Turkey: Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu supports country’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest!

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In Turkey. some days ago, the six parties which constitute the main country’s political opposition announced that their leader is going to be Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who is already the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). That specific party was founded by Kemal Ataturk himself approximately 100 years ago.

According to the recent exit polls which took place in Turkey, Kılıçdaroğlu seems to be the odds-on favourite to win the elections, since his political beliefs are more acceptable by the majority of the Turkish people and more friendly towards the West World, in contrast to Erdoğan’s. Driven by those data, there are a lots of people who actually believe that Kılıçdaroğlu’s policy could mark the possible return of Turkey in the contest.

Turkey’s Republican People’s Party can be characterized by its oppostition towards the old, traditional islamic beliefs that are supported by Erdoğan’s current policy and system of governance. Kılıçdaroğlu himself has mentioned multiple times during these last months that if he actually wins in Turkey’s elections on May 14th, he will be a trustworthy member between Turkey and West’s discussions for a much better cooperative future and that his primary goal will be the restoration between Turkey and West World’s policies.

It is a shame for Turkey to withdraw from Eurovision

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu commented also on Turkey’s decision to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest, under Erdoğan’s rule in 2013, describing it as a shameful decision.

It is a shame for Turkey to withdraw from Eurovision. Our artists will go there, sing their songs and folk songs. Countries will vote, someone will win. This is a competition. Artists become even more popular by taking part in international competitions and by winning awards. That’s the proper form of a foreign policy.

To make a long story short, Turkey’s elections in spring seem to be of high importance regarding not only the serious political decisions for the people but also the country’s possible return in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Let’s keep in mind that Turkey last took part in 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, represented by Can Bonomo singing “Love Me Back” which came seventh at the end of the Grand Final. Take a look:

Would you like to see Turkey returning? Let us know in the comments below!

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for even more!

Eurovision 2022: These are the 50 most-watched performances on YouTube!

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For yet another year, just some hours before the New Year, Eurovision TV reveales the 50 songs that got the most views throught the year, on the contest’s official YouTube channel.

On the list, there are 13 winning songs, while 23 more from the 40 songs that took part in Eurovision 2022.

Let’s see the songs that the TOP 50: Most watched in 2022 is consisted of:

50) 🇱🇻 Citi Zēni – “Eat Your Salad” – Latvia 2022 

49) 🇦🇿 Efendi – “Mata Hari” – Azerbaijan 2021

48) 🇫🇮 Blind Channel – “Dark Side” – Finland 2021

47) 🇦🇿 Nadir Rustamli – “Fade To Black” – Azerbaijan 2022

46) 🇬🇷 Helena Paparizou – “My Number One” – Greece 2005

45) 🇹🇷 Mor ve Ötesi – “Deli” – Turkey 2008

44) 🇫🇮 The Rasmus – “Jezebel” – Finland 2022

43) 🇷🇸 Marija Šerifović – “Molitva”– Serbia 2007

42) 🇩🇪 Lena – “Satellite” – Germany 2010

41) 🇸🇪 Måns Zelmerlöw – “Heroes”– Sweden 2015

40. 🇲🇩 Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira – “Run Away” – Moldova 2010

39) 🇮🇹 Mahmood – “Soldi” – Italy 2019

38) 🇬🇷 Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – “Die Together” – Greece 2022

37) 🇧🇪 Jérémie Makiese – “Miss You” – Belgium 2022 

36) 🇺🇦 Ruslana – “Wild Dances” – Ukraine  2004

35) 🇷🇺 Sergey Lazarev – “You Are The Only One” – Russia 2016

34) 🇦🇿 Aysel and Arash – “Always” – Azerbaijan 2009

33) 🇺🇦 Jamala – “1944” – Ukraine 2016

32) 🇷🇺 Manizha – “Russian Woman” – Russia 2021

31) 🇵🇹 MARO – “saudade, saudade” – Portugal 2022

30) 🇩🇪 Malik Harris – “Rockstars” – Germany 2022

29) 🇫🇷 Barbara Pravi – “Voilà” – France 2021

28) 🇵🇱 Ochman – “River” – Poland 2022

27) 🇫🇮 Lordi – “Hard Rock Hallelujah” – Finland 2006

26) 🇸🇪 Loreen – “Euphoria” – Sweden 2012

25) 🇨🇾 Eleni Foureira – “Fuego” – Cyprus 2018

24) 🇨🇾 Andromache – “Ela” – Cyprus 2022

23) 🇫🇷 Alvan & Ahez – “Fulenn” – France 2022

22) 🇹🇷 maNga – “We Could Be The Same” – Turkey 2010

21) 🇳🇱 Duncan Laurence – “Arcade” – Netherlands 2019

20) 🇸🇪 Cornelia Jakobs – “Hold Me Closer” – Sweden 2022

19) 🇺🇦 Verka Serduchka – “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” – Ukraine 2007

