is a hard sell to a DJ playing 125–127.

FAQ

Can house be 130 BPM? At 130 you’re in bass house / electro house territory at minimum; most listeners will hear techno energy. It can work — it just won’t read as deep or classic house.

What BPM is lo-fi house style material? Lo-fi and “emotional club” material often sits 120–126 with heavy swing, exactly the classic pocket — the lo-fi character comes from texture, not tempo.

Does streaming change anything about tempo? No. Normalization affects loudness, not tempo conventions. The dance floor logic still rules the genre.

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Every genre, one page: the free Se7en BPM Index — typical BPM ranges and production notes for 30+ genres. Browser-based, no signup.