How many words per minute is Eminem's Rap God?

Eminem's "Rap God" averages about 257 words per minute across the whole track ¹. The calculation uses the 1,560 words that Guinness lists for the song ² and its running time of 6 minutes 4 seconds. That is faster than everyday conversation, but it is an average over a full song, so it hides the faster and slower passages inside it.

The whole track averages about 257 words per minute

Guinness World Records lists "Rap God" as the hit single with the most words, at 1,560 words in 6 minutes 4 seconds ². Divide the words by the running time, and the average over the full track is about 257 words per minute ¹. The calculation is 1,560 words divided by 6.07 minutes.

Everyday conversation averages 196 words per minute with pauses counted ³. The track's average is above that, but it is a sung and rhymed performance to a beat, not unscripted speech, so the comparison shows speed rather than a model for talking.

The average hides faster passages

A whole-track average is one number for a varied performance, and it cannot tell you the peak rate. Fast passages in rap can run much higher than the average, and slower verses lower it. For comparison, a 2015 analysis of the Hamilton score found that the fastest tracks run just under 200 words per minute, while the five slowest run from 64 to 80 words per minute ⁴.

The same analysis singled out one verse. The fastest verse in "Guns and Ships" had 19 words in 3 seconds, which the analysis lists as 6.3 words per second ⁵. That is a short peak lasting seconds, not a rate sustained over a track. Quote a peak as a peak, and quote a track as an average.

The fastest recorded speech is a short memorized text

The fastest recorded talker is a different kind of record. Sean Shannon recited the 260-word Hamlet soliloquy at 655 words per minute, as recorded by Guinness ⁶. That is about 3.3 times the conversational average ⁷, but it covers one short memorized text, so it is a burst rather than a pace for a song or a talk.

By comparison, "Rap God" holds its average over more than six minutes. That makes it a better measure of sustained fast delivery than the short record.

Speed has a cost for the listener

Very fast speech is harder to check by ear. A 2018 study of people catching speech recognition errors by listening found that their ability to spot those errors falls as speech rates rise, and it tested speech at 300 words per minute ⁸. Fast speech can be followed, but mistakes in it are easier to miss. That is one reason record-breaking speech is a feat of practice rather than a model for a meeting or a dictated draft.

What the number does not tell you

The sources we found measure one Eminem track over its full length, plus the Hamilton analysis and a few peaks. They do not give a measured full-track rate for other rap songs, for live freestyles or for other performers, so a single figure cannot rank rappers. Any claim about a freestyle's speed should come with its own measurement.

What to do: measure a song yourself

To check a track, use the same two numbers the Guinness figure uses: the total words and the total running time.

1. Get the lyrics as a text, ideally from the official release, and count the words.
2. Note the running time of the track from its metadata, in minutes and seconds, and convert it to minutes.
3. Divide the word count by the minutes. For example, 780 words over 3 minutes is 260 words per minute.

Lyric sheets sometimes differ from the recording, so check any count against what you hear. For the measure behind these figures, see the words per minute entry in our glossary. The guide to speaking speed places rap beside conversation, reading and dictation, and the overview of typing and writing speed covers the wider subject. For the fastest speaking figures on record, see the fastest speaking speed. For the everyday rate, see how many words per minute people normally speak, and for the speech of a president, see how many words per minute JFK spoke.