Barack Obama Names Big Thief, Frank Ocean, Rosalía Among Songs of the Year

Former President Barack Obama has shared his 2019 “Songs of the Year” playlist. This year’s edition includes tracks from Big Thief, Frank Ocean, Rosalía, Solange, the National, Beyoncé, Lizzo, DaBaby, and more. Check out the whole playlist below.

Obama’s playlist includes some of the biggest pop hits of the year (Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road (Remix)”), indies both international (Prateek Kuhad’s “cold/mess”) and domestic (Big Thief’s “Not”), and old-school protest anthems (Mavis Staples’ “Change”). Earlier this year, the Obamas shared a summer playlist that featured Frank Sinatra and Toots and the Maytals alongside Lizzo and Rosalía. In June, they signed a deal with Spotify to “develop, produce, and lend their voices to select podcasts, connecting them to listeners around the world on wide-ranging topics.”

Read Pitchfork’s feature “Defiant Requiems: The Halting Music of Obama’s Dallas Speech” by Greil Marcus.