Eurovision 2024: Don't break the trophy!

Oh, is it Eurovision time again? Can someone get the Swedes to postpone it to another weekend when I'm not stuck in bed with a really bad cold? No? That's a completely pompous request, you say? Then can you ask the CEO of Ikea? No? Management of Ikea is based in the Netherlands now? Since when? Well, that's just ludicrous. A totally wasted international phone call.

Eurovision is being held this year in Malmö, a city I didn't know existed until it was referenced in an off-colour joke in MAD magazine in the late 1990s. They designed a plus-sign-shaped stage with video screen and the artists' green room was actually behind the stage behind two vertically-rising panels which also serves as the video screen backdrop. If you're struggling to visualize this, here's a picture I nicked from some website. 

Ah, Sweden. I missed your irreverent and wacky humour. Petra Mede was once of the co-hosts, and as she did when Sweden hosted in 2013, she sang a song during the voting interval about how Sweden kind of feels bad about winning Eurovision so many times, but don't hate them for it as they just love Eurovision too much. The other host, Malin Åkerman, sang a line about how there's more to Sweden then "depression and Ikea". Of course for some people, depression and Ikea is the same thing.

The only country to improve on its best result was Croatia, who came second, with what was a pretty solid (and loud) song. So, who won? Well, guess what? France has not won Eurovision during my entire lifetime. And after today, that...is still true. But they came 4th, which is a good result for them. The eventual winner was Switzerland, who have not claimed first place since 1988. Their only other win was the very first Eurovision in 1956. It's always good to see a winning drought of several decades being broken.

Speaking of things being broken, Switzerland's singer Nemo broke the glass trophy during the reprise of the winning song. I didn't catch exactly how it got broken, but maybe put it down on the stage before singing next time? Oddly enough this isn't the first time that's happened – Alexander Rybak (Norway) did it in 2009 and I'm sure it's been done on at least one other occasion.

There was a lot of controversy this year, but the biggest item of note for me this year was that Luxembourg are back! A former Eurovision powerhouse with five wins to their name, they last won in 1983 and have been absent since 1993. Returning this year with what was a pretty decent song, they placed 13th in the final. (When Italy returned in 2011 after a 13 year absence, they were rewarded with second place, just as a comparison.)

The age range of the performers this year was 17 to 52. Another thing they did this year was for the first time, the so-called 'Big Six' (the five countries that automatically qualify for the final plus last year's winner) performed their songs during the semifinals, and not during the final only. "Yes, we've found a way to make this show even longer," said Malin Åkerman.

So, to the controversy. Just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine hung over proceedings in 2022, the Israel-Hamas war caused the same situation this year. So here and there you'd get performers or vote announcers advocating for peace and whatnot without directly referencing the conflict. I'm not sure what the penalties are. Cessation of booze rations in the green room perhaps? 

Anyway, there was a lot of booing, audience members turning their backs to the stage, walk-outs, and other things not shown by the cameras. You can read about that in your own time if you want to know more. 

Also, the Netherlands were disqualified. Booted out. Given the old heave-ho. Their singer Joost Klein qualified for the final with a song equally silly and heartfelt (something the Dutch pull off well), but after semifinal 2, the jury results were recalculated so the Netherlands would not receive any points. Their song, which would have been placed 5th in the running order, was skipped in the final – so there was no song in position number 5.

Klein's name was not even mentioned during the final. I could write up the reason why he was disqualified, but I haven't got the energy. So that's another thing you can look up yourself if you feel like reading anti-jury screeds from whiny malcontents.

Here's my annual map, with very few changes. Luxembourg is now blue!

And so...in a year with so much tension between certain countries, the neutral nation of Switzerland won. On a stage that was shaped like their flag. That's a huge plus.

Eurovision 2023 Wrap-up

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest has wrapped up and as usual, left us with memories of new artists, new songs, and the obligatory controversies. And as always, my annual stats map. Take a look. Go on, click on it why don't ya.