18) 🇹🇷 Hadise – “Düm Tek Tek” – Turkey 2009

17) 🇦🇹 LUM!X feat. Pia Maria – “Halo” – Austria 2022

16) 🇲🇩 Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – “Trenulețul” – Moldova 2022

15) 🇳🇱 S10 – “De Diepte” – Netherlands 2022

14) 🇮🇹 Mahmood & BLANCO – “Brividi” – Italy 2022

13) 🇦🇱 Ronela Hajati –“Sekret” – Albania 2022

12) 🇮🇱 Netta – “TOY” – Israel 2018

11) 🇦🇲 Rosa Linn – “Snap” – Armenia 2022

10)🇷🇸 Konstrakta – ”In Corpore Sano” – Σερβία 2022

9)🇷🇴 WRS – ”Llámame” – Ρουμανία 2022

8)🇺🇦 Go_A – ”Shum” – Ουκρανία 2021

7)🇳🇴 Alexander Rybak – ”Fairytale” – Νορβηγία 2009

6) 🇮🇹 Måneskin – ”Zitti E Buoni’‘ – Ιταλία 2021

5) 🇳🇴 Subwoolfer – ”Give That Wolf A Banana” – Νορβηγία 2022

4)🇬🇧 Sam Ryder – ”SPACE MAN” – Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο 2022

3)🇷🇺 Little Big – ”Uno” – Ρωσία 2020

2)🇪🇸 Chanel – ”SloMo” – Ισπανία 2022

1)🇺🇦 Kalush Orchestra – ”Stefania” – Ουκρανία 2022

 

What do you think of the TOP 50, do you agree with the results? Write us in the comments below!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

2010-2022: How different would the results of the Semi-Finals be with only the Public Voting?

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Α revelation that shook the waters of the competition took place earlier today. The EBU has announced changes to the voting system of the Eurovision Song Contest.

One of the most important changes are that now only the public will choose the finalists in the two semi-finals, while now global viewers from countries all around the world that do not participate in the competition will also be able to vote!

You can see all the changes HERE.

The most important question is, What would have changed in the contest’s Semi-Finals if only the public chose the 10 finalists?

We will answer this question through this article, by seeing which countries would have qualified for the final from 2010 to 2022, if only the public vote was used, and which countries would have ultimately failed to qualify due to the lack of the juries.

Changes in the Results (2010-2022)

2010

In 2010, the system of 50% juries and 50% public vote, was applied for the first time in the Semi-Finals. There we find the first differences.

In the first Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Finland who finished sixth in the public vote, against Bosnia and Herzegovina who finished eleventh and were favored by the jury’s fifth place.

In the second Semi-Final, we would have the qualification of Lithuania and Sweden, against Israel and Ireland. In addition, the winner of the Semi-Final would be Azerbaijan and not Turkey.

Which means Sweden wouldn’t have failed to qualify once in their history at the competition.

2011

In the first Semi-Final, we would have the qualification of Armenia, Norway and Turkey, against Switzerland, Lithuania and Serbia. In fact, Lithuania was first by the juries and eleventh in the audience.

That means Turkey would have no non-qualifications in their history in the competition.

In the second Semi-Final, we would only have the qualification of Belarus, against the fan favorite that year, Estonia.

2012

Another year with huge changes in the results of the semi finals. In the first Semi-Final we would have Switzerland qualifying instead of Hungary.

In the second Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Bulgaria and the Netherlands, instead of Malta and Ukraine. Also, Norway was last in the jury vote and was saved by the public.

With these results, Ukraine would have lost the record as the only that has never failed to qualify for a final!

2013

Moving forward in 2013.

In the first Semi-Final, Croatia and Montenegro would have qualified against Estonia and Moldova. In fact, Moldova was third in the juries, while Montenegro was fourth in the audience.

In the second Semi-Final, Bulgaria and Switzerland would have qualified instead of Armenia and Georgia. While Romania would have been the winner of the semi final, instead of Azerbaijan.

