# Obama shares summer music selection featuring Drake, SZA and Beatles

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/barack-obama-puts-glen-hansard-sza-drake-beatles-on-his-songs-of-the-summer-playlist/
- Published: 2026-07-30T20:01:27+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-31T02:12:27+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/barack-obama-lists-glen-hansard-drake-songs-of-the-summer-1236660293/
- Topics: Art, Culture, Government, Politics

## Key points

- Obama’s summer playlist honours Glen Hansard.
- Nearly 50 songs span contemporary and classic artists.
- The release follows Obama’s summer reading list.

## Summary

Former US President Barack Obama has released his annual summer playlist, opening it with Glen Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope” as a tribute to the Irish singer-songwriter, who died in a motorcycle accident this week. Obama said he and Michelle Obama loved the track and offered condolences to Hansard’s family, giving the selection a memorial significance alongside its usual musical focus.

The playlist contains nearly 50 songs across genres and eras, including tracks by the Beatles, Drake, Future, SZA, Doechii, Noah Kahan, Raye, Tyla and Zara Larsson. It followed Obama’s summer reading list by a day and came about a month after a concert celebrating the opening of his Presidential Center in Chicago.

## Coverage

- [The Hollywood Reporter: Obama shares summer music selection featuring Drake, SZA and Beatles](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/barack-obama-lists-glen-hansard-drake-songs-of-the-summer-1236660293/)
- [Consequence: Barack Obama Pays Tribute to Glen Hansard with 2026 Summer Playlist](https://consequence.net/2026/07/barack-obama-pays-tribute-to-glen-hansard-with-2026-summer-playlist/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.