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Some items of note for the show as a whole:

Sweden was the runaway winner, right from the start of the announcement of the jury votes.

Because of the war, 2022 winners Ukraine were unable to host the contest this year, so the United Kingdom, who were runners-up, stepped in. Hosting duties were given to the city of Liverpool. Ah yes, home of that foursome who hit number one with their first three singles. Remember them? Those guys who were managed by Brian Epstein? What were those guys called again? It'll come to me...

The last time the previous year's winner did not host the contest was in 1980.

No-shows: Russia and Belarus are still banned. Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia are still out due to lack of finances. 

But guess what — Luxembourg, former Eurovision powerhouse, will be back next year! Their last appearance was in 1993, and they were relegated the following year and haven't showed up since. They've notched up 5 wins from 37 appearances, and they gave us Baccara, Vicky Leandros, France Gall, Plastic Bertrand and Nana Mouskouri for God's sake — they deserve to be back! (Okay, so none of those five were actually from Luxembourg, but my point still stands.)

No country improved on their previous best showing, but this was Sweden's 7th win which means they tie with Ireland's record for most Eurovision wins. 

Australia came 9th with Perth band Voyager, who were really good! They placed 6th at the end of the jury vote points tally (earning two 12-points) and didn't do well in the televote. It turned out that they won semifinal 2, although the semifinal scores are never announced during the show.

For the first time, the Czech Republic competed under the name Czechia, so I have adjusted my map accordingly. 

Every year there's a bonkers entry that appears to make no sense (even if you come from that country). Performance punks Let 3 from Croatia filled that spot nicely this year, with their song containing veiled allusions to the "vile psychopaths" that are the presidents of Russia and Belarus. Overt politics are banned at Eurovision (except in the voting, of course).

So great to see Iceland's Daði Freyr performing a cover of "Whole Again" during the interval of the final, as part of the 'Liverpool Songbook'. He finally got to appear on a Eurovision stage (2020, cancelled; 2021, one of his group had COVID and performed via video link).

Also great was seeing Catherine Tate read out the UK's jury vote results. She was absolutely sloshed, mind you. I was hoping she would say "Am I bovvered", but she instead said "Allons y", which is some Doctor Who thing. Who cares. 

The best jury vote announcer, probably the best one of all time, was Einar Stefánsson from Iceland announcing his country's 12-point recipient. He didn't thank the hosts, or the host city, or go on about how everyone was brought together as one under the banner of music. No. Dressed in a black BDSM costume he slowly took off his mask to reveal another one, took that off to reveal another one, and just said one word in a robotic monotone: "Au-stra-li-a".

Host Graham Norton called him "the slowest stripper ever". I'm surprised they let that guy back on the air after the Palestinian flag incident at the 2019 contest, but I'm glad they did.

Speaking of the voting, something happened this year that cheered up my shrivelled joyless soul. Nearly every single miserable year, and this is the 26th Eurovision I have watched, Cyprus' jury gives its 12 points to Greece, and Greece's jury duly gives its max points back to Cyprus. But this year, Greece didn't qualify, so Cyprus had to give their 12 to someone else! And Greece only gave 4 points to Cyprus. I know, right? The crowd was as stunned as I was. Flippin' bally 'eck lad.

If anyone saw a member of the Ukrainian entry, Tvorchi, in the green room holding up a sign reading 'Ternopil" and wondering what that was all about:

— this was in reference to the fact that Tvorchi's hometown of Ternopil was fired upon by Russian missiles during the show. Apparently they only found this out ten minutes before they went on stage. Ternopil is nowhere near the frontline, in fact it is not far from the border with Poland, so this was a targeted attack.

The various post-show threads on Reddit's Eurovision board certainly had a high sodium content. LOTS of people are enraged at Loreen winning again for Sweden (she also won it in 2012), this time with a song called "Tattoo". Personally I was ambivalent to the winning song, it was just your typical bland Nordic pop track with lyrics about nothing in particular. It didn't really excite me. She can really belt out the high notes for sure, but it was no "Euphoria".