2014

This year we can see two big changes. In the first Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Portugal instead of Azerbaijan, while in the second semi the qualification of Ireland, instead of Malta. In fact, Malta was third in the jury vote and twelfth in the public vote.

2015

In the first Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Finland, instead of Hungary, while in the second the Czech Republic instead of Azerbaijan.

2016

Moving on to the next year, in the first Semi-Final we would have seen the qualification of Bosnia-Herzegovina, instead of the Czech Republic and in the second Semi-Final we would have the qualification of North Macedonia and Belarus, instead of Georgia and Israel.

Τhe winner of the second semi final would have been Ukraine with Jamala, instead of Australia.

2017

In the first Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Finland instead of Australia, while in the second the qualification of Switzerland and Estonia, instead of Austria and Denmark. In fact, Australia was fifteenth in the audience and second in the juries.

2018

Let’s go to 2018 and see that in the first Semi-Final, we would have the qualification of Greece and Yianna Terzi, instead of Eugent Bushpepa, from Albania. Also, the winner would be Eleni Foureira and not Netta.

In the second Semi-Final, we would have Poland qualifying instead of the Netherlands, while the winner of the Semi-Final would be Denmark and not Norway. In fact, Denmark was twelfth in the juries.

2019

We can see some changes in 2019 too.

Poland would once again go through to the final instead of Belarus, while the winner of the first Semi-Final would be Iceland rather than Australia.

In the second Semi-Final, Lithuania would have qualified  instead of Denmark, while the winner of the Semi-Final would have been Norway and not the Netherlands.

2021

Eurovision Song Contest came back after one year and in the first Semi-Final, we would have the qualification of Croatia with Albina, against Hooverphonic from Belgium. Finally, the winner of the Semi-Final would be Ukraine and not Malta.

In the second Semi-Final we would have the qualification of Denmark and Fyr og Flamme, against Anxhela Peristeri from Albania, while the winner of the Semi-Final was Finland, instead of Switzerland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKdxjoNluzY&feature=emb_title

2022

Last but not least we have this year’s edition of the contest. In the first Semi-Final, we would have seen the qualification of Ronela Hajati from Albania and not Marius Bear from Switzerland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWXmo0-ZjI

Finally, in the second Semi-Final, we would have the qualification of Andromache (last in the jury vote), against Nadir Rustamli, who had zero points in the televoting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2IUdTl-gAI&feature=emb_title

Conclusions

Which ones are favored by the new changes?

Based on the above, we notice that the removal of the juries from the Semi-Finals, can change a lot in the Semi-Final score, with obvious results in the Final as well.

The countries that we would say are favored by this change are Lithuania and Poland, countries with a large diaspora across Europe. Also, this change could make it easier for Turkey to return to the Competition.

The Balkan countries Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, as well as Armenia, which has a strong diaspora, also benefit from the changes.

What are the implications?

Jury favourites, Azerbaijan, Australia and Malta seem to have some difficulty in the competition as their qualification in recent years has been largely down to the juries.

Ranking changes

Changes are also observed in the ranking. In particular, audiences seem to prefer funny  presentations and ethnic and dance songs instead of ballads or vocally challenged entries in general that usually are more appreciated by the juries.

General Conclusion

With all the above, we can say that in 2023 the TV viewers seems to have the main responsibility with the results of the contest. Although, on the Grand Final we see the casual jurors deciding half of the results, things will changes dramatically since from this year the goal for a lot of countries will be to first reach the final by having a song that the public will support. This also means that EBU seems to want to attract more and more of the public attention, but what would happen if a lot of good entries stay out of the final and more and more “funny” songs qualify but the juries still ignore on their final voting?

What a country will have to do to win both is find the entry that can surprise both the viewers and the jurors on the final night.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all developments regarding the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

The most successful Eurovision countries in the 20s!

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Eurovision is heading to the third decade of the 21st century and it has clearly changed not only in comparison with the past, but also with the recent years. In this article we investigate how countries scored during the first 2 years of the 20s, as well as their average score.

As you can see below, we cannot identify a group of 5-6 performing performing always well, as it used to happen the last years. Only a few countries are consistently doing well, despite the fact that the scores studied are only of the last 2 years. Tougher competition, the success of the contest on social media (TikTok had a business partnership with the contest this year featuring exclusive clips of the first rehearsals on the platform), as well as the high interest by record labels are only some of the reasons why it is harder to perform consistently well, since entries are of higher lever than the past.

