Barack Obama Debuts On Billboard's Hot R&B Songs Chart

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty

President Obama Just Landed A Spot On The Billboard Charts

Barack Obama has just scored a spot on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart. Y’all’s lil president could never.

The Hawaii native debuted on this week’s list for his contribution to the new gospel-inspired arrangement of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton hit “One Last Time (44 Remix),” according to Billboard.

Obama’s contribution to the song (unfortunately) doesn’t include any singing, but he delivers his rendition of George Washington’s farewell address on the track–which also features original Hamilton cast member Christopher Jackson and gospel star BeBe Winans.

The song is a variation on the original song from Hamilton and debuted at No. 22, one slot above the John Legend’s holiday hit, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda released the track on December 20 as his last “Hamildrop” of the 2018, and of course, its title is an obvious nod to Obama being the 44th U.S. president.

President Obama’s history with Miranda dates back to 2009, when the he held “An Evening of Poetry, Music & Spoken Word” at the White House. Miranda rapped a song from what he was calling his “Hamilton Mixtape,” and the performance garnered tens of thousands of views online.

That event is what helped inspire the full-blown 2016 musical that went on to win the New Yorker’s musical 11 Tony awards, as well as the 2016 Grammy for best musical theater album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

The entire cast visited the White House in 2016 and Miranda once again returned in 2017 to perform “One Last Time” as a tribute to Obama at the end of his second term.