Former president Barack Obama is now a Billboard charting artist, thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Miranda recruited Obama for the final Hamildrop of 2018, gifting us the "44 remix" of "One Last Time" by Christopher Jackson, BeBe Winans, and Alex Lacamoire ahead of the holiday season.
On the track, Obama performs an impassioned reading of some of George Washington’s final words as president. Now No. 44, alongside the other artists, landed in the No. 22 spot on Billboard’s Hot R&B songs for the Jan. 5 rankings.
The song garnered 307,000 on-demand U.S. streams and 9,000 downloads sold in the week ending Dec. 27, according to Nielsen Music. This isn't the first time Obama hit the Billboard charts, but it may be the first time his charting sticks. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, he previously appeared on two defunct charts. A Moment in History: The Inauguration of Barack Obama landed at No. 6 on the TV DVD Sales tally way back in 2009. The song "Pop Off" by JX Cannon, featuring Obama, reached No. 10 on Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists chart in December 2015, but that chart also no longer exists.
Miranda and Obama have long been mutual fans, since Barack had some of the crew of Hamiltonperform at the White House in 2009, so it surprised no one when the two collaborated. Miranda’s Hamildrops, including this drop, aimed to raise money for a variety of charities before he returns to the theater stage for a new round of Hamilton performances this month. This time he’ll be performing in Puerto Rico to help raise money for recovery efforts post-Hurricane Maria.
Miranda also stars in the new Mary Poppins remake alongside Emily Blunt, which is out in theaters now.
