The Eurovision Song Contest

1997-2000 2001-2004 2005-2008 2009-2010

2009
Host country: Russia
Won by: Norway - Fairytale by Alexander Rybak
UK entry: My Time by Jade Ewen

"Music is back at the forefront of the Eurovision Song Contest!" declared the BBC’s new commentator Graham Norton at the end of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, as Norway cruised to victory and the United Kingdom finished in the top five for the first time since 2002.

The results of the Eurovision Song Contest over the past few years have come into much criticism for bloc voting, which had reached such a level that a number of participating broadcasters complained to the EBU that there was little point taking part when certain countries had an unfair advantage, making it apparently impossible to ever win again. Terry Wogan, for one, had tired of predictable voting patterns so much that he stood down after commentating for BBC television and radio for over 35 years.

And so to counter the effects of neighbourly and diaspora voting, the EBU took the radical step of reintroducing national juries, with each country’s scores to be split 50/50 between the jury vote and televoting. Each jury had to be made up of five music industry professionals, with no connection to their home entry, with the aim that they would be able to offer a more balanced, objective view, and help to offset the more biased televoting.

In the main, it worked. Although most of the usual voting patterns were still in evidence, the edge had been taken off them, to the effect that four out of the top five scorers were western, or 'traditional' Eurovision countries. This is no doubt in part due to the jury effect, but also due to the fact that several countries had decided to start taking their Eurovision selection process more seriously this year.

The UK, for example, radically overhauled its selection process in an attempt to bring to an end a six year run of poor results. The BBC drafted in Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the UK’s entry, with lyrics by US songwriter Diane Warren, with Jade Ewen picked to represent the UK in the series 'Your Country Needs You'. To add gravitas, Lord Lloyd Webber appeared on stage playing piano, and it seems the gamble paid off, with the UK scoring 173 points in the end - although had the results been up to the juries only, it would have moved up to 223 points and third place, proving the view that this type of song is favoured more by juries than the viewers.

At the other end of the scale, it seems that comedy songs had largely gone out of favour this year. The only two entries that could probably be described as joke entries both failed to make it past the semi-finals - Serbia who entered a man with an afro singing a song about a shoe, while the Czech Republic continued their run of bad luck with Gypsy.cz, featuring a small man with a moustache dressed in a superhero outfit, who became only the second entry ever to score 'nul points' in the semi-final. The Czech Republic have so far had the least successful debut in the history of the contest, notching up just ten points over their first three years of participation.

Unfortunately a number of other countries continue to make it through the semi-finals which, unlike the final, continues with 100% televoting (albeit with the 'wildcard', ie the entry that receives the highest jury vote of those entries not qualified by televoting, also qualifies). In particular, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium are finding themselves repeatedly failing to qualify for the final, while Andorra has, in six years of participating in the semi-finals, still yet to appear in the final even once. Maybe it is time the 50/50 scoring was introduced in the semi-finals too (it would indeed be the following year).

However there is no doubt that the same song would have won the contest regardless of the voting system used. Norway were the pre-contest favourites, represented by 23 year-old Alexander Rybak with his self-penned song 'Fairytale', a catchy, some would say annoying, ditty which easily stood out from the other 41 entries. Its final tally of 387 points is by far the highest score ever seen at Eurovision, but it still isn't the most successful song in the history of the contest - that honour remains with Brotherhood of Man, which scored 80.3% of the available votes in 1976.

2010
Host country: Norway
Won by: Germany - Satellite by Lena
UK entry: That Sounds Good to Me by Josh Dubovie

For the first time since 1997, Eurovision victory in 2010 went to one of the members of the 'Big Four'. Nineteen year-old Lena Meyer- Landrut took Eurovision glory to Germany for the first time since Nicole's 'A Little Peace' in 1982. It could be argued, however, that her song 'Satellite' had something of an unfair advantage, having already been a chart hit across Europe and hence already familiar to much of the voting public.

In spite of this, Lena's entry, although very much a clear-cut win with 246 points, was not as much of a runaway winner as Alexander Rybak the previous year, who scored 387 points, including no fewer than 16 'douze points'. Lena scored top marks only nine times, and not every country voted for Germany at all. Although it was a clear win for Germany, after the first two countries had voted it looked as if Denmark would be cruising to victory, having received both of the first two 'douze points'. They eventually finished fourth.

Second place went to Turkish rock band maNga, 76 points behind Germany. Again, although unheard of in the UK, they were well-known in some parts of the continent and won two awards in the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, and so such a high placing is probably not unsurprising.

Not so popular with the audience in Oslo's Telenor Arena were Russia, who received booing both when they progressed from the semi-final, and again during the voting in the final each time they were awarded high marks. Russia appeared to be doing their level best not to win the contest this year by entering an unusually maudlin song by Eurovision standards - yet still finished in eleventh position with 90 points. Even more bafflingly, France were just one place behind with 82 points, despite entering what amounted to little more than a football chant with the continual repetition of the phrase 'Allez Ola Ole!'.

After a run of disappointing results, Ireland decided it was time to roll out the big guns and bring back Niamh Kavanagh who brought victory to Ireland in 1993. Despite progressing from the semi-final, Niamh's hopes of becoming the next Johnny Logan were dashed when she finished in an undeserving 23rd place - two places higher than the United Kingdom. 2010 saw a return to recent form for the UK - the Pete Waterman-penned entry 'That Sounds Good to Me' clearly didn't sound good to most of the national juries and voting public, and ended in bottom place with just ten points.

1997-2000 2001-2004 2005-2008 2009-2010

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