Lets see in detail the average score of the countries during this decade:

Country        2022   2021    Average

  1. Ukraine           1          5             3
  2. Italy                 6          1            3,5
  3. Greece             8         10            9
  4. Sweden           4         14             9
  5. Russia             –           9             9
  6. Switzerland    17        3             10
  7. Moldova          7        13            10
  8. Serbia              5         15            10
  9. Portugal          9         12           10.5
  10. Lithuania       14         8             11
  11. France            24         2             13
  12. Spain               3         24           13.5
  13. Iceland          23          4            13.5
  14. Finland          21          6            13.5
  15. United Kingdom 2     26           14
  16. Norway           10         18            14
  17. The Netherlands 11     23          17
  18. Azerbaijan     16          20            18
  19. Belgium          19         19             19
  20. Armenia         20          –              20
  21. Malta               35          7             21
  22. Estonia           13         31             22
  23. Poland            12         33            22.5
  24. Cyprus            29         16            22.5
  25. Romania        18          28            23
  26. Israel              30          17           23.5
  27. Albania          28          21           24.5
  28. Australia        15          34           24.5
  29. Bulgaria         38          11           24.5
  30. Germany        25          25            25
  31. Croatia           26          27           26.5
  32. St. Marino     33          22           27.5
  33. Czech Republic 22     36             29
  34. Denmark        31         29             30
  35. North Macedonia 27 35             31
  36. Austria           36         30             33
  37. Ireland           34         37            35.5
  38. Latvia             32         39            35.5
  39. Slovenia         40        32              36
  40. Montenegro   37         –                37
  41. Georgia           39       38             38.5

As you can see in the table above, there are very few countries where the average of their positions in these two years is below 10. This proves how difficult it has become to be in the top ten. It is even more difficult to have continuous results within top 10, since only three countries have achieved this, Ukraine, Italy and Greece!

It is evident that Italy and Ukraine are the two powerhouses of the competition for this decade (so far). Sweden remains high on the list, but far from the first place it was in the last decade. Greece is recovering dynamically since it is in third place, when in the previous decade it was out of the 20s. Cyprus gets lower scores year by year, unfortunately making us believe that 2018 was just a coincidence and is currently in 24th place!

Regardless of personal taste and opinions, the numbers speak themselves and is clear that Ukraine, Italy and Greece are doing great during this decade. The new strategy of the management of ERT to chose the artist and the song internally, is proven to be successful, after years of bad results and 2 NQ (2016,2018).

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun because the journey to Eurovision 2023 has already begun!

OGAE Poll 2022: The results from OGAE Turkey!

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The results for the OGAE Poll 2022 continue today,with OGAE Turkey being the tenth club to reveal the results of their members.

The results are as follows:

  • 1 point goes to Cyprus
  • 2 points go to Albania
  • 3 points go to Poland
  • 4 points go to France
  • 5 points go to Norway
  • 6 points go to the United Kingdom
  • 7 points go to the Netherlands
  • 8 points go to Italy
  • 10 points go to Sweden and..
  • 12 points go to Spain 

Another 12 points from OGAE Turkey to Spain and Slo Mo.

The total scoreboard after the results of ten fan clubs is as follows:

Remember to vote in our poll for the Grand Final!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the results of OGAE Poll 2022! 

 

INFE POLL 2022: The results from Turkey!

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For the sixth consecutive year the second Network of Eurovision Song Contest fans ,the INFE Network, in cooperation with ESCToday, carries out the INFE Poll.

The members of the Network in the 22 local fan clubs, have already voted their favorite songs of Eurovision 2022 and with the help of ESCToday, announce their results.

Today, we have the results from INFE Turkey:

  • 1 point goes to San Marino
  • 2 points go to Australia
  • 3 points go to Ukraine
  • 4 points go to Poland
  • 5 points go to The Netherlands
  • 6 points go to Sweden
  • 7 points go to Azerbaijan
  • 8 points go to Albania
  • 10 points go to Cyprus and
  • 12 points go to… Spain

Chanel with Slomo, received 12 points from Turkey.

The overall results are as follows:

  1. Sweden 46
  2. Spain 44
  3. Italy 43
  4. United Kingdom 38
  5. The Netherlands 29
  6. Poland 23
  7. Albania 17
  8. Austria 15
  9. Greece 15
  10. Cyprus 14
  11. Serbia 10
  12. Ukraine 8
  13. Azerbaijan 7
  14. Finland 7
  15. France 6
  16. Belgium 5
  17. Estonia 5
  18. Czech Republic 4
  19. Portugal 3
  20. Australia 2
  21. Malta 2
  22. Germany 2
  23. San Marino 1
  24. Norway 1
  25. Croatia 1

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the results of the INFE Poll 2022!

