A new study done at Cornell University explains the presence of classic rock greats at the top of today’s chart, nestled amongst the likes of Bruno Mars and Eminem.

So why are favorites like Journey’s Greatest Hits (1998) and Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers (1984) still some of the top-selling albums?

Cornell University attributes it to parents and the musical link between generations.

“Parents may use music to convey personal values and define family and cultural identities, ” said study author Carol Krumhansl, Ph.D.

Krumhansl and her team surveyed 62 students who were an average age of 20.  They played the most recognizable clips of the top two hits from Billboard from the year 1955 through 2009 and found that participants were more prone to feel a closer link to music from 1980 through 1984.

“Previous studies have shown an increase up to early adulthood in how much the music of that time is recognized and how strong emotional reactions are. We found that this is also true of the music of the participants’ parents,” Krumhansl said.

The researchers concluded that the music of children’s parents would have been played while the children were being raised and were developing, and therefore making an impact on the children.

Krumhansl and her team were also surprised by another jump in music recognition by the study participants of music from the 1960s.  They intend to survey a large sample of people in their next survey to research if this could be attributed to the participants’ grand-parents.