Sophia Michaels
Continuing an annual tradition that dates back to his presidency, Barack Obama shared his personal playlist of the best songs of the year, with tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Lizzo, SZA, Rosalia and more making the former president’s must-hear list of 2022.
“I always enjoy sharing my end of year music playlist with all of you — and this year we heard a lot of great songs,” Obama tweeted Friday. “Here are some of my favorites.”
As usual, Obama’s playlists touches on many genres of music, from Afrobeats (Burna Boy’s “Last Last,” Arya Starr’s “Rush”) and reggae (Koffee’s “Pull Up”) to indie pop (Maggie Rogers’ “That’s Where I Am”) to indie folk (Ethel Cain’s “American Teenager”) to hip-hop (Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Pt. 5,” “Belize” with Danger Mouse, Black Thought and MF DOOM) to R&B (Sudan Archives’ “Home Maker”).
The playlist also shares many tracks in common with Rolling Stone’s own Top 100 Songs of 2022: Plains’ “Problem With It,” Rema’s “Calm Down,” Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” and our Number One song of the year, Bad Bunny’s “Titi Me Pregunto.”
(Many of Obama’s year-end picks also popped up on his annual summertime playlist, proving their resilience through the colder months.)
On Thursday, Obama also revealed his 2022 picks for his favorite movies and books of the year.