The theories started thick and fast. People were suggesting the results were rigged so that Sweden would win and thus get to host next year, which is the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning with "Waterloo". Until Graham Norton mentioned this anniversary right at the end, I hadn't even thought about it. The fans wanted Finland, who eventually came in second, to win. Even during the vote announcements people were screaming Käärijä's name, and his song title, "Cha Cha Cha". This made the presenters uncomfortable.

Every second person was calling for the jury vote to be abolished. Loreen collected a ton of 12s in the jury votes, but not one in the televotes. 

The so-called 'evidence' of Sweden's win being rigged was that Loreen was the only artist in the green room to keep her microphone during the results (anticipating the reprise of the winning song at end of show).

A lot of fans are of the opinion that previous winners should not be allowed to compete (only one other person, Ireland's Johnny Logan, has won Eurovision twice. Three times if you count songwriter of another winning song). Someone said words to the effect of "I just think it's rude to participate in a competition you have already won before." A counter-argument to this was "Eurovision is not a charity event, or a platform to 'give someone else a chance'." So, what say you? Heaven, Hell, or I dunno, Heck?

As for me, I won't be getting on the Sweden hate train. I'll be back next year, doing what I've done for years, and that is checking out some cool new European bands and singers that Eurovision exposed me to. See ya!

***

...ah yes, now I remember who that band was. Gerry and the Pacemakers!

Eurovision 2022 Wrap-up

Ciao, ragazzi! It's that Eurovision time of year again! Three days of blinding stage lights, long-haired rocker dudes, singers in weird masks, and 2020s sad girls. This year's Eurovision Song Contest comes to you from the city of Torino, or Turin if you're a bit of a bore. Italy previously hosted the event in Napoli in 1965, and Rome in 1991. This time, the city of Fiat, The Italian Job, and burial shrouds of dubious provenance got its turn to play host.

Like last year I got up at idiot o'clock to see the final live, after watching semifinal 1 on streaming (dodgy) and semifinal 2 on TV the preceding two nights. It's a punishing schedule of Euro-viewing but someone's got to do it.

The first semifinal was somewhat disappointing. After the grandiose 2021 contest, the abstemiousness was evident in several understated entries – someone unkinder than I might say 'flaccid' – getting through to the final, while superior entries did not. Perhaps this is yet another side effect of the dreaded COVID. The second semifinal continued in a similar vein. I know, I'm hardly in a minority here. Everyone wants to see their favourite entries progress to the final. But come on. When Georgia and Denmark are overhauled by morose rubbish from The Netherlands and (particularly) Greece, how can you not get just a tad sceptical.

You see, when you reach the point in life when you start to become a jaded old cynic – which typically happens when your age begins with the number 4 (and boy, are those 400 year olds as cynical as they come) – you really couldn't give a toss when some singer half your age wants to vent their feelings about how tough life is (Greece and The Netherlands again). You just want to yank them off stage from behind the curtain with a hooked stick.

It wasn't all bad news though – my favourite entries from each semifinal, Moldova and Serbia, made it through. Both of these were unconventional songs, Serbia's being just plain weird. But you should know by now that 'weird' always ranks very highly in my book, especially at Eurovision. It was titled "In Corpore Sano" and was kind of a spiritual successor to the almighty "Shum", Go_A's 2021 entry from Ukraine (stylistically, if not thematically).

On to the final. And yes, I have to mention it.

Now of course, there has been a pall of unease hanging over Eurovision proceedings for nearly three months. The atrocities taking place in Ukraine could not go unacknowledged. Following the Russian invasion several broadcasters called for Russia to be removed from participation, which it was, as well as from the European Broadcasting Union itself. This means Russia has lost broadcasting and participation rights for the foreseeable future (as far as I know).

