Saint Kitts & Nevis (December 23 – December 31, 2022)
Soca Music was streamed heavily in Saint Kitts & Nevis during the Christmas & New Year’s holiday week as the island nation of just over 50,000 residents enjoyed their National Carnival, also known as Sugar Mas.
While the biggest streamed hits of the week came from Machel Montano, Kes the Band, Voice & GBMNutron, there was tremendous diversity in the group with nearly 20 Soca artists placing nearly 30 songs on the St. Kitts & Nevis Apple Music charts.
Long Live Soca by Voice produced by N.M.G was the most recent release on the chart (Dec 2022), and the one with the highest position, landing at #8 on Christmas Eve on the Apple Music (World) chart. Dear Promoter (Dec. 2019), a collaboration between Voice & Kes peaked as high as #61 on the Apple Music (Reggae) chart the same day. The final Voice song to hit the charts during the Sugar Mas is the July 2019 Styles and Complete production Potential peaking at #176 on the Apple Music (Pop) chart.
Over the course of the holiday week, Upset Squad from Saint Kitts would have 4 songs peak on the Apple Music (World) charts – all released in Oct 2022 intended for the Sugar Mas festivities they are: Home On the Street (#20), Big Belly Man (#40), Bamboo (#42) peaking on Dec 23rd & Can’t Cook landing at #32 on Boxing Day. Likewise, local musicians Grand Masters Band new release Grimey, peaked at #11 in Saint Kitts & Nevis on Apple Music (World) on Dec. 29th.
Machel Montano posted 3 songs on the charts over the course of the week, with Fast Wine (Dec. 2016) leading the pack at #160 All-Genres on the 27th of December. That same day Machel landed on the Reggae chart with Dr. Mashup (Jan. 2019) at #181. The final song by Montano is also the oldest of the entire group at nearly 20 years old – On The Road (Brancker Version) – is still fit for the Carnival Road.
Kes the Band added another 2 songs to the charts over the course of the week. Both streamed heavily enough for placement on the All-Genres charts –Savannah Grass (Jan. 2019) at #59 on Dec 26th and Hello (Nov. 2017) at #60 on Dec. 27th. That same day, the GBMNutron classic Practice (Oct. 2018) peaked at #68 on the Apple Music (Reggae) chart, pushing it into the All-Genres chart at #141.
Bunji Garlin and Problem Child both claimed two songs each during the week. Bunji showed his range with his classic Differentology from Nov. 2012, coming in at #137 on Dec 27th on Apple Music (Reggae) and, his more recent Maths produced by DJ Ana & Advokit Productions coming in at #174 on Dec. 23rd. Problem Child’s song Nasty Up (June 2019) continues its heavily streamed pace, coming in at #166 on the Reggae chart on Christmas Eve, while his more recent Hard Jucks “Clean” (July 2022) produced by King Bubba FM & Dwaingerous came in at #152 on the World charts.
Other Soca songs streamed heavily during the Sugar Mas Festival week on Apple Music (World) included: Sugar Cravings at #149 by Fadda Fox (Nov. 2018) and Police by Ravi B (Oct 2017) at #196 on December 23rd. These are followed by Champion Gyal (Sept. 2022) by Melly Rose at #156 and Wuk (Sept. 2018) by Marzville produced by DJ Spider at #186 on Dec. 24th. The rest of the week rounded out with Chicken and Rice (April 2022) by Motto at #51 on the 28th of December and I Deh (Feb 2019) by Mic Love at #139 on the 29th of December.
-
- Road March Title
-
- 1st runner up
-
- 2nd Runner up
On the ground, the Road March Title for Sugar Mas 51 was claimed by the Grand Masters Band with Outside Again. This song, released on December 9th peaked at #1 in Saint Kitts & Nevis on Dec 10th on iTunes (World) – immediately flexing its strength. 1st runner up was given to Small Axe Band and their tune Kick Dem off De Wall and 2nd Runner up went to the Upset Squad with De Cowbell , which peaked at #10 in Saint Kitts and Nevis on Apple Music World – also on December 10th.
It is evident that the Soca Music streamed during the build-up and throughout the actual Sugar Mas – was reflective of the sentiment on the Road.
