HAPPY 2021 FROM ALL OF US HERE AT EUROVISION IRELAND!

Eurovision fans the world over ring in each New Year with ESC Radio’s annual Eurovision Top 250, the much coveted list of contest entries as voted for by the fandom.

The top spot (for the 9th consecutive year) has gone to the seemingly unstoppable Euphoria, but elsewhere on the list there is often a lot of movement and it’s a veritable gold mine of data. Cue James, who has taken a look at the results of this year’s Top 250 and compared them to the Top 250 from 2019.

As well as working out which country has the most entries in the Top 250, thereby statistically proving itself to be fans’ true favourite country at the contest, James’ findings can also pin-point which countries’ songs have increased in popularity these past 12 months, and which have fallen out of favour.

The countries are ranked below from lowest to highest. Those that have lost songs in the Top 250 are ranked lower than those who have gained, while countries with the same number of entries and gains in the Top 250 are ranked alphabetically. How to read this table:

COUNTRY – NUMBER OF SONGS IN 2020 TOP 250 (-/+ THE NUMBER OF SONGS COMPARED TO 2019 TOP 250)

Has there been much movement? Let’s take a look and see!

Andorra – 0 (–1)

Monaco – 0 (–1)

Czech Republic – 1 (–2)

Montenegro – 1 (–1)

San Marino – 1 (–1)

Slovakia – 1 (–1)

Moldova – 1 (no change)

Serbia & Montenegro – 1 (no change)

Yugoslavia – 1 (no change)

Georgia – 2 (–2)

Romania – 2 (–1)

Slovenia – 2 (–1)

Austria – 2 (no change)

Belarus – 2 (no change)

Malta – 2 (+1)

Australia – 3 (–1)

Bosnia & Herzegovina – 3 (–1)

Denmark – 3 (–1)

Luxembourg – 3 (no change)

North Macedonia – 3 (no change)

Lithuania – 3 (+2)

Belgium – 4 (–1)

Cyprus – 4 (–1)

Bulgaria – 4 (+1)

Croatia – 4 (+1)

Hungary – 4 (+1)

Latvia – 4 (+1)

Poland – 4 (+1)

Armenia – 5 (-1)

Finland – 5 (–1)

Albania – 5 (no change)

Ireland – 5 (no change)

United Kingdom – 5 (no change)

Russia – 6 (–1)

Serbia – 6 (-1)

Estonia – 6 (no change)

Switzerland – 6 (+1)

The Netherlands – 6 (+1)

France – 7 (-4)

Israel – 8 (-1)

Iceland – 8 (no change)

Azerbaijan – 8 (+1)

Turkey – 9 (no change)

Ukraine – 9 (+2)

Portugal – 10 (+1)

Greece – 10 (+2)

Germany – 10 (+3)

Norway – 10 (+3)

Spain – 13 (+4)

Italy – 14 (-2)

Sweden – 14 (+1)

So, from this data we can see the follow:

With 14 songs in the Top 250, (5.6% of all available spots!) Sweden gained a single song on last year. Italy may have lost 2 entries when compared to last year’s numbers, but they still tie with Sweden – thereby making the two countries the fan’s overall favourite when it comes to Eurovision. Spain have seen the largest influx of songs enter the selection, with an additional 4 songs now ranked in the Top 250, while Norway, Germany, Greece, Ukraine and Lithuania also all managed to gain more than one new spot. In total, 17 countries had more songs in the Top 250 when compared with their numbers last year.

13 countries have kept the same number of entries in the Top 250 when compared to last year – namely Albania, Austria, Belarus, Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia.

At the other end of the scale, a staggering 21 countries having at least one less entry on the list. France sees the single largest loss, with 4 fewer songs in the Top 250 compared with last year, while the Czech Republic, Georgia and Italy also all lost more than one song. Commiserations in particular must go to Monaco and Andorra, as both microstates lost the 1 entry they had on the list. This means they now join Morocco as countries without a single entry in the Top 250.

What do you think of this list? Are you happy where your own country ranked? Are you surprised who has climbed this list and who has fallen?

Let us know what you think!

Author: James Scanlan
Source: Eurovision Ireland, ESC Radio
Image Source: galihgumelarsays.wordpress.com