We Asked the 2024 Candidates About the Songs They Love Most

A prompt on the website formerly known as Twitter to share your top 20 songs recently set off a sharing frenzy:

“Make a 20-track comp of your all-time fav tracks, each artist can only feature once,” the X user, Nick Worrall, posted. “Not the 'best' songs, the ones that bring instant joy the second you hear the first note, the ones that give other people the best insight into what stirs your soul. Share when ready. #20tracks”

If this prompt really could tell us “what stirs your soul,” we thought about whom we wanted to know on such an intimate level the most. Easy: the 2024 candidates.

So we sent an email to all the 2024 candidates asking them for their top 20 songs. Not all of them responded, of course, and a few responded with fewer than 20, making us wonder if they’re really in it for the long haul. But there’s plenty to love, disagree with and wonder about in the lists of those who did. If you think someone’s picks can really tell us something about their soul, it’s worth wondering what made Chris Christie choose “Thunder Road” out of all of his beloved Bruce Springsteen’s songs — a track about getting older and “one last chance to make it real.”

We even made their playlists available on Spotify, so you can download the one you like best. (Not all candidates stuck to the rule about not repeating artists, but we forgave the oversight.) We’ll be keeping an eye on whose playlist gets the most downloads, so you can vote on the candidates’ music tastes, even if you don’t plan on voting for the candidate.

Chris Christie

Thunder Road — Bruce Springsteen

I Saw Her Standing There — The Beatles

Gimme Shelter — Rolling Stones

Dream On — Aerosmith

Pink Houses — John Cougar Mellencamp

Pressure — Billy Joel

Livin' on a Prayer — Bon Jovi

Run to You — Bryan Adams

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall — Coldplay

In the Air Tonight — Phil Collins

Let’s Go Crazy — Prince & the Revolution

Castle on the Hill — Ed Sheeran

Tiny Dancer — Elton John

Roxanne — The Police

And She Was — Talking Heads

Where the Streets Have No Name — U2

Mr. Brightside — The Killers

Finish what Ya Started — Van Halen

Hotel California — The Eagles

Runnin’ Down a Dream — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Nikki Haley

I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll — Joan Jett

Alright — Darius Rucker

I Want You To Want Me — Cheap Trick

She's A Beauty — The Tubes

Cruel Summer — Bananarama

We Got The Beat — The Go-Go’s

Photograph — Def Leppard

Call Me — Blondie

Peace Train — Cat Stevens

Take What You Want — Post Malone feat. Ozzy Osborne and Travis Scott

Take Me to Church — Hozier

Jolene — Dolly Parton

Fast Car — Luke Combs

Radio Ga Ga — Queen

American Girl — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Mr. Brightside — The Killers

Send Her My Love — Journey

Dancing Queen — Abba

No One Is To Blame — Howard Jones

Pour Some Sugar On Me — Def Leppard

Vivek Ramaswamy

*Ramaswamy was only able to contribute eight

Lose Yourself — Eminem

Rondo Alla Turca — Mozart

Centuries — Fall Out Boy

Believer — Imagine Dragons

Jolene — Dolly Parton

Thunder — Imagine Dragons

Dream On — Aerosmith

Pastures of Plenty — Woody Guthrie

Will Hurd

I Gotta Go — Robert Earl Keen

My Way — Steve Aoki, Aloe Blacc

Around the World — Daft Punk

Space Cowboy — Jamiroquai

Award Tour (feat. Trugoy the Dove) — A Tribe Called Quest, Trugoy the Dove

Doowutchyalike — Digital Underground

I’ll Do 4 U — Father MC

Boyz-N-The-Hood — Eazy-E

The Crossroads — Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Come & Talk to Me — Jodeci

One Day — Matisyahu

Sorry Not Sorry — Demi Lovato

Shake It Off — Taylor Swift

Survivor — Destiny’s Child

Champion — Buju Banton

Seven Nation Army — The White Stripes

Too Close — Alex Clare

I Go Blind — Hootie and the Blowfish

Steal My Kisses  — Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

East Bound and Down — Jerry Reed

Larry Elder

My Girl — The Temptations

Midnight Train to Georgia — Gladys Knight and the Pips

Bridge Over Troubled Water — Simon and Garfunkel

Baby, I Need Your Loving — Four Tops

Rainy Night in Georgia — Brook Benton

It's Growing — Temptations

A Change is Going to Come — Sam Cooke

I’ll Take You There — Staple Singers

Think  — Aretha Franklin

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday — Boyz II Men

End of the Road — Boyz II Men

Let It Be — Beatles

Take Me Home — Phil Collins

Father and Son — Cat Stevens

Danny Boy — Jackie Wilson

That's Life — Frank Sinatra

Wake Up Everybody — Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes feat. Teddy Pendergrass

Shake — Otis Redding

The Twist — Chubby Checker

Crying — Roy Orbison

Asa Hutchinson

*Hutchinson was only able to contribute eight

Ophelia — Levon Helm

 Stack O Lee — John Oates

 Get Rhythm — Johnny Cash

Get the Party Started — Pink

 When I’m Sixty-Four — The Beatles

Friends in Low Places — Garth Brooks

Sweet Caroline — Neil Diamond

We Belong Together — Los Lobos

Cornel West

*West was only able to contribute four

Love Supreme — John Coltrane

The Caravan of Love — The Isley Brothers

Respect — Aretha Franklin

Mississippi Goddam — Nina Simone