Koffee, Lizzo, Drake among many other artistes saw huge increases since making former President Obama’s annual Summer Playlist.
Former President of the United States, Barack Obama has been declared the #ForeverPresident and for good reasons. He has maintained a strong foothold in the cultural community, and he is a prominent and influential figure. Obama’s global impact is so significant that whenever he decides to take an interest in something, whether it’s clothing, books, sports or music, we all take an interest in it. This was especially evident when he posted his Summer Playlist 2019. Everyone ran to their favorite music platforms and began listening to the specially selected tracks. As a result, this has generated huge increases in the streaming numbers for the majority of artistes on Obama’s Summer Playlist.
As previously reported by Urban Islandz, Barack Obama took to social media to reveal the 44 songs, including “Toast” by Koffee, that he and wife, Michelle Obama, had been jamming to during the summer. The list was pretty diverse containing old-school classics and modern hits that included a broad catalog of genres such as Reggae, Rap, R&B, Rock’ n’ roll, and jazz. The list also included hits from Toots & The Maytals, “54-46 Was My Number,” Lizzo, “Juice,” Drake featuring Rihanna, “Too Good,” SZA, “Go Gina,” and many more. Since then, it has been proven that Barack’s presidential power is second to none.
According to Billboard, most of the Obama-approved songs saw a significant increase in numbers in the week after the playlist was posted. Forty of the tracks saw a boost in streaming, while all 44 surged in sales. The increases for Koffee, Toots & The Maytals, Lizzo, Drake, and SZA are 8%, 33%, 25%, 23%, and 31% respectively.
The four songs from the Summer Playlist that experienced a decline in streams were “Mood 4 Eva” (Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Childish Gambino, and Oumou Sangaré) “Señorita” (Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello), “Brown Eyed Girl” (Van Morrison), “Boo’d Up” (Ella Mai), and “Old Town Road” (Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus).
The tracks that saw the biggest increases were Trent D’Arby’s “Who’s Loving You” with a 2,732 percent increase; Esperanza Spalding’s “Espera” with a 2,057 percent increase; and Charles Mingus’ “II B.S.” with a 730 percent increase.
