Former President Barack Obama opened his annual summer music playlist on Thursday with a tribute to Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who died this week in a motorcycle crash at age 56. Obama placed Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope” at the top of his list, dedicating the lead position to an artist whose music has deeply connected with his family over the years.
“It starts with a song Michelle and I love by Glen Hansard, a great musician who passed tragically this week,” Obama wrote in the social media post accompanying the playlist, expressing that he and Michelle Obama were thinking of Hansard’s family during this difficult time. The former president routinely shares his summer song selections, but this year the gesture doubled as an act of mourning.
Hansard died this week, according to news reports. He gained widespread recognition for his role in and musical contributions to the 2007 film “Once,” and he won an Oscar in 2008 for Best Original Song for his work on the film’s centerpiece ballad, “Falling Slowly.”
A Playlist Built Around a Tribute
Beyond the opening tribute, Obama’s list runs to 46 songs, mixing tracks released this year with older material. The selections include Noah Kahan’s “Doors,” Raye’s “Where is my Husband!,” and “Ran to Atlanta” by Drake, Future and Molly Santana. Obama also spotlighted the Beatles’ “Revolution,” “girl, get up.” by Doechii and SZA, and “She Did It Again” by Tyla and Zara Larsson.
The playlist stretches across genres and eras, pairing contemporary hits with classics from artists including Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone. That eclecticism has become a signature of Obama’s yearly lists, which tend to move freely between chart-topping newcomers and decades-old standards. This year, Hansard’s music at the top gave the collection an unmistakably somber frame.
Obama shared the songs a day after releasing his summer reading list on Wednesday. Among the recommended titles were Tayari Jones’ “Kin,” Ann Patchett’s “Whistler” and Colson Whitehead’s “Cool Machine.” The reading list also included George Saunders’ “Vigil,” Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say” and Vincent Yu’s “Seek Immediate Shelter.”
Musicians Mourn an Influential Voice
Obama was among many prominent figures paying tribute to Hansard this week. Singer Billie Eilish, her brother and collaborator Finneas, U2 frontman Bono, Irish singer Hozier and rock musician Bruce Springsteen all shared condolences after the news of Hansard’s death broke. Eilish said she wouldn’t be who she is today without Hansard.
Finneas, the producer and songwriter who works closely with his sister, noted that Hansard’s “Once” hit “Falling Slowly” was the first song he ever performed live — a detail that underscored how far the ballad’s reach extended beyond its film. The wave of tributes reflected Hansard’s standing as a musician whose influence touched artists across generations and styles.
Hansard’s career spanned decades of work as a performer and frontman before and after his Oscar win. His death in a motorcycle crash cut short a life that had shaped the songwriting of contemporaries and younger artists alike, several of whom described the loss in emotional terms as they remembered his presence and his voice.
An Eventful Stretch for the Obamas
The back-to-back release of Obama’s reading and listening recommendations capped an active few months for the former president and his family. In June, the Obamas celebrated the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. A star-studded dedication ceremony was held on June 18 at John Lewis Plaza before the museum, library and education center opened to the public the following day.
That opening featured a concert with Obama sharing the stage alongside a lineup that included Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder, Bono and the Edge, Common and the Roots. The event drew some of the same artists whose music has appeared on Obama’s playlists over the years, tying the celebration to the cultural touchstones the former president regularly champions.
The summer lists have long served as a window into Obama’s tastes, and this year’s editions arrived amid a period of high visibility for him. But it was the decision to lead with Hansard — and the plainspoken note about a song he and Michelle Obama love — that set this year’s playlist apart, transforming a familiar summer ritual into a public farewell for an artist mourned around the world.