Eurovision by Numbers

Eurovision by Numbers

By Charlie Rowing May 10, 2013

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This Saturday (May 18) sees the 57th edition of Eurovision with 39 countries across Europe in competition. But who will be crowned the 2013 Eurovision Champion? Here are some interesting Eurovision trends that might help you calculate the winners:

7 – Most wins of Eurovision

Ireland’s contribution to music – other than 1990s boybands and Bono – is Eurovision dominace. The country won Eurovision in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994 and most recently in 1996, making it the most successful nation in Eurovision’s illustruous history.

3 – Most Eurovision wins in a row

Ireland have also won the most competitions (3) in a row; in 1992 with the “Why Me” by Linda Martin, in 1993 with “In Your Eyes” by Niamh Kavanagh and in 1994 with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan.

Interestingly, all three of these performers have appeared at the Eurovision competition more than once. Kavanagh’s return was the worst, however, when in Eurovision in 2010 she finished in 23rd place.

2 – Most number of wins by a performer

Another record held by Ireland. Singer Johnny Logan is also known by his nickname – Mister Eurovision. He is the only person to have won two Eurovision competitions as a performer, first winning in 1980 with the song “What’s Another Year” and winning again in 1987 with “Hold Me Now”. He also penned the 1992 winning song embedded above for Linda Martin.

6 – Host country victories

Taking place in Malmo, Sweden this year, Eurovision has been won six times by its host country:

The inaugural competition was won both by and in Switzerland in 1956

In 1969 four countries were tied for 1st place including hosts Spain, alongside the UK, Netherlands and France

In 1973, Luxembourg were victorious hosts with the song “Tut te reconnaitras”

Israel won in Jerusalem in 1979

Ireland won twice hosting in 1993 and 1994

27 – All in the language

English is the song language with the most wins (27), with countries performing winning songs in English for the last five contests. French is the second-most spoke winning language with 14 wins.

The three favourites – Denmark (1.75*), Ukraine (7.140*) and Norway (7.910*) will all be performing their entries in English.

15 – Close but no cigar

The United Kingdom holds the record for second place finishes, having come runner-up 15 times. The most recent near-miss was in 1998, when Imaani said “Where are you?” to the six points she needed to win the competition.

169 – Points record

In 2009 Alexander Rybak’s fairytale came true as he led Norway to a historic Eurovision victory, demolishing the competition by a record margin of 169 points.

Norway are the 3rd favourites to win Eurovision at 7.910*.

18 – Most 12’s

At last year’s Eurovision, Loreen of Sweden was awarded the maximum possible number of points – 12 – from 18 countries out of 41. This is the most number of countries that anyone has received maximum points from.

16 – Nul Points

Since the introduction of the current scoring system in 1975, there have been 16 entries that have received no points. The most recent entry being “Aven Romale” by Gypsy.cz in 2009. Norway are the country to have been awarded no points the most amount of times – in 1978, 1981 and 1997.

11 – Block Voting

Perhaps one of the key aspects of Eurovision betting is the regional block voting that takes place. Statistical analysis of Eurovision voting shows that countries will often vote for each other purely because of political, cultural or geographical alliance.

There are at least 11 blocks of countries that regularly award each other high points:

• UK and Ireland

• Netherlands and Belgium

• Spain, Portugal and Andorra

• Turkey and Azerbaijan

• Cyprus and Greece

• Georgia and Lithuania

• Romania and Moldova

• Nordic states

• Baltic states

• Balkan countries

• Former Warsaw Pact countries

Click here to see the latest Eurovision outright odds.

If you have feedback, comments or questions regarding this article, please contact the author.

*Odds subject to change