Barack Obama dropped his highly anticipated best of 2024 lists, including his favorite movies, songs and books of the year.
“I always look forward to sharing my annual list of favorite books, movies, and music,” the former president wrote on his social media accounts. “Today I’ll start by sharing some of the books that have stuck with me long after I finished reading them.” He also invited his followers to check out the books he shared, preferably at an independent bookstore or library.
His favorite books included Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo, Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Stolen Pride, Martin MacInnes’ In Ascension and Alexei Navalny’s Patriot.
Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, Aysegul Savas’ The Anthropologists, Daniel Susskind’s Growth, Dinaw Mengetsu’s Someone Like Us and Adam Moss’ The Work of Art round out the list.
He also recommended 10 movies for his followers to check out this year, some of which haven’t even been released yet and are major awards contenders. His favorites were All We Imagine as Light, Conclave, The Piano Lesson, The Promised Land, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Dune: Part Two, Anora, Dìdi, Sugarcane and A Complete Unknown.
While Oscar nominations haven’t been announced yet, the Golden Globes announced their nominees for the year earlier this month, which included six nods for Conclave, five for Anora, three for A Complete Unknown, two for All We Imagine as Light and Dune: Part Two, and one for The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Obama’s top songs of the year likely reflect other people’s with hits like Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Billie Eilish’s “Lunch,” Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” and Myles Smith’s “Stargazing.”
In his caption, he encouraged his followers to consider checking the songs out if they would like to shake up their playlists. He also asked them to let him know if there’s a song or artist he should make sure to listen to.
Other songs on his list included Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up,” Tyla, Gunna & Skillibeng’s “Jump,” Rema’s “Yayo,” Asake & Travis Scott’s “Active,” Leon Bridges’ “Peaceful Place,” Jack White’s “That’s How I’m Feeling” and Artemas’ “I Like The Way You Kiss Me,” among others.
