This Time, via Saint Lucia’s Charts
On May 28, 2025, something unexpected happened on Saint Lucia’s Apple Music (World) chart: ten tracks by the Mighty Sparrow—one of calypso’s most influential and enduring voices—re-entered the conversation, more than half a century after many of them were first recorded.
Spanning mostly the 1970s, these songs accounted for nearly 5% of the entire chart that day, a statistical anomaly in today’s fast-moving digital landscape. It was more than a spike; it was a cultural reemergence.
Slinger Francisco, better known as the Mighty Sparrow, has long been recognized as a towering figure in Caribbean music. But in recent years, his presence on streaming platforms had been intermittent—his catalogue vast, but scattered. That began to shift in 2019, when Erasmus Black Records—named in homage to Sparrow’s satirical song “Erasmus B. Black”—began systematically re-releasing his music for digital audiences. Their work has brought a selection of Sparrow’s late-1960s and 1970s recordings into clearer view for a generation that knows the name, but not always the depth of the discography.
Among the ten tracks that surged on May 28 were Levez Macco, Pussy Laughing at Me, and The Village Ram—songs as bold and biting today as they were when first released. Collectively, they reveal the breadth of Sparrow’s range: political satire, risqué humor, and social commentary delivered with lyrical dexterity and melodic command.
The chart resurgence in Saint Lucia may have been sparked by a local moment—a playlist, a viral video, a DJ set—but the significance is larger. At a time when musical trends are increasingly short-lived, Sparrow’s brief takeover of a national chart serves as a reminder that some catalogues aren’t relics; they’re waiting for the right conditions to return to the surface.
This isn’t nostalgia—it’s data. And it’s proof that calypso, at its sharpest and most self-aware, still has room to thrive in the streaming era.
Listen to more of the Mighty Sparrow on Spotify:
