3 January 2018

Another year passes and that means so does another Eurovision Top 250. It’s a fun collation of fans’ favourite songs and always provides some mild amusement on New Year’s Eve. Without being too familiar with the process, ESC Radio counts down the 250 from the top 10 entered at the Song Festival Belgium website. Other years might have been at other sites like 12 Points TV, although, I’m usually I’m too blurry to realise the website I’m using as I decompress from the toil of another year’s work and general stresses in life (I’m still undecided about upgrading my sofa).

My Top 10

Until recently I never bothered to add my top 10 because I never had a top 10! This year was definitely my first official entry, and I’m pleased to say 6 songs made the top 250, including my number one. With my eclectic taste in Eurovision songs (I doubt I’d share 2 songs in in common with anyone else), I expected 3 or 4.

I’m proud Vanilla Ninja reached 176. It’s now 12 years ago now since they rocked the Kyiv stage, they only finish eighth, disbanded almost 10 years ago, and so I didn’t have much hope for them. Even though they are an Estonian band, clearly their success in Germany and Switzerland at the time has helped them out, as too my 12 points. Yay!

I knew Polina Gagarina would make it, as too Katrina And The Waves. I was fairly confident one or two from Mihai Tristariu, Farid Mammadov or Maja Keuc would make it. I knew Birgitta, ManuElla and Christine Guldbrandsen were either unlikely or no chance. Just out of my top 10 is Norway’s I Feed You My Love from 2013 and Ukraine’s Shady Lady from 2008. They finished 39th and 43rd in the top 250. While that increases my ratio, it doesn’t increase the highest place. That is still Polina Gagarina and A Million Voices in 24th spot.

My Top 10 Best Ever Eurovision Songs

The Overall Top 10

01 Loreen – Euphoria – Sweden 2013 (0)
02 Salvador Sobral – Amar Pelos Dois – Portugal 2017 (-1)
03 Jamala – 1944 – Ukraine 2016 (-2)
04 Il Volo – Grande Amore – Italy 2015 (-1)
05 Blanche – City Lights – Belgium 2017 (-1)
06 Sertab Erener – Everyway That I Can – Turkey 2003 (-5)
07 Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes – Sweden 2015 (-6)
08 Pastora Soler – Quedate Conmigo – Spain 2012 (+2)
09 Francesco Gabbani – Occidentali’s Karma – Italy 2017 (-2)
10 Loic Nottet – Rhythm Inside – Belgium 2015 (-6)

Given the nature of the poll – fans adding songs they most vividly remember – the results are skewed to very recent years. There’s also a strong bias towards countries with big populations, with Spain having 10 songs in the top 250 despite being one of the most forgettable countries of recent years, while Turkey had 9 songs. The most popular country was Italy with 14. Next was Sweden with 13 and Israel with 12.

In no real surprise, Sweden’s 2012 Eurovision winner Euphoria won again. That’s the sixth time in a row so they’ve won every year possible. The most interesting songs in the top 10 is Belgium’s City Lights of 2017. They’re at fifth – only one place lower than their actual Eurovision finish. Similarly is Italy’s Grand Amore of 2015 in fourth place, one place lower than their Eurovision finish. Trumping both of those is Spain’s Quedate Conmigo of 2012 in eighth place, two places higher than their Eurovision finish. It was my favourite of the final that year and Pastora Soler definitely deserved at least top 5 in Baku. Those numbers you see in brackets are the +/- score of the ESC Top 250 result versus the actual Eurovision result. Based on that, with a +2, dare we say Quedate Conmigo is actually the true winner of this poll?

Loreen wins the ESC Top 250 for 2017