How Many Songs Do You Need for a 45- or 60-Minute Class?
It's one of the first questions new instructors ask, and the answer is simple math with one twist: when you change a song's tempo, you change its length too.
The short answer
Divide the minutes of music you need by the average length of your songs, round up, and add a spare or two. With four-minute songs, that's 12 songs for a 45-minute class and 15 for an hour.
Songs by class length
| Music | 3:30 songs | 4:00 songs | 4:30 songs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| 45 min | 13 | 12 | 10 |
| 60 min | 18 | 15 | 14 |
Count only the minutes you'll actually play. If you talk for two minutes at the start and stretch in silence at the end, plan for less. If you run long when the room is on fire, keep a spare.
Changing the tempo changes the length
When a song is sped up or slowed down, it plays for a different amount of time. The length scales with the change: a song played faster finishes sooner. Here's a four-minute song recorded at 128 BPM:
| Played at | It lasts |
|---|---|
| 120 BPM | 4:16 |
| 124 BPM | 4:08 |
| 128 BPM | 4:00 |
| 132 BPM | 3:53 |
| 136 BPM | 3:46 |
| 140 BPM | 3:39 |
At 136 BPM, the tempo most Fitness Radio users set, a playlist of four-minute songs recorded at 128 runs about 6% shorter. Over an hour, that's three and a half minutes, nearly a whole song.
Plan in phrases instead of songs
If you teach to 32-count music, you can plan the class in phrases. At 128 BPM, one phrase is exactly 15 seconds, so four phrases make a minute:
- 45 minutes is 180 phrases.
- 60 minutes is 240 phrases.
- A 32-count block repeated four times fills one minute.
Thinking in phrases makes timing a segment easy. A five-minute warm-up is 20 phrases, wherever the song breaks fall. More on phrases in What Is 32-Count Music?
Or let one mix cover the hour
If counting songs isn't how you want to spend your planning time, use a mix. Fitness Radio's Daily Mixes are 60-minute, single-genre mixes at 136 BPM, made fresh every day, and the 60-minute DJ mixes can be mixed, matched and set to any BPM. One mix, one class. Our warm-up to cool-down guide covers shaping the tempo across the hour.
How Fitness Radio helps
On the instructor and gym plans, BPM control sets any track from 60 to 200 BPM, for one song or the whole playlist, and gapless playback means no silence between songs eating into your minutes. Build your own playlists, or start from Daily Mixes, DJ mixes and DJ-curated playlists.