In a similar vein Belarus was out, too. They received a three-year ban from the EBU for their broadcaster being used as a propaganda tool. The other no-shows were for the same reasons as in previous years: Liechtenstein (not enough money), Bosnia-Herzegovina (ditto), Andorra (stuffing around), Turkey (still fiddle-faddling) and Luxembourg (who the hell knows).

In one sense I'd like to think of this situation as the Eurovision family banding together when one of its brothers is being bullied and attacked, but of course it's infinitely more complicated than that. 

If you read my wrap-up of the 2021 Eurovision you'll note that one thing stands out in my list of observations and that's Russia and Ukraine conspicuously not awarding any points to each other during the final jury vote. We will never know how many points the Russian jury would have awarded Ukraine had they been able to participate. As it was, Ukraine's entry, a folk-rap group called Kalush Orchestra were able to perform their upbeat but melancholy song "Stefania" with Russia absent. And so the big question was, would they receive enough sympathy votes to win the contest?

Well, of course they would!

I was pleased to see the United Kingdom come 2nd after a seemingly interminable run of lousy results. They also came 2nd in 1998, the year I started watching Eurovision, but since then it's been nearly always a disappointing result. They came last in 2003, 2008, 2010, 2019 and 2021, and the bottom five another six times since then. Needless to say (but I will anyway) this was a bloody long time coming. In fact, Sam Ryder and his song "Space Man" was on top of the voting tally after the jury vote phase, but was knocked off the top spot by Ukraine who got 439 votes in the televoting phase (which incidentally is the highest number of televotes ever given out).

I'm not sure if this number of votes was a collective "up yours" to Putin, a show of support for Ukraine, a genuine love of "Stefania", or a love of furry pink bucket hats. But as I suspect – maybe all of the above.

But kudos to Sam Ryder! Makes yer proud to be British, it do.

Special mention must also go to Spain, the country with the longest winning drought, who came 3rd. That's their best result since I started watching in 1998, and they've come last twice and placed in the bottom five 10 (!) times since then. Needless to say (but I will anyway) this was a bloody long time coming. Makes yer proud to be a Spaniard, it do. Not that I am. But I would be if I was.

Well, there's not much else to say except to wheel out my ESC stats map once again, and since just like last year no country improved on its best result, there wasn't a whole lot to amend – so I changed the typeface which hopefully improves its legibility.

Any trivia? Well apart from the UK and Spain getting their best results since the '90s, it was the first time none of the songs were in French. Belgium and Switzerland didn't use it, and the French themselves sung their song in Breton. I think it's also the first time Latin has been used as well. Take that, antiquated linguistic hegemony!!

Oh yeah, and I'm glad I got up at 5am to see it live for another reason: you don't get all those unfunny tweets and Tiktok videos between the songs. (See previous remark about age starting with 4)

Arrivederci!

Eurovision 2021 Wrap-up

Hi there, folks. I got up at 5:00 am yesterday (so you didn't have to) to watch the final of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest live from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. As always, here is my annual Eurovision stats map. Click to enlarge, and whatnot.

Either France or Switzerland were poised to take the victory after the jury vote was announced, but Italy swooped in after the televote round to claim their third win, and their first in 31 years. The winning song was "Zitti E Buoni" ("Shut Up And Behave") by glam rock act Måneskin – not your typical Eurovision winner.

Items of note:

• Eurovision's return after the 2020 event's cancellation.
• Italy's first win since 1990, and the first 'Big Five' win since Germany in 2010.
• France and Switzerland were on top of the points tally after the jury vote, and as the French contestant Barbara Pravi herself said, the top two songs (at that stage) were both French – surely something that hasn't happened in decades.
• The winner of the jury vote has not won overall for the 4th time in 5 years.
  
• In the end, France came 2nd and Switzerland 3rd – their best results since the early '90s. The last time France came 2nd was in 1991, and Switzerland hasn't come 3rd since 1993.
• The top 3 songs were all performed in their countries' native languages. The last time this happened was in 1995.
• The last time there were 4 non-English songs in the top 5 was in 1996.
  
