It has been five years since the last Soca versus Reggae. Headlining the much anticipated event on Friday at Tiger Bay are ...

2005 – Rupee, "Tempted to Touch" Midway through the 2000s, two soca songs initially made their way onto the Billboard Hot 100, an unprecedented, and to date unmatched, feat for soca.

Soca, like calypso and the steel pan, the national instrument of Trinidad & Tobago, developed from festivities associated with Trinidad's world-renowned pre-Lenten carnival.

Machel Montano, onstage at the Essence Festival on July 1, 2022 in New Orleans. Montano became of soca's biggest stars following the release of his single "Big Truck" in 1997.

Below, NPR Music celebrates and looks back on 50 years of the form, choosing one song per year to trace the genre's shifting sound. Many selections have won Trinidad carnival's prestigious ...