On Monday (Aug.12), former U.S. president Barack Obama revealed his 2024 Summer Playlist, his annual batch of hot new songs and old favorites across all genres.
It’s no surprise that Morgan Wallen is featured on the list — he’s a massively popular star with cross-genre appeal, after all — but the song Obama chose to feature is, at least to country fans, kind of a deep cut.
That song is “Whiskey Whiskey,” a song that finds Wallen collaborating with Memphis-based rapper Moneybagg Yo. “Whiskey Whiskey” dropped in June as part of Moneybagg’s Speak Now album.
Wallen and Moneybagg co-wrote the song with a number of other collaborators, including hot Nashville songwriter Ashley Gorley, and the song made it to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in late June. It was Moneybagg’s first-ever outing on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Though the song was successful, a No. 6 placement is still a relative deep cut for Wallen, who’s used to breaking chart records and raking in historic stays at the top of the country charts. This summer, other Wallen hits — like his duet with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help” — have gotten much more attention than “Whiskey Whiskey.” However, now that the song made it onto Obama’s 2024 Summer Playlist, maybe it’ll have its moment.
Wallen is one of several collaborators on Moneybagg Yo’s Speak Now album, but he’s the only one who hails from the country genre. However, the singer has ties to at least one of Moneybagg’s other duet partners: Lil Durk, who previously teamed with Wallen for the hit song “Broadway Girls,” is also featured on Speak Now.
Elsewhere on his Summer Playlist, Obama shows a preference for hot, genre-bending country songs: Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Beyoncé‘s “Texas Hold ‘Em” both made the cut. He also included an older country song: Lucinda Williams‘ 2007 release “Unsuffer Me.”
Carena Liptak is an Associate Editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in breaking country music news, interviews and lists. In particular, she’s got a soft spot for sad songs — check out her roundup of the 50 Saddest Country Songs of All Time!
Top 20 Songs of 2024, Ranked (So Far)
New country artists rule this Top Country Songs of 2024 list, but that doesn’t mean traditional country isn’t represented early and often.
Airplay charts, sales data and streaming numbers helped make this list of country music’s Top 20 Songs of 2024, but staff and Taste of Country reader opinion were most influential.
Songs included on previous Top Country Songs lists were not eligible. A song may have been released in 2023, but it had to have the majority of recorded airplay or impact this year to count.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes