Drum and bass is technically a 174 BPM genre. In practice the tempo has been creeping up for twenty years. Most 2025 releases sit at 175 or 176. Some neuro records nudge close to 178. The drift was never announced. It just happened.

Why producers pushed it up

Faster tempos mean tighter drum edits, sharper transients, harder snare placements. When the dominant sub-genre shifted from liquid to neuro around 2018, producers needed extra headroom for surgical drum programming. Pitching everything up a couple of BPM did that for free.

What it changed

A 175 BPM track sounds noticeably more urgent than a 173 BPM track on the same record. Dancefloors respond differently. Half-step sections hit harder because the full-speed sections feel even faster by comparison. The whole genre took a small step toward intensity.

Where it stops

Probably around 176. Faster than that and you cross into halftime territory at the implied 88 BPM, and the rhythmic identity of DnB starts to dissolve. Producers know this. The drift has plateaued.