• Iceland came 4th – they couldn't perform on the night due to one of them having a COVID issue (negative test result in the end). A rehearsal video in the venue was shown instead, complete with mistimed pyrotechnics at the end. (The same act were to compete last year and their song, "Think About Things" was my favourite entry in 2020.)
• COVID-19 sucks.
  
• Ukraine came 5th with "Shum" ("Forest" or "Noise") by Go_A – easily my favourite entry this year; sung in Ukrainian and really good staging. It's a pagan-trance banger!
  
• Ukraine is now the only country to have always qualified for the final since they joined Eurovision. The only other country was Australia, who failed to qualify this year.
  
• No country improved on its best result. 
• Australia couldn't go to Rotterdam to attend Eurovision (perhaps our contestant Montaigne should've told the government that Eurovision was some kind of European sporting event). As a result she was at a disadvantage, having to perform the song live via satellite from Australia, with strict rules against editing the live vocals.
• That was the first Eurovision performance ever not to take place on the stage.
  
• The first time Portugal's entry was entirely in English. They came 4th in their semi-final and 12th in the final.
  
• Hungary and Montenegro did not return after their 2019 appearance. Armenia withdrew and Belarus was disqualified.
  
• The bottom 4 countries after the jury votes had been tallied, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands, all got zero points in the televote. Hearing this announced was brutal! Only the UK ended up with 0 points overall, and I felt bad for their contestant, James Newman. Out of 38 countries' top tens, he didn't feature in a single one. Bloody hell. There was audible discomfort after his 0 score was announced; others in the green room made it graceful for him by encouraging a huge audience cheer.
• Malta's contestant is a previous winner of Junior Eurovision. Is this the first time that has happened? (She ended up coming 7th)
• People should stop throwing in random Spanish lyrics to their songs. It's annoying. (And fruitless – Spain hasn't won for 52 years, and counting!)
  
• Rotterdam staged an amazing show, great stage graphics, notwithstanding 'Nikki Tutorials' irritating American accent.
• The rooftop performance by past contestants was pretty cool.
• Helena Paparizou, who won in 2005, is 39 (!) now. Cor blimey guv', yer don't get many o' those to a pound!!
  
• The previous winner, Duncan Laurence, didn't perform at the venue 'cause he's got COVID, or something.
• "RAWK N' RAWL NEVER DIES!!!". So sayeth the Måneskin lead singer upon winning.
• And they were the first band to win since Finland in 2006.
• One of their members was born in 2001, making him the first Eurovision winner to have been born in the 21st century.
• The female guitarist from Måneskin looks a lot like the chick from Cherry Glazerr. And that ain't a bad thing, sunshine.
  
• Too many songs in English, but this has been my yearly complaint since 1999.
• Large discrepancies in the two voting systems. For instance, Ukraine got 97 jury votes and 267 televotes; Malta (7th) got 208 jury votes, 47 televotes; Belgium (19th) got 71 jury votes and a measly 3 (!) televotes.
• Shame on the Russian and Ukrainian juries for their obviously politically-influenced decision to not give each other any points.
• Germany did not deserve to come second-last (25th) with only 3 lousy points. And, no matter how bad, no one deserves to get no points at all. Not even Jemini. Probably.
  
• It was amusing to hear the whole crowd disappointingly shout "GREECE!" after the vote announcer from Cyprus said "And the 12 points goes to...". Oddly enough the announcer was a little kid, but that didn't stop the booing.
• The task of announcing Australia's votes fell to Joel Creasey. He and Myf Warhurst, who couldn't attend Rotterdam to do their announcing for SBS, flipped a coin to decide which of them would do it. Myf found the coin in her bra, incidentally, along with a number of other things. Not that I'd know about that sort of thing. 
• Graham Norton is still kind of a knob.
• Sorry Shaz, but he is.
  
