Music

Barack Obama Shares His Favorite Music of 2023 Featuring Megan Thee Stallion, Tyla, Brent Faiyaz, and More

When asked by Hasan Minhaj if Obama "really" listens to the music on his playlists, the former president said, "I do."

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Barack Obama dropped his favorite music of 2023 just in time for the New Year.

Included on his list are Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter,” 6lack’s “Since I Have a Lover,” Megan Thee Stallion’s “Cobra,” Tyla’s “Water,” Stormzy and Fredo’s “Toxic Trait,” Brent Faiyaz’s “WY@,” and Tems’ “Me & U.”

“Here are some of my favorite songs from this year,” he captioned his post. “Let me know if there are any artists or songs I should check out.”

His music lineup follows his film and book lists, which he dropped earlier this week. As for his top movies from this year—well, three of them were produced by his and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground: Rustin, Leave the World Behind, and American Symphony.

The rest was filled out with picks like The Holdovers, Blackberry, Oppenheimer, American Fiction, and Air.

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But back to the music—does this really reflect the former president’s actual taste? Well, he previously said it does. This summer, when asked by Hasan Minhaj if he “really” listens to the music in his playlists, Obama said, “I do.”

He continued, “Listen, I am so glad that I had this opportunity. People, they believe the books and the movies. But the playlists, they somehow think—and this is mostly coming from young people like you—somehow y’all think you invented rock ’n’ roll, you invented hip-hop. And so the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible, people seem to think, ‘Well, he must have had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut.’ No, man. It’s on my iPad right now.”

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