diff --git a/arborist/qa/evidence.py b/arborist/qa/evidence.py
index 4b1b9d2..60a0041 100644
--- a/arborist/qa/evidence.py
+++ b/arborist/qa/evidence.py
@@ -437,19 +437,30 @@ def _spotlight_excerpt(claim_text: str, span: str, *, window: int) -> str:
         suffix = "..." if new_end < len(span) else ""
         return f"{span[new_start:new_end]}{suffix}"
 
-    # Density rank: for each candidate position, count distinct
-    # tokens whose match positions fall within ±half. Pick the
-    # position with max distinct count; tie-break on smallest idx
-    # (deterministic, reproducible).
-    best_score = -1
+    # Density × rarity rank. For each candidate position, count
+    # distinct tokens whose match positions fall within ±half AND
+    # weight by 1/freq(anchor_token) in the span. A rare anchor
+    # (year, named entity, version number) appearing once in a
+    # Sonic-article-length chunk wins over a 20×-repeated "sonic"
+    # — the rare token marks the load-bearing slice for the claim.
+    # Without this, "Sonic the Hedgehog was created in 1990" cited
+    # to the franchise-timeline chunk spotlit a Sonic-Team paragraph
+    # instead of the "1990" year entry (2026-06-01 fox report).
+    # Tie-break on smallest idx (deterministic, reproducible).
+    freq: dict[str, int] = {}
+    for tok in tokens:
+        # Count overlapping occurrences using positions we already
+        # collected — same definition the density count uses.
+        freq[tok] = sum(1 for t, _ in positions if t == tok) or 1
+    best_score = -1.0
     match_idx = positions[0][1]
-    for _tok, idx in positions:
+    for tok, idx in positions:
         distinct: set[str] = set()
         lo, hi = idx - half, idx + half
         for tok2, idx2 in positions:
             if lo <= idx2 <= hi:
                 distinct.add(tok2)
-        score = len(distinct)
+        score = len(distinct) / freq[tok]
         if score > best_score or (score == best_score and idx < match_idx):
             best_score = score
             match_idx = idx