Davido’s Unavailable, Asake’s Amapiano Make Obama’s Annual Playlist for 2023

Former president of the United States, Barack Obama has revealed which tunes he was grooving to the most over the past year, featuring pop music, country, R&B and more. Finally, he’s shared his list of favorite songs for the year, 2023.

Mr. Obama’s music taste has long been known to be diverse, as documented by his song lists over the past few years. In 2022, he shouted out music from artists such as Lizzo, Rosalía, Ari Lennox, Ethel Cain, Steve Lacy and Omar Apollo. A few — Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Zach Bryan — were featured on both his 2022 and 2023 playlists.

However, Nigerian musicains also made it to his annual playlist such as Davido’s Unavailable and Asake’s Amapiano. The annual list comes on the heels of Obama’s yearly book and movie favorites, which the ex-POTUS shared earlier this week. In 2023, he had exactly 28 tracks on repeat, with highlights including “TQG” by Karol G and Shakira, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, “Sprinter” by Dave and Central Cee and “America Has a Problem” by Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar.

From a pure charts perspective, the two biggest songs on Obama’s list are the first two he mentions, Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” and Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ “I Remember Everything.” He also highlighted songs from artists he’s shown love for in the past, including Beyoncé (“America Has a Problem,” featuring Kendrick Lamar), Allison Russell (“The Returner”), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (“Cast Iron Skillet”), Burna Boy (“Sittin’ On Top of the World,” featuring 21 Savage), Megan Thee Stallion (“Cobra”), and Big Thief (“Vampire Empire”).
Other refined choices include Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama,” Tems’ “Me & U,” Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma’s “La Bebe” (Remix), Asake and Olamide’s “Amapiano,” Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine,” Blondshell’s “Joiner,” and Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Obama list without some extremely “dad music” choices, hence the presence of Lenny Kravitz’s “Road to Freedom” and Rita Wilson and Keith Urban’s “Crazy Love.”

Prior to sharing his favorite songs of the year, Obama tossed out his lists for best books and movies. The latter list actually got a special addendum, too, with Obama tweeting last night, “Update: I just saw The Color Purple and loved it. I’m adding it to this list as one of my favorite movies of the year.” This led to a deluge of good Twitter jokes and memes about the former President of the United States fielding a very stern, perturbed phone call from one of the film’s producers — Oprah.

Former president of the United States, Barack Obama has revealed which tunes he was grooving to the most over the past year, featuring pop music, country, R&B and more. Finally, he’s shared his list of favorite songs for the year, 2023.
Mr. Obama’s music taste has long been known to be diverse, as documented by his song lists over the past few years. In 2022, he shouted out music from artists such as Lizzo, Rosalía, Ari Lennox, Ethel Cain, Steve Lacy and Omar Apollo. A few — Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Zach Bryan — were featured on both his 2022 and 2023 playlists.
However, Nigerian musicains also made it to his annual playlist such as Davido’s Unavailable and Asake’s Amapiano. The annual list comes on the heels of Obama’s yearly book and movie favorites, which the ex-POTUS shared earlier this week. In 2023, he had exactly 28 tracks on repeat, with highlights including “TQG” by Karol G and Shakira, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, “Sprinter” by Dave and Central Cee and “America Has a Problem” by Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar.
From a pure charts perspective, the two biggest songs on Obama’s list are the first two he mentions, Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” and Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ “I Remember Everything.” He also highlighted songs from artists he’s shown love for in the past, including Beyoncé (“America Has a Problem,” featuring Kendrick Lamar), Allison Russell (“The Returner”), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (“Cast Iron Skillet”), Burna Boy (“Sittin’ On Top of the World,” featuring 21 Savage), Megan Thee Stallion (“Cobra”), and Big Thief (“Vampire Empire”).
Other refined choices include Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama,” Tems’ “Me & U,” Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma’s “La Bebe” (Remix), Asake and Olamide’s “Amapiano,” Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine,” Blondshell’s “Joiner,” and Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Obama list without some extremely “dad music” choices, hence the presence of Lenny Kravitz’s “Road to Freedom” and Rita Wilson and Keith Urban’s “Crazy Love.”

Prior to sharing his favorite songs of the year, Obama tossed out his lists for best books and movies. The latter list actually got a special addendum, too, with Obama tweeting last night, “Update: I just saw The Color Purple and loved it. I’m adding it to this list as one of my favorite movies of the year.” This led to a deluge of good Twitter jokes and memes about the former President of the United States fielding a very stern, perturbed phone call from one of the film’s producers — Oprah.