• The Netherlands, the host country, only gave 2 votes to winners Italy – from the televote.
• The Sammarinese (that's the demonym for San Marino – I only just learned that) entry featured Flo Rida. If they had done better than 22nd place, there could be a future trend of getting overhyped American rappers bussed in to compete at Eurovision, which is something I'd rather not see.
• Politics, and the gruesome events that happened in Gaza only last week, didn't seem to affect the Israeli contestant's performance or result. She came 17th, though.
• And she broke the record set by Croatia in 1996 for the highest note sung.
  
• 2020 favourites The Roop from Lithuania came 8th with "Discoteque". Sadly we will never know if their monster of a tune "On Fire", that was to be entered last year, would have won.
• My word, I wanted France to win. They haven't won Eurovision in my entire lifetime. Coming second is a very respectable finish for them, though.
• But good on you, Italy, for bringing ROK™ back to Eurovision.
  

Christmas Carols – how old are they?

They're probably older than you think, old boy!

I made this little infographic to show just how old some of them are. Perennial favourite "White Christmas" – the original version by Bing Crosby – clocks in at a sprightly 77 years, and I'll bet you didn't know that "Jingle Bells" is now a 162 year old song.

But it's happy 300th birthday to "Joy To The World" (its lyrics, at least)! Surely that says something about their songwriting that ensures these songs and hymns have continued to be enjoyed for so long. Merry Christmas!

Eurovision Results Map 2019 (amended)

Well, what do you know guys. Belarus stuffed up their votes in the Eurovision final, so I have had to adjust my map accordingly. The only two changes are for the countries that achieved their best result this year: San Marino and North Macedonia.

San Marino, who were 20th, are now placed 19th. And North Macedonia (in their first year under their new name, and their first appearance since 2012) who were 8th, are now 7th. And, because of Belarus' voting errors, North Macedonia have replaced Sweden as the winners of the jury vote. So you could call North Macedonia the real winners here! But that would be silly.

Eurovision Results Map 2019

I got up at 5am to watch the Eurovision final (now in its 64th year, as my stats map says) live from Tel Aviv, and once again it didn't disappoint. I thought the stage designers in Israel were going to follow Portugal's lead following their understated set in Lisbon last year, but no, it was more elaborate and startling than ever. Six billion pixels on those video screens!!!

Australia were invited to perform for the 5th time, and we did pretty well this year, coming 9th overall. I actually thought Kate Miller-Heidke's song "Zero Gravity" was the best of the lot, even without that frankly terrifying swaying-on-a-bendy-pole routine – I don't know how Kate managed to sing while doing that, especially with the vocal technique that she has. Shot outs also to Lake Malawi from Czech Republic and Leonora from Denmark – two more numbers I really did like (they finished 11th and 12th, respectively).

I was disappointed none of those three won – or placed in the top 5, which they deserved – but at least the winner, Duncan Laurence (gee, what a stereotypical Dutch name that is eh), was somebody who managed to break one of Eurovision's longest winning droughts. And so...The Netherlands were the winners, with their 5th win to date and their first since 1975!

Eurovision Results Map 2018

It's Eurovision time again, kids! This year's contest held in Lisbon saw Cyprus finish 2nd, their best result so far, ditto for the Czech Republic who finished 6th – good on 'em!

The notable thing though was that Israel won, their first top 5 placing in over a decade. Why is it notable? Well, Israel won Eurovision in the year I was born, in the year I turned 20 and first started watching it (1998), and now they have won again in the year I turn 40. So now you know.

As always, just so you know one thing stays constant in this crazy world, I have updated my Eurovision stats map. Enjoy.

Eurovision Results Map 2017

Another Eurovision Song Contest done, and for the fourth time, here is my Eurovision stats map.

There were three countries that improved their previous best results this year. Bulgaria placed second and Moldova third (Moldova's song "Hey, Mamma!" was my personal favourite). And Portugal! They won for the first time in 49 attempts! Well done, Portugal. I always like it when a country wins that has never won before. This is the 20th Eurovision I have watched to date, and I have seen a country win for the first time on ten occasions: Estonia in 2001, Latvia in 2002, Turkey in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, Greece in 2005, Finland in 2006, Serbia in 2007, Russia in 2008, Azerbaijan in 2011 and now Portugal.

