Culture highlights: Barack Obama names his favourite films, music and books of 2024

Former United States President Barack Obama has unveiled his annual list of his favourite films, songs and books of the year, which includes the likes of Anora, Kendrick Lamar, Fontaines D.C. and Sally Rooney. 

Writing alongside his 2024 posts, Obama said he “always look(s) forward to sharing” his cultural picks of the year - a tradition he started during his time in the White House. 

His 2024 playlist features 25 tracks, which boast an eclectic line-up of artists and genres. The tracklist includes Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Squabble Up’, Billie Eilish’s 'Lunch’, Ezra Collective & Yazmin Lacey’s ‘God Gave Me Feet for Dancing’, Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Favourite’, Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ and Beyoncé’s ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’.

Once again, terrific picks – with a great many artists making our very own Best Of Albums 2024 list.

A month after releasing his 2024 selection of summer songs, the former president was forced to defend his choices, as many still think that he doesn’t personally select the tracks on his annual list.

“People question sometimes whether I’m actually listening to all this music,” he said. “As I’ve testified before, I am. Charli XCX, she knows what she’s doing.”

Obama also released a list of his top 10 films of the year, which 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.

Again, not to brag or anything, but a significant chunk of his picks made our Best Movies of 2024 list too...

Meanwhile, the former president’s favourite books of 2024 included Sally Rooney’s "Intermezzo", Samantha Harvey’s "Orbital", Jonathan Haidt’s "The Anxious Generation" and Arlie Russell Hochschild’s "Stolen Pride".

There we have it.

What do you make of his choices?

Check out our Best Of Music 2024 and Best Of Movies 2024 lists, and stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our People of the Year 2024.