23 April 2018

When it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest, not only is Australia becoming just another country in the contest, it seems we’re just another vote too. ESCFAN, the official Eurovision OGAE fan club of Australia, revealed their full results and the top 5 is almost the exact top 5 of the current standings, excluding Australia of course! Fan clubs can’t vote for themselves.

Australia’s Top 10

01 Israel – Netta – Toy
02 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters
03 Estonia – Elina Nechayeva – La Forza
04 France – Madame Monsieur – Mercy
05 Czechia – Mikolas Josef – Lie To Me
06 Cyprus – Eleni Foureira – Fuego
07 Belgium – Sennek – Matter Of Time
08 Sweden – Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off
09 Bulgaria – Equinox – Bones
10 FYR Macedonia – Eye Cue – Lost And Found

Current Overall OGAE Top 10

01 Israel – Netta – Toy – 291
02 France – Madame Monsieur – Mercy – 214
03 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters – 135
04 Australia – Jessica Mauboy – We Got Love – 122
05 Bulgaria – Equinox – Bones – 113
05 Czechia – Mikolas Josef – Lie To Me – 108
07 Greece – Yianna Terzi – Oniro Mou – 92
08 Belgium – Sennek – Matter Of Time – 90
09 Sweden – Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off – 73
10 Estonia – Elina Nechayeva – La Forza – 71

Even though only about two thirds of the clubs have voted, the pattern is set. Israel is the runaway winner, with France a clear second and then a scramble for third between Finland, Australia, Bulgaria and Czechia. The main ranking difference between Australia and the other clubs so far is Estonia in third, compared to tenth (Estonia have been much higher and only dipped recently, so could recover). With Australia unable to vote for themselves, into the top 10 comes Cyprus, while FYR Macedonia for Greece is the only other variation in top 10 countries. That better not start a war! Cyprus is currently 11th in the overall standings, so again matches well with Australia. FYR Macedonia is lost at 18th overall, and well found at 10th by Australia.

While the results are encouraging for all the top countries, these official clubs are not that accurate in producing the Eurovision winner. Sweden’s Euphoria in 2012 and Denmark’s Only Teardrops in 2013 were the last successes, and those were highly popular songs in general anyway. Following from 2013, OGAE favourites were Sweden (3rd), Italy (3rd), France (7th) and Italy (6th). OGAE clubs typically favour the higher tempo and dance songs, and these, particularly the more generic or bland types, can often flop at Eurovision. Finland would be the main candidate for that this year, whereas Israel is so quirky to stand out, as is Czechia, while the juries will vote anything Australian. Also, much depends on the presentation, and even direct competition. Finland’s in the tough first semi final so they’ll need to really pull all their monster tricks out to reach the grand final.

How I place the OGAE Top 10

01 Israel 9th
02 Finland 31st
03 Estonia 1st
04 France 25th
05 Czechia 32nd
06 Cyprus 30th
07 Belgium 4th
08 Sweden 43rd
09 Bulgaria 19th
10 FYR Macedonia 7th

We share four songs in the top 10, which isn’t too bad!

Lisbon 2018 – The Fab Five! All songs reviewed and ranked

Full OGAE scoreboard