Why does music bring back memories?

A song comes on, and suddenly you’re back in the car you drove in high school, or in a kitchen from years ago, before you’ve even tried to remember any of it. At a party, one song can do that for a whole table at once.

Music seems to be unusually good at bringing memories back. In a 2021 study of 657 adults chosen to represent the British population, memories brought back by music were relived more strongly than memories brought back by TV shows. They also felt more personally important, and they involved other people more. That was true even when the songs and the shows were equally familiar.

In a 2016 lab study at the University of Iowa, people heard 30 songs and saw 30 photographs of famous faces, and they described what each one brought to mind. The memories that came back with a song had more detail of a particular time and place than the ones that came back with a face. It was a small lab study.

These memories turn up in everyday life, too. In another 2021 study, 31 people kept a diary for a week. They wrote down about one memory a day that music brought back, usually while they were doing something routine, and the memories came on their own. The older people in the study described more vivid and more positive memories. Only 31 people took part, though.

If you’d like to dig in, here’s a longer read on the ways music makes you feel something, and memory is one of them.

A lot of the memories that old songs bring back come with a feeling of nostalgia. In a 2007 study, college students heard chart songs from their childhood and teens, and about 30% of the songs brought back a memory. The feelings that came with those memories were mostly positive, and nostalgia was one of the most common.

In a 2020 study of 470 people aged 18 to 82, the songs that brought back the most memories were from people’s teens, peaking around age 14. Learn more about the years each generation remembers best.

For most people, a nostalgic song is a happy thing to hear. In a 2024 study of 582 American adults, the songs people chose as nostalgic felt more positive and more energizing than songs that were only familiar. People in the study who tend toward sadness felt worse with them, though.

A lot of couples do, going by one survey. In 2020, researchers in Australia surveyed 200 people in relationships. It was common for a couple to have a song they called theirs, and they usually picked it up early in the relationship. The song brought back particular memories and good feelings. Since it was a survey, there’s no way to tell whether the song does anything for the relationship itself.

For an anniversary party, a milestone birthday, a retirement or a reunion, the songs to ask for are the guest of honor’s own, or the couple’s song if they have one. After that, the years when they were young are a good place to start the song list.

Our song list has a sample of what our musicians already play. They can usually learn a song that isn’t on it if we know a few weeks ahead, so just let us know.