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Barack Obama’s Summer Song List: Glen Hansard, the Strokes, Noah Kahan Lead Annual Playlist

"It starts with a song Michelle and I love by Glen Hansard, a great musician who passed tragically this week," former president wrote

Barack Obama’s Summer Song List: Glen Hansard, the Strokes, Noah Kahan Lead Annual Playlist

Barack Obama

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Daniel Kreps
By Daniel KrepsJul 30, 2026
Daniel Kreps
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Barack Obama has shared his annual summer playlist, which the former president started on a somber note by acknowledging the death of Glen Hansard.

“Here are some of the songs I’ve been listening to this summer,” Obama wrote on social media Thursday. “It starts with a song Michelle and I love by Glen Hansard, a great musician who passed tragically this week. Our hearts go out to his family.”

Obama opened his playlist with Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope,” which featured on the Irish singer-songwriter’s 2012 solo debut Rhythm and Repose; Hansard died Wednesday at the age of 56 in a motorcycle accident.

Here are some of the songs I've been listening to this summer. It starts with a song Michelle and I love by Glen Hansard, a great musician who passed tragically this week. Our hearts go out to his family. pic.twitter.com/3A1trYfXfx
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 30, 2026

Like all of Obama’s summer songs playlist, the tracks span all genres of music, from rock — notably the Strokes’ “Going Shopping,” Coldplay’s “Charlie Brown” and the Beatles (“Revolution”) and David Bowie (“Modern Love”) classics — to folk (Noah Kahan’s “Doors,” Mumford & Sons and Hozier’s “Rubber Band Man”) to R&B (Tyla featuring Zara Larsson’s “She Did It Again,” Kelela’s “Idea 1,” Luther Vandross’ “Anyone Who Had a Heart”).

This year’s playlist evenly splits Obama’s picks between contemporary cuts and well-known classics: On the hip-hop side, there’s Vince Staples, BossMan Dlow, and Doechii & SZA alongside A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour.” Charley Crockett’s “One Eyed Jacks” is countered by Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” and Temper City’s 2026 hit “Self Aware” adjacent to Neil Young’s 1972 single “Heart of Gold.”

Elsewhere on the summer playlist is Drake, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Buena Vista Social Club, Los Lobos, Chaka Khan, and Sam & Dave, as well as some tastemaking picks by October London, Gvrden Boy, Gabriel Jacoby, and Baby Rose.

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