It’s a numbers game: Point-ing out all of the results from Malmö (plus a poll for People’s Choice!)
It’s been two weeks since the first semi of Eurovision 2013, and I am well and truly over the PED. My bout of depression was actually pretty short-lived this year, which makes me feel:
a) Good because I’m not still curled up in a ball on my bedroom floor, sobbing and blowing my nose on a Ukrainian flag (with no malicious intent)
b) Not-so-good because that makes me think I’m a bad fan for getting over it so fast.
But so what if I’m already looking forward to the new season, and the possibility of JESC, and Copenhagen 2014, assuming that’s where we’re going? It’s better than crying into your flag collection for even longer.
Anyway, it’s taken me these past two weeks to put together a little analysis (I use that word to sound important, but really it’s just a ramble with numbers) of the results from both semis and the final. I always find it interesting to dissect this stuff, and I hope you do too, since if you don’t you’re going to be mighty bored for the next fifteen minutes or so. Or you could, you know, just not read it.
But for those who think Eurovision numbers are fun numbers, here’s an overview of the figures from 2013.
Qs and DNQs: Semi final 1
- Denmark 167
- Russia 156
- Ukraine 140
- Moldova 95
- Belgium 75
- Netherlands 75
- Belarus 74
- Ireland 54
- Lithuania 53
- Estonia 52
- Serbia 46
- Montenegro 41
- Croatia 38
- Austria 27
- Cyprus 11
- Slovenia 8
– The Qs in this semi who did not qualify in 2012 were Belgium (last Q in 2010), the Netherlands (last Q in 2004) and Belarus (last Q in 2010).
– The DNQs who qualified in 2012 were Serbia and Cyprus. This is only the second time Serbia has failed to qualify since 2007.
– It was an interesting development for no ex-Yugoslavian countries to qualify this year, but as you can see in Semi 1, three of them weren’t far behind the qualifiers. Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia were hot on the heels of Estonia.
– Poor Slovenia, on the other hand, brought up the rear, having come second last in their 2012 semi. Unless they come last with <8 points in 2014, things can only go up from here.
Qs and DNQs: Semi final 2
- Azerbaijan 139
- Greece 121
- Norway 120
- Malta 118
- Romania 83
- Iceland 72
- Armenia 69
- Hungary 66
- Finland 64
- Georgia 63
- San Marino 47
- Bulgaria 45
- Switzerland 41
- Israel 40
- Albania 31
- Macedonia 28
- Latvia 13
– The Qs in this semi who did not qualify in 2012 were Armenia (who did not compete last year), Finland (last Q in 2011) and Georgia (last Q in 2011).
– The DNQs who qualified in 2012 were Albania and Macedonia. In Baku, Albania reached the top five for the first time, and Macedonia achieved their second-best result ever. It was an off year, let’s just say that.
– San Marino may have failed to qualify yet again, but Valentina Monetta beat her own personal best by achieving their best placing to date.
– Latvia’s was the first song out in this semi, but (to quote Peter Nalitch) it was apparently lost and forgotten by the televoters and juries and ended up last.
The final top ten: facts and figures
- Denmark 281
- Azerbaijan 234
- Ukraine 214
- Norway 191
- Russia 174
- Greece 152
- Italy 126
- Malta 120
- Netherlands 114
- Hungary 84
– In 2011, the winning margin of Azerbaijan over Italy was 32. Azerbaijan received just three sets of douze points, an amount equaled by four other countries and topped by Italy and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In 2012, the winning margin of Sweden over Russia was 113. Sweden received 18 sets of douze, bettering Norway’s 2009 record of 16.
– For 2013, the winning margin of Denmark over Azerbaijan was 47. Denmark received eight sets of douze to Azerbaijan’s ten. This made for a more convincing win than Ell & Nikki’s, but a paltry one in comparison to Loreen’s.
– Speaking again of douze, here’s an idea of the spread: in 2011, 20 different countries scored one or more sets of twelve points. In 2012, 13 different countries had the honour. This year, it was also 13.
– The smallest point margin between any countries here was six, between both Italy and Malta and Malta and the Netherlands.
– Azerbaijan appeared in the top ten for the sixth time in six years of participation, and in the top 5 for the fifth time in a row.
– Other countries who also made the top ten back-to-back were Russia (2012) and Italy (2012, 2011).
