Eurovision record Breakers 2014. Photo : fpstudents.org

Eurovision 2014 has come to a close and now we are thinking of what Austria will have in store for us in 2015. However we have taken a closer look at some of the facts from the show in 2014. Here are some gems of statistics that you may or may not have noticed from the 2014 edition of Eurovision.

• 2014 was the first time that San Marino qualified for the Grand Final of the contest. It was a case of third time lucky for their singer Valentina Monetta who had tried before in 2012 and 2013. The country finished in 24th place with 14 points.

• 2014 was also the first time that Montenegro qualified for the Grand Final as an independent state. Sergej Ćetković brought the country to 19th place in the Grand Final where they scored 37 points.

• 2014 was the first year since 1999 where the Top 3 countries in the Grand Final were all from Western Europe – 1st Austria, 2nd The Netherlands and 3rd Sweden. You have to go back to 1999 in Israel where Sweden won the contest with Iceland second and Germany third.
• Since the advent of the current Semi Final system since 2004 – Five countries retained their 100% record of qualification to the Grand Final. Those being Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Azerbaijan and Romania and all made the Final again this year.

• 2014 was the first time that Azerbaijan failed to make the Top 10 in the Grand Final. Dilara Kazimova with her song “Start A Fire” only made 22nd place with 33 points.
• Italy since their return to the contest in 2011 had made the Top 10 each time at the competition – even securing a second place finish in 2011. However this year they failed to make the top 10. Emma Marrone only made 21st place with the song “La mia città”
• Austria gained their second win at the Eurovision Song Contest with Conchita Wurst. They last won the Grand Prix in 1966 with Udo Jürgens and the song “Merci, Chérie”. This is the longest wait for a second win at the contest by any country. A staggering 48 years for win number 2.

• The Netherlands secured their first ever second place finish at the contest with the Common Linnets and their song “Calm After The Storm”. They have won Eurovision on 4 occasions – the last being in 1975 when the group Teach-In won with “Ding-a-dong” – but they have never placed second until 2014.
• France become the country to score the least number of points in a Grand Final since the introduction of the 50/50 Jury/Public voting system in 2009. The French Act of Twin Twin scored only 2 points this year with their song “Moustache”.
• 2014 saw the first holographic singing contender in the contest when Paula Seling began her performance of “Miracle” in a virtual state. She and fellow singer Ovi brought Romania to 12th place in the Grand Final.

• Iceland remain the country most called out last as a qualifier for the Grand Final at Eurovision. This year saw them again called out last from the Semi Final. They have been in the same situation in 2009. 2010 and 2011. How to give the people of Iceland a heart attack!
• This year was the first time that we had 3 people calling out the points for a country at Eurovision. We had Alcazar present the results for Sweden. We have had duos before – Sophie and Nodi from Georgia this year and another one that springs to mind is France in 1994 when Laurent Romejko and 1977 Eurovision winner Marie Myriam announced the votes.

So as you can see there have been some records made and retained at Eurovision 2014. I am sure there are plenty of others but these are the ones that jumped out at us.

Do you know any others?

Author/Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source : Eurovision Ireland