Eurovision: The Overall Rankings

Hello everybody! So with Israel looking like they're going to go with Tel Aviv and with the Israeli government agreeing to not play any part in the organisation of the song contest, it's looking like we can all finally get excited about a trip to Israel next May. For now, us in the Eurovision fandom have to find ways of continuing to reflect on the contest. I recently contributed to a Facebook feed around the question "Is Eurovision a gay event?" whilst also finding some new Eurovision songs to get me through the summer and having travelled to Portugal to attend a friend's wedding, made a pilgrimage to the Altice Arena to soak up the Eurovision atmosphere four weeks after the contest had finished (long story short, it was like it was never there). For me, the time has come to take in the songs I liked from this year's contest and input them plus some other new favourites into my overall rankings.

Now for those of you who haven't been following along with this blog (i.e. most of you) when I started this blog eight months ago, my first ever post showcased my overall Eurovision rankings. This is the standings of all Eurovision countries who get 2 points for a song I love enough to buy and 1 point for a song I like enough to put on my massive Eurovision playlist. I have heard every song that has ever been performed at Eurovision and so this is a fully fair rankings. I will start by showing the point and proportional rankings from last year

Point Rankings (only showcasing countries with 5 or more points):

1. United Kingdom-19,

2. Ireland-15,

3. Sweden-14,

4. France-14,

5. Estonia-13,

6. Greece-13,

7. Norway-11,

8. Germany-11,

9. Malta-10,

10. Denmark-10,

11. Switzerland-10, 

12. Spain-9,

13. Netherlands-9,

14. Iceland-9,

15. Romania-8,

16. Italy-8, 

17. Russia-7,  

18. Ukraine-6,

19. Poland-6,

20. Azerbaijan-6,

21. Israel-6 

22. Armenia-5,  

23. Finland-5,

24. Cyprus-5,

25. Slovenia-5,

26. Turkey-5,  
27. Austria-5,

Proportional Rankings (not showcasing Australia who have only participated four times):

1. Azerbaijan-.6,

2. Estonia-.56

3. Armenia-.45,

4. Romania-.44,

5. Ukraine-.43,

6. Russia-.35,

7. Greece-.34,

8. Malta-.33,

9. United Kingdom-.31

10. Iceland-.3, 

11. Poland-.3,

12. Ireland-.29,

13. Sweden-.26,

14. France-.23,

15. Latvia-.22,

16. Slovenia-.217,

17. Denmark-.217,

18. Serbia-.2,

19. Norway-.19,

20. Italy-.186,

21. Bulgaria-.182,

22. Germany-.18,

23. Switzerland-.172

24. Bosnia & Herzegovina-.16,

25. Spain-.157,

26. Netherlands-.155,

27. Moldova-.153,

28. Israel-.15,

29. Yugoslavia-.148,

30. Cyprus-.147,

31. Turkey-.147,

32. Slovakia-.142,

33. FYR Macedonia-.12,

34. Montenegro-.11,

35. Lithuania-.11,

36. Luxembourg-.108,

37. Georgia-.1,

38. Austria-.1,

39. Finland-.09,

40. Croatia-.086,

41. Monaco-.083,

42. Belarus-.07,

43. Hungary-.067,  

44. Portugal-.061,
45. Belgium-.01
46. Albania-0

And now following the 2018 competition, the rankings look like this...

Point Rankings (only showcasing countries with 5 or more points):

1. United Kingdom-22,

2. Sweden-18,(Up 1)

3. Ireland-15,(Down 1)

4. France-14,

5. Estonia-13,

6. Greece-13,

7. Norway-11,

8. Germany-11,

9. Malta-10,

10. Italy-10, (Up 6)

11. Denmark-10,(Down 1)

12. Switzerland-10, (Down 1)

13. Spain-9,(Down 1)

14. Netherlands-9,(Down 1)

15. Iceland-9,(Down 1)

16. Romania-8,(Down 1)

17. Russia-7,  

18. Cyprus-7,(Up 6)

19. Ukraine-6,(Down 1)

20. Poland-6,(Down 1)

21. Azerbaijan-6,(Down 1)

22. Israel-6 (Down 1)

23. Armenia-5,  (Down 1)

24. Finland-5,(Down 1)

25. Slovenia-5,

26. Turkey-5,

27. Austria-5,

Proportional Rankings (not showcasing Australia who have only participated four times):

