Midway through December, cinephiles know John Waters‘ favorite 2025 films, as well as the top films of various film publications. Now it’s time for the top 10 2025 movies of former President Barack Obama, as well as his choices for the best music and books of the year, if you’re interested in that, too.
READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2025
For brevity, we’ll focus on Obama’s movie list in this piece; his three other lists are below for review. And when it comes to his top films, Obama’s unranked list contains many familiar titles to various other 2025 top 10 lists. Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “One Battle After Another” is the first listed, with Ryan Coogler‘s “Sinners” right under. And Jafar Panahi‘s Cannes 2025 Palme d’or winner “It Was Just An Accident,” another critical favorite from this year, is under those two. No surprise there: all three features are mainstays on publications’ lists recently published.
It’s the rest of Obama’s list that raises some eyebrows, not in the sense that there are some left-field, deep genre picks (presumably the former President’s picks are not solely his, but deliberately curated to match his politics), but rather because they’re less common choices. For instance, Chloe Zhao‘s “Hamnet” is an Oscar favorite, but not necessarily a film that’s making the cut for top 10 lists this year. The same goes for Joachim Trier‘s “Sentimental Value“; a critical darling, but less championed than the unanimous love for “One Battle After Another.” However, that statistic applies for Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s “The Secret Agent“: a Cannes 2025 favorite that’s landed somewhere on several critical top 10s so far.
No, the boldest choices of Obama’s come at the bottom of his list, in the likes of Park Chan-wook‘s “No Other Choice,” Noah Baumbach‘s “Jay Kelly,” and Aziz Ansari‘s “Good Fortune.” The first two films may surprise some movie fans, as while they’re both auteurist works, they’re minor ones. But Ansari’s feature directorial debut on the list should surprise people, as it received very little fanfare this year. Obama’s last two choices, though, feel like very safe sleeper picks for him: “Train Dreams,” a Sundance favorite that’s gaining late-year steam on Netflix right now, and Raoul Peck‘s documentary “Orwell: 2+2=5.”
Check out Barack Obama’s four end-of-the-year lists for 2025 below.
1. 2025 – Barack Obama’s Favorite Movies
- “One Battle After Another”
- “Sinners”
- “It Was Just an Accident”
- “Hamnet”
- “Sentimental Value”
- “No Other Choice”
- “The Secret Agent”
- “Train Dreams”
- “Jay Kelly”
- “Good Fortune”
- “Orwell: 2+2=5”
2. 2025 – Barack Obama’s Favorite Music
- “Nice to Each Other” – Olivia Dean
- “Luther” – Kendrick Lamar & SZA
- “Tatata” – Burna Boy ft. Travis Scott
- “Jump” – BLACKPINK
- “Faithless” – Bruce Springsteen
- “Pasayadan” – Ganavya
- “99” – Olamidé ft. Daecolm, Seyi Vibez, Asake & Young Jonn
- “Pending” – Lil Naay & Myke Towers
- “Sexo, Violencia y Llantas” – Rosalía
- “Metal” – The Beths
- “Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga
- “Just Say Dat” – Gunna
- “The Giver” – Chappell Roan
- “Aurora” – Mora & De La Rose
- “Silver Lining” – Laufey
- “No More Old Men” – Chance the Rapper & Jamila Woods
- “Bury Me” – Jason Isbell
- “I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again” – Stacey Kent
- “Please Don’t Cry” – Kacy Hill
- “Stay” – ROE
- “Never Felt Better” – Everything Is Recorded ft. Sampha & Florence Welch
- “In the Name of Love” – Victoria Noelle
- “Ancient Light” – I’m With Her
- “Vitamina” – Jombril, DFZM & Jøtta
- “Float” – Jay Som ft. Jim Adkins
- “Ordinary” – Alex Warren
- “Sycamore Tree” – Khamari
- “Nokia” – Drake
- “En Privado” – Xavi & Manuel Turizo
- “Not in Surrender” – Obongjayar
3. 2025 – Barack Obama’s Favorite Books
- Paper Girl – Beth Macy
- Flashlight – Susan Choi
- We the People – Jill Lepore
- The Wilderness – Angela Flournoy
- There Is No Place for Us – Brian Goldstone
- North Sun – Ethan Rutherford
- 1929 – Andrew Ross Sorkin
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny – Kiran Desai
- Dead and Alive – Zadie Smith
- What We Can Know – Ian McEwan
- The Look – Michelle Obama
4. 2025 – Reminder of Books Recommended Over the Summer
- Mark Twain – Ron Chernow
- The Book of Records – Madeleine Thien
- King of Ashes – S.A. Cosby
- Rosarita – Anita Desai
- Audition – Katie Kitamura
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter – Stephen Graham Jones
- Abundance – Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
- A Marriage at Sea – Sophie Elmhurst
- Who Is Government? – Michael Lewis
- The Sirens’ Call – Chris Hayes