– Last appearances in the top ten for the others? 2011 for Denmark, Ukraine and Greece, 2009 for Norway, 2007 for Hungary, 2005 for Malta and 1999 for the Netherlands.
And the rest…
- Moldova 71
- Belgium 71
- Romania 65
- Sweden 62
- Georgia 50
- Belarus 48
- Iceland 47
- Armenia 41
- United Kingdom 23
- Estonia 19
- Germany 18
- Lithuania 17
- France 14
- Finland 13
- Spain 8
- Ireland 5
– Eleven of these sixteen qualified from the semi finals, with only six of those having qualified in 2012: Moldova, Romania, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Ireland. The only ones to equal/improve on their previous placing were Moldova (11th in Baku) and Iceland (20th in Baku).
– Sweden was the closest auto-finalist to the top ten, with Spain being the farthest from that end of the table. Both countries, as well as 21st-placed Germany, made the top ten last year.
– Ireland’s last place was the lowest-scoring last place entry in a final since 2007…when Ireland also came last with 5 points.
Voting in the final: a snapshot of what went where
– More on that 100% ex-Yugoslavian free final: the minute it became obvious that this would be the case, we all wondered where the points from Serbia, Croatia etc would go. Bets were on Greece, but as it turns out, the majority went to Denmark, Ukraine, Russia and Italy. Montenegro was the only one to award big points to Greece, with eight.
– Winner Denmark received points from every country, bar San Marino, despite getting douze from Italy. I’ll put that down to a slight difference in population.
– There were the usual neighbourly exchanges of douze points in this year’s contest – for example, between the Netherlands and Belgium, and Sweden and Norway. However, some countries chose to vote elsewhere. Austria gave top marks to Azerbaijan with only six points going to Germany. The Ireland and the UK both ranked Denmark highest, swapping seven points and one point respectively.
– Ireland scored points from three countries to lose, whilst second-last Spain scored from just two.
Ranking the semi-finalists, point by point
Let’s get back to the pre-final shows for a moment. It’s all very well to say Ireland lost Eurovision 2013, but at least they made it to the final! It’s really down to those left at the bottom of the semis to battle it out for the dishonour of being 39th out of 39. So who actually came last, in terms of points? Well, here are the thirteen non-qualifiers ranked by point value (SF2 participants are highlighted).
San Marino 47
Serbia 46
Bulgaria 45
Switzerland 41
Montenegro 41
Israel 40
Croatia 38
Albania 31
Macedonia 28
Austria 27
Latvia 13
Cyprus 11
Slovenia 8
Looking at it this way, it was Hannah Mancini who impressed the least, which is surprising to me since I was a fan of her performance. No doubt she’s not thrilled about this, but if the penny has dropped with Ryan Dolan, he’ll have something of an Irish smile on his Irish dial.
How Australia “voted”
As you may or may not know, every year Australian broadcaster SBS allows us to vote unofficially (duh) online. It’s not as good as the real thing (I imagine…sob!) but it’s better than nothing. Anyway, I present to you our top ten for 2013, which may or may not have been partially influenced by large ethnic communities. I say if you can vote for your birth country, go for it.
- Denmark
- Greece
- Romania
- Norway
- Ireland
- Azerbaijan
- Malta
- Finland
- Iceland
- Italy
I have to apologise for Romania doing so well. That had nothing to do with me, I swear. Apart from that, what do you think of the choices from Down Under?
With that, I think we should move on to something less confusing.
Something completely different…a POLL!
As I mentioned in my last post, the EBJ Awards for 2013 are coming up, and this year I want you guys to be a part of the selection process. That’s right, all three of you who read this blog. Congrats.
Most of the awards I’m going to give out are quite specific and subjective, but I’ve decided on one that I think is general enough to go to a public vote. It’s the All-Rounder of the Year Award, to go to the country that got everything right – staging, costumes, choreography and vocals. I’ve narrowed the field down to six nominees, and I’d love it if you’d help pick the winner.
Next week, all the awards will be revealed. I bet the artists are freaking out, because, let’s face it, winning Eurovision is okay – but it’s the gongs from a bogus blog ceremony that really matter.
So I’m off to polish up the equally bogus trophies (in my head, they’re shaped like disco balls, and they shoot out glitter and confetti at regular intervals) so this is ciao for now. May your PED disappear ASAP.