Highlights of the contest: Moldova's so called "epic sax guy"; Salvador Sobral performing the winning song at the end with his sister Luisa, who'd written it; and Katrina Leskanich (the UK jury spokesperson) telling the hosts that she won Eurovision for the UK in 1997, to which host Volodymyr Ostapchuk told his co-host Oleksandr Skichko that 1997 was the year he (Oleksandr) was born (actually it isn't, he was born in 1991. Phew! I felt really old for a moment there).

And the winning song was performed in the country's native language, for the first time since 2007!

About time, I say.

Lowlights: Israel's possible withdrawal from the Contest permanently; and that moronic prat who bared his spotty backside on stage during the voting performance by Jamala while wearing an Australian flag.

Eurovision Results Map 2016

The Eurovision Song Contest stats map is back! Regular readers of this blog (should there be such a group) might remember that I first posted this map in May 2011, and another updated version in May 2012. Now, after the 61st ESC I have finally done a third update – done all in Photoshop this time.

Other than the winners in the intervening four years, only a couple of countries have improved their personal best results. But of course, Australia was given a special guest entry to the Contest in 2015, where Guy Sebastian came fifth, a very respectable finish. As such, we were invited back by host nation Sweden to compete in 2016, and our contestant Dami Im came second, an amazing result!

Eurovision Infographic III

Here's my third annual Eurovision Song Contest stats map following the win by Denmark, their third,  in the 58th Contest, held in Malmö, Sweden. This is the second time Denmark has won immediately after Sweden!

If you saw my previous two maps for the 2011 ESC and 2012 ESC, you'll see this one looks similar. If you can't be bothered churning through the data, here are three stats of note. The number of countries singing in their native language was 17 (up from 12 last year), good to see; only one country sang in a mix of English and their native language, and only ONE country improved on its previous best result. This was San Marino, who placed 19th in the 2008 semifinal, 14th in last year's semifinal and 11th in this year's semifinal. Keep trying, San Marino. You should have been in the final this year.

Hope you enjoy checking out the map. Good job Sweden on hosting the event (great host too) And as I said after posting last year's Euro map – here's to not using Illustrator for another 12 months!

Eurovision Infographic II

As we know, infographics is that small part of the Venn diagram where 'graphic designer' overlaps 'stats nerd'. Seeing as how I did a results map for the Eurovision Song Contest last year, I updated the same map for this year, the 57th Eurovision (as much as I hate using Illustrator) and here it is:

What's new? Two countries from last year (Poland and Armenia) didn't compete, and only two countries out of 42 managed to improve their previous best result: San Marino, 14th in the semifinal (previously 19th in the 2008 semifinal), and Albania, 5th (7th in 2004). Other than that, there's a bit of language shift. Seems like a few more countries opted to perform songs in their native language this year, which is good.

Well, that's your dose of infographics for this year (on this blog at least). Here's to not using Illustrator for another 12 months!

Eurovision Infographic

If you're a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest like me (and if not, push off and go listen to the Top 40), and if you'd like to know which countries have ever participated, their best result, and even where they are located (a bit difficult for the lesser-known ones), then this map is for you.

The figures are accurate for the 56th ESC, held in Dusseldorf, Germany last week. Which country has competed most often? Which country only entered once, came 18th and never competed again? Which country won in the first year of its existence (technically)? Why are Israel and Azerbaijan allowed in when they're in Asia, not Europe? (You should already know that by now.) The info's all here.

 

 

As far as infographics go, this is my first attempt to do one and I wasn't 100% satisfied with it, so if you can think of a way to improve it, let me know. (Don't suggest arranging the text boxes in some kind of pattern; I already tried it and it obscures the map.)