Barack Obama makes Billboard chart debut
Former president Barack Obama can now add “Billboard-charting artist” to his exemplary CV.
Late last month, Obama contributed to “One Last Time (44 Remix)”, the final entry in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton-inspired Hamildrops song series. The reworked track subsequently debuted at No. 22 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, pulling in 307,000 on-demand streams and 9,000 downloads in its first week.
On “One Last Time”, Obama can be heard reciting potions of George Washington’s famed farewell address. The 44th POTUS is accompanied on the track by original Hamilton cast member Christopher Jackson, Grammy-winning gospel artist BeBe Winans, Tony-winning producer/orchestrator Alex Lacamoir, and of course, Miranda.
(Read: Why Music Became More Political During Obama’s Administration)
As Billboard notes, Obama previously appeared on two of its now-defunct charts: the TV DVD Sales ranking in 2009 (for History: The Inauguration of Barack Obama) and the Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists list in 2015 (for a feature on JX Cannon’s “Pop Off”).
Revisit “One Last Time (44 Remix)” below. Other Hamildrops installments include submissions from The Decemberists, Nas, and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Over the weekend, Obama shared a list of his favorite albums and films of 2018.