Did some of this year’s results take you by surprise? What made you smile and what had you scratching your head in total disbelief?
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
20 Responses to “It’s a numbers game: Point-ing out all of the results from Malmö (plus a poll for People’s Choice!)”
I’m on my phone right now getting my hair cut but I just have to say that there’s an Aussie family about 10 feet away from me! In West TX! Thought of you, not in a creepy way, just in an odd-happenings sort of way. Also, I’m getting Robin Stjernberg’s haircut! Is that enough if a Eurovision connection for this comment? Excited.
Also, Montenegro, Switzerland and San Marino we’re robbed by Belarus, Georgia and Armenia, respectively. Hopefully, Italy can extend its top ten streak next year. Already over PED too! We can be bad fans together! 🙂
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Don’t worry, I am not at all creeped out by you thinking of me. I’m just jealous it wasn’t me in Texas =( Some day, some day…
I am also weirdly jealous that you got ‘The Stjernberg’ done!! How did it turn out? I’d go and get an ‘Aliona’ but I’m pretty sure I’d be laughed at. And I’d be spending my life savings on hairspray to keep it in shape.
I agree about Montenegro and San Marino being robbed, but for moi Switzerland was too boring. In terms of performance, anyway. I still like the song but it didn’t totally hold up by the time Eurovision rolled around.
Bad Fans Club!!! Woooohoooo!
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Aww. If you were ever in Texas, I doubt it would be my part of the state. All we have where I live are shopping malls (soon to be 7 for a city of 800,000!), mountains and dirt/sand/mud when it rains. While the people are kind, we’re not tearing up the tourist circuit just yet…
Check out my new avatar! I’m happy with everything, from the color to the cut. On the “Aliona,” that depends. Is it the NF Aliona or the ESC Aliona, because I’m pretty sure you could pull off the latter with less laughter. And we could break the bank on hair products together, since I’ll need so much holding paste to keep my hair up. 😉
Switzerland just lost a lot of its luster live, for me. They fell out of my top five and are number 10 right now. I’m glad that they at least got fifth in the televote (!) so they have some hope for next year, well, this year, since they’ll obviously pick in December again.
I’m worse since I haven’t been online nearly at all since the contest ended! I’ll have to write a blog post about the crazy two weeks I’ve been enveloped in since then.
P.S. I’m so disappointed to hear about all the vote scandals and such. Even if this is only Eurovision number three for me, I can say that the post-contest backlash has never been this bad… 😦
P.P.S. To not end on a downer, I’m making desktop wallpapers for all my top 10! I had been finished but then I discovered that the sizing was wrong and I had to start all over again. Hopefully, the last two will be done by the end of this weekend, with an accompanying blog post to wrap up ESC 2013. Ciao! 😀
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Seven shopping centres? Are you kidding? I am THERE.
I’m guessing you changed your avatar since the haircut? If not, remind me never to go your hair salon. Oh, and I was thinking of ESC Aliona, with NF Aliona for special occasions.
I like the sound of the wallpapers, particularly as I know we have a few common favourites. I will drop by ye olde blog very soon =)
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Excellent! The newest, biggest and fanciest one will open up in autumn so you might want to book tickets now. 😉
I have changed it, simply because I’m just not that photogenic. That and I’m still practicing how to stand my hair up. Also, the octopus toy is really sweet.
I’ve decided to re-rank the entries using a special system, so my top 10 might change, but I’m NOT making new backgrounds. You will be able to get Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, I made one for Denmark since she won. I can send you one right now, if you’d like.
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‘I’m still practicing how to stand my hair up.’ Now that’s not a sentence you hear every day XD
I’m keen to see these wallpapers…particularly Italy’s because I would love nothing more than to drool over Marco Mengoni instead of doing anything productive. And Sweden’s because Robin is adorbs, etc etc. Have you heard the preview of his new album?? It’s on the ESC Insight Tumblr and elsewhere. I really like a few of the songs that were also on his last EP, and a lot of the others should be growers. The whole thing has a ‘male Kelly Clarkson’ vibe about it.
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I’m getting better, I swear!
