How many songs do you need for a set?

Sonua · checked 2 November 2026

Count about 4 minutes per song: a song of 3:30 plus 30 seconds until the next count-in. Divide the minutes you play by 4 and round down. For a whole gig, take the breaks off first.

• 30 minute set: 7 songs
• 45 minute set: 11 songs
• One hour set: 15 songs
• 3 hour gig with two 15 minute breaks: three sets of 12, so 36 songs

All of these assume songs of 3:30 and 30 seconds between them. Your own numbers go into the songs per set calculator below.

How do you calculate how many songs fit in a set?

Divide the minutes you play by the length of one song plus the gap after it, and round down. The gap is easy to leave out of the sum. The last chord rings out, someone drinks some water, the guitarist moves the capo, the singer says a word to the room, the drummer counts in. On this page that gap is 30 seconds.

For a whole evening, take the breaks off before you divide. A booking for 3 hours with two 15 minute breaks leaves 150 minutes of music. In three sets that is 50 minutes each, and 12 songs per set.

Set length calculator: songs per set with breaks

Put in the gig and the breaks from your booking. The calculator takes the breaks off, splits the rest evenly across the sets and rounds each set down to whole songs. For a single set, set the breaks to 0. If the evening has a short dinner set and a long dance set, run it once for each.

The calculator counts a gap after every song, the last one too, so each set ends with a short pause before the break. Set the spare songs to what your band keeps ready.

How many songs in a 30 minute, 45 minute or one hour set?

With 30 seconds after each song, rounded down so the set ends inside its slot:

A set of short party songs uses up more titles than a set of ballads, so a band with a lot of three minute songs needs a bigger repertoire for the same evening.

How many songs for a 2, 3 or 4 hour gig?

Here at 4 minutes per song including the gap. The break lengths are examples. The last column adds 2 spare songs per set, which is the number you rehearse.

If the booking leaves the layout to you, try both ways. A 2 hour gig as two sets of 50 minutes with one 20 minute break holds 24 songs. As three sets of 30 minutes with two 15 minute breaks it holds 21.

What changes how many songs you can play?

At 4 minutes per song, every minute you talk costs a quarter of a song. If you tell a story before a song, give the story its own line in the setlist with its own length.

How long you pause between songs depends on the room. On a dance floor you go straight into the next song; at a listening gig you talk between songs. Change the gap in the calculator and watch the count move.

Medleys and long jams take the time of several songs, so count them with their real length. Keep spare songs ready for a song that does not land, for a request and for a set that runs short. If the client asks for another half hour, that is about 7 more songs at 4 minutes each, ideally ones you can play without a rehearsal.

How long is your version of a song?

Your version can run longer or shorter than the recording. On stage you might play an extra chorus, stretch the intro or take the tempo up. Time each song once at rehearsal and write the length next to the title. Two extra bars of intro in 4/4 at 120 bpm are 4 seconds; in every song of a 12 song set, that is 48 seconds.

Gigproof, our setlist app for iPhone and iPad, stores the length of each song and shows how long each set and the whole evening run, with songs and breaks in order. It adds up the songs themselves, so plan the gaps on top: 30 seconds after each of 12 songs is 6 minutes per set. On stage, a break with a length counts down to the next set. Gigproof is coming to the App Store.

Other questions about set length