1. Azerbaijan-.55,

2. Estonia-.54

3. Romania-.421,(Up 1)

4. Armenia-.42,(Down 1)

5. Ukraine-.4,

6. United Kingdom-.36(Up 3)

7. Greece-.33,

8. Russia-.33,(Down 2)

9. Bulgaria-.33, (Up 12)

10. Malta-.32,(Down 2)

11. Sweden-.31,(Up 2)

12. Iceland-.29, (Down 2)

13. Ireland-.288,(Down 1)

14. Poland-.286, (Down 3)

15. Moldova-.286, (Up 12)

16. France-.23,(Down 2)

17. Italy-.227,(Up 3)

18. Latvia-.21,(Down 3)

19. Slovenia-.208, (Down 3)

20. Denmark-.208,(Down 3)

21. Cyprus-.2,(Up 9)

22. Norway-.19,(Down 3)

23. Serbia-.182, (Down 5)

24. Germany-.18,(Down 2)

25. Switzerland-.17,(Down 2)

26. Lithuania-.16, (Up 9)

27. Bosnia & Herzegovina-.16,(Down 3)

28. Spain-.155,(Down 3)

29. Netherlands-.153,(Down 3)

30. Yugoslavia-.15,(Down 1)

31. Turkey-.147,

32. Israel-.146, (Down 5)

33. Slovakia-.14,(Down 1)

34. FYR Macedonia-.11, (Down 1)

35. Luxembourg-.108, (Up 1)

36. Montenegro-.1,(Down 2)

37. Austria-.098, (Up 1)

38. Finland-0.096,(Up 1)

39. Georgia-.091,(Down 2)

40. Croatia-.083,

41. Monaco-.083,

42. Portugal-.08,(Up 2)

43. Belarus-.07,(Down 1)

44. Hungary-.06,  (Down 1)

45. Belgium-.02

46. Albania - 0

The points rankings have seen Sweden go up in the rankings because let's face it, that's just what the Swedes do. As I have done a very poor job of disguising the United Kingdom was my favourite song from last year and so their points tally has gone up partly from that and partly from the re-embracing of British Eurovision classics that subsequently took place (Looking at you Katrina). Cyprus' two points from Fuego sent it shooting up the rankings. Finally, two trips to Italy since the last time the ratings were calculated can probably explain why the Italians have been gaining so many points but it has been enough to push them into the top 10 of the points rankings. For anybody who cares, the two big Italian songs I am listening to are 1964's 'Non ho l'eta' and 1987's 'Gente di Mare'. 

The proportional rankings tell a slightly more interesting story. Any time the less experienced Eurovision countries have success, it is reflected higher in the rankings but when they don't, that is also reflected. Azerbaijan and Estonia have been pushed closer together leaving gold medal spot to be all to play for this year. Likewise, Armenia have been pushed down by an inability to garner points this year. The surge in points for the United Kingdom has seen it do comparatively well in the proportional rankings given the history that the UK have at the contest. Russia however will be coming back next year with a point to prove. The Bulgarians on the other hand have continued to make a statement in terms of their music and they move into the top ten this year with the potential of reaching the top five with a good entry in 2019. Fantastic performances this year from Moldova and Lithuania have also seen them scale the rankings with major climbs for each of them. At the other end, Georgia's inability to garner points have sent them further down towards the bottom. Finally, despite not being particularly popular in my world, a re-exploration of Portuguese Eurovision entries during the last Eurovision season has seen Portugal gain both a point and a couple of places on the proportional rankings.

Anyway, that's my update on the overall Eurovision situation from my perspective. What are your Eurovision rankings? I would love to know in the comments below. Who is your favourite Eurovision country of all time? Whose entry are you looking forward to most next year? Please leave your views in the comments!