Here they are! Check them out. 🙂
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I looooooooooooove them!!! The Denmark one is really cool but I can’t bring myself to use it. So I’ve put the Robin one up and it looks awesome!! Got Marco, Cascada and Ben Ivory (so happy you made one for him) as backups =D
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Aww, thanks! 😀
I’m actually using Robin on my tablet, and it looks amazing as well. In terms of how each one came out, it’s my favorite. And the reason I made one for Ben Ivory is that someone on Eurovision Times asked me, so I did. 😛 I might have a poll so people can vote on one more national finalist to get a background…
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Well, somebody has to support Romania…Right? I’m happy CEZAR did so well in Australia and he did very well with televoters in Europe too. While for some was the WTF factor, many really liked his voice and interpretation. I am surprised by all these negative comments…But we all have different tastes, so we should accept each other.
I don’t live in Europe & Australia, so did not vote for anybody….
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You’re right. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Cezar definitely had the WTF factor, but he’s also talented and I did like his song…I just personally couldn’t take the whole package seriously! But in the end he didn’t do too badly for himself, and he was probably the most talked-about act of 2013.
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Hi Jaz! Good to hear that your post-eurovision depression is over. So is mine..ish. But I’m trying to ignore the split results and all the voting scandal and it’s working well. Instead I decided to re-watch and rank old editions and rant about how some entries in the 70’s were so dreadfully underrated 😛 I don’t get the new system to be honest.
Australia’s results: I like your top 2 a lot more than the real top 2, but ROMANIA 3RD?!?!?! Ireland and Finland are too high, Italy too low and I’m sad Australians didn’t like Hungary , so I prefer the “real” rankings in those cases. Still, I’m so jealous that you guys have all those eurovision events. One day we will be as cool as you (I hope 😛 )
I voted! Not going to tell you for who, but I’m sure it’s pretty obvious 😛 I had a hard time choosing between 3 of the choices though.
Thanks for the nice comments on my new blog design. And I uploaded a pic of my ESC 2013 nails (2 weeks later, but hey better late than never)
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The new system is so confusing. Every time I try and make sense of it my brain starts hurting like it used to in high school maths. Blerrgh. Basically all I know is that Sweden ranked third on average with the juries, and that makes me happy!
I think we get a lot of one-timer viewers voting in Australia, and they like ridiculous things, a la Cezar. I remember a looooot of tweets coming onscreen about the ‘camp Dracula’. I’m just glad we weren’t in charge of the real thing in this instance.
Yeah, think I might know your top 3 in the poll. And which one you voted for in the end. But I won’t say in case I’m wrong and look stupid =P
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The Aussie vote looks pretty balanced, actually, except maybe an aversion to sappy or dark ballads. Makes me wonder what kiwis would go for — it would be fun to make comparisons (and confirm stereotypes). I’d like to think Anouk would would rank well here (and of course, Montenegro would have qualified).
That’s a tough poll. After much internal debate I’m going with Greece — So exhuberant and authentic, yet totally in control and professional. Commanding the stage with nothing but camerawork and kilts.
Norway is a very close second. Perhaps the version 1 cocoon-dress would’ve clinched it.
Ukraine should’ve used livelier lighting, and warmer colours.
Denmark was very gold, but the performance never lit up for me.
Loved Azer’s id-in-a-box, and Farid’s grey outfit was well-chosen.
Moldova had too many elements that didn’t quite gel.
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If NZ would have gotten Montenegro into the final, then I say the actual vote gets handed to you next year! With a little bit for us too, of course.
You have to commend Greece for doing a lot with a little. That’s assuming they threw as little cash as possible at this entry…you’d think so after last year when they got in a bit of trouble for spending too much on Eleftheria (apparently not on material for her “dress” though).
I agree with you about Denmark, but I feel it was a good overall package. They are leading the poll at the moment, darn them. I used up my vote on Azerbaijan. I feel like Farid + the song + the staging + everything else had what ‘Running Scared’ and Ell & Nikki didn’t. The extra consideration and oomph that makes a decent winner.
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Like I said, tough poll — good arguments to be made all around.
“Running Scared” didn’t even cross my mind during Farid’s performance, so, bonus points for that 🙂
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All I could think during his performance was ‘man, THIS is a winning performance from Azerbaijan. Don’t give me that ‘Running Scared’ crap.’ Consider yourself partially redeemed, AZ.
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I wanted to vote for the Netherlands, but I couldn’t find them on your list, so I voted for Norway. It also starts with an N at least.
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Sorry, I had to narrow down the field! But if anyone else misses Anouk I may have to consider he
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That is ‘her’. I am aware she is a woman!
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