Carnival is in full swing, and as we get closer to the grand finale of Carnival Monday and Tuesday (March 3-4, 2025), the excitement is reaching fever pitch! But while the streets of Port of Spain are buzzing with vibes, there’s another competition happening—this time, in the digital space. Which soca artistes are ruling social media?

For our Jamaican brothers and sisters heading to Trinidad Carnival, this report is your backstage pass to see which artistes are really making waves online. And for the businesses looking to capitalise on the soca frenzy—whether through advertising, sponsorships, or brand partnerships—this data is exactly the type of competitive analysis you should be looking at before spending your marketing dollars.

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This mid-season Soca Social Media Report is based on data from the last 30 days (Jan 9 – Feb 10, 2025) and breaks down the top 15 soca superstars based on total followers, engagement, comments, shares, and best-performing content across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter. The 15 soca artistes analysed in this report are Machel Montano, Kes The Band, Patrice Roberts, Nailah Blackman, Yung Bredda, Bunji Garlin, Voice, Lyrikal, Nessa Preppy, GBM Nutron, Trinidad Killa, Kerwin Du Bois, Erphaan Alves, Mical Teja, and Nadia Batson. The data presented here reflects all their activities across major social media channels, giving a full picture of how each artiste is performing online.

So, if you want to know who’s leading the digital charge and who the fans are supporting, let’s dive in!

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Who Has the Most Followers? (Largest Audience)

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Having the biggest audience doesn’t always mean you’re the most engaging, but it does mean you have a wide reach! These artists have the largest combined followings across social platforms.

1) Machel Montano – 1.72M followers, leading with Instagram (678k) and YouTube (518k).

2) Kes The Band – 1.21M followers, strong on Facebook (318k) and Instagram (396k).

3) Patrice Roberts – 1.13M followers, dominating on Instagram (742k).

4) Nailah Blackman – 1.00M followers, thriving on Instagram (548k) and YouTube (173k).

5) Yung Bredda – 888k followers, boosted by TikTok (313k) and Instagram (376k).

Who Has the Most Engagement?

These artistes are getting the most likes, shares, and interactions from their fans.

1) Machel Montano – 623k total engagement

2) Yung Bredda – 405k total engagement

3) Trinidad Killa – 196k total engagement

4) Kes The Band – 154k total engagement

5) Patrice Roberts & Bunji Garlin – 145k total engagement each

Who’s Getting the Most Comments?

Which soca stars are getting fans talking the most?

1) Machel Montano – 20.1k comments

2) Trinidad Killa – 13.6k comments

3) Yung Bredda – 9.58k comments

4) Bunji Garlin – 7.25k comments

5) Patrice Roberts – 4.92k comments

Who Has the Highest Engagement Rate?

Which artists have the highest engagement rate per follower? Engagement rate measures how actively an audience interacts with an artist’s content relative to their total followers. It is calculated using the formula:

Engagement Rate (%) = (Total Engagements ÷ Total Followers) × 100

A higher engagement rate means that an artist’s audience is more involved, reacting, commenting, and sharing their content at a higher rate compared to others.

1) Trinidad Killa – 5.86 per cent engagement rate per follower

2) Yung Bredda – 4.82 per cent engagement rate per follower

3) GBM Nutron – 3.28 per cent engagement rate per follower

4) Kerwin Du Bois – 2.18 per cent engagement rate per follower

5) Lyrikal – 1.30 per cent engagement rate per follower

Best Performing Social Media Platforms (Ranked by Engagement Rate Per Follower)

Which platforms are giving artists the highest engagement per follower?

1) YouTube – 19.7 per cent

2) TikTok – 5.79 per cent

3) Instagram – 1.86 per cent

4) Twitter – 1.73 per cent

5) Facebook – 0.70 per cent

Best Performing Content Type (Ranked by Engagement Rate Per Follower)

Which type of posts are getting the most love?

1. Video – 4.86 per cent

2. Photo – 4.55 per cent

3. Carousel – 2.82 per cent

4. Status Update – 2.21 per cent

5. Reel – 1.56 per cent

Final Takeaway: Who’s Really Capturing the Crowd?

This report proves that Carnival isn’t just about the streets—in order to become the most requested artiste, you have to build your audience on social media, and that will bring up your streams and bookings. The artistes who win online are those who know how to connect with their audience, create engaging content, and spark conversations.

For businesses, this data is invaluable. If you’re thinking about partnering with a soca artist, this is the kind of social media analysis you should be looking at to ensure you’re investing in someone with high engagement and real audience impact. You should also be doing this type of analysis every month on your competitors to see how you stack up and gain valuable insights about your audience.

For the fans, this report shows who’s getting the most love from the soca community. Whether it’s Machel Montano’s legendary presence, Yung Bredda’s viral energy, or Trinidad Killa’s fast-growing influence, the numbers don’t lie—this is where the action is happening.

So, as we gear up for Carnival Monday and Tuesday, keep your eyes on these artists, because whether on the road or online, they’re leading the charge in Soca Social Media!

The full report is available on my KeronRose.com website, where we look at a full breakdown of all 15 soca artistes.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean entrepreneurs on building their digital presence and monetising their platforms. Learn more at KeronRose.com or check out the Digipreneur FM podcast on Apple Podcast/Spotify/YouTube.