Jon Ola Sand: “We don’t need to broaden our scope of participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

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On the last episode of Euro Trip, Jon Ola Sand, the ex-Executive Supervisor of Eurovision, talked about the possibility to see a debut of Kossovo or Kazakhstan but also for a returning country to come back any time soon.

At first, in his interview with the host of the show, he mentioned Kazakhstan and if the have chances to debut in Eurovision:

“There is a really keen interest from the broadcaster in Kazakhstan to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. There has never been any serious discussion to bring them in.They are not a member of the EBU, and we really don’t need to broaden our scope of participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

After that he talked about Kossovo and their chances of a debut, when he mentioned:

“There has been no attempt from the EBU to bring Kosovo into the Eurovision Song Contest. There have been discussions as a broadcaster, but they  lack the status to allow them to compete.“

Australia have been an exception because the country’s public broadcaster SBS has competed in every edition of the competition since owing to its associate EBU membership.

Last but not least, he talked about the possibility to see Luxembourg, Andorra, Slovakia, Monaco or Turkey returning in Eurovision Song Contest:

“We had talks with all the broadcasters you mentioned . It hasn’t been a priority for us to bring them in. There isn’t a need to grow the number of participants. But Turkey would have a higher priority than say, Monaco for instance”

Jon Ola Sand served as Executive Supervisor between 2011 and 2020. Prior to this role he was Executive Producer for Eurovision when the contest was held in Oslo, Norway in 2010.

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the latest news of Eurovision!

Eurovision 2022: More than 40 countries will compete in Turin!

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Through the official account of the Eurovision Contest on Twitter, a few minutes ago we had an important piece of information. The countries that will take part in Eurovision 2022, will be more than 40!

A few days ago again through Twitter, the Eurovision account asked fans how many countries they think will take part in Turin.

About 62% answered more than 40 countries and today we learned that this answer was the right one!

The above practically means that apart from Montenegro, which has already announced its return to Eurovision 2022, but also Armenia, which, although it has not yet opened its papers, its participation in Junior Eurovision in December makes us almost sure that the Caucasian country will return. We may have other countries that will either return or make their debut in the contest that will take place next May in Turin.

Andorra, Monaco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia and Hungary do not seem willing to return. On the other hand, Turkey has so far kept a low profile. However, the EBU’s announcement this summer, for discussions with the country’s public broadcaster regarding the possibility of its return, leaves some hope.

Soon, however, we will find out the full list of countries that will compete in the 66th Eurovision Song Contest and all our questions will be answered!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments related to our favorite contest!

Turkish chances to return to Eurovision got slimmer as TRT Chairman steps down

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Hopes to see Turkey  returning to Eurovision seem to have reduced as Ibrahim Eren, the former chairman and general manager of Turkish public broadcaster stepped down as director.  Eren recently made public that TRT was in contact with the EBU to discuss the potential return of the country to the pan-European competition.  However, president Erdogan decided to replace him.

A few weeks ago Erenrevealed that the public broadcaster was seriously discussing a potential comeback.

Our Board of Directors still continues with the same decision, but meanwhile, we are also in talks with ‘Eurovision’. A very good person came to ‘Eurovision’ from Northern Europe. I think this year was very successful. After a long time, they had a nice competition. Our friends started meeting with the newcomer. I don’t know what will happen?

Furthermore, the EBU itself  confirmed that they were in direct with TRT, in order for Turkey to return to the Eurovision Song Contest.  The EBU made the following statement on eurovision.tv:

Turkey hasn’t participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2012, pressing pause on a rich history within the competition that includes 34 entries and a 2003 victory thanks to Sertab Erener’s Every Way That I Can.

Despite the break in participation, the Contest remains popular in the ‘land of four seasons’ and speculation about a potential return has been fueled by İbrahim Eren, Chairman and Director General at national broadcaster TRT, after commenting on the prospect of Turkey returning to the Eurovision Song Contest.

 

However, Ibrahim Eren’s departure from his position, reduces the possibilities of seeing Turkey in Eurovision for 2022.  Ibrahim Erem publicly thanked Erdogan via Twitter for the opportunity he gave him in his previous role.

Ahmet Albayrak will take office as the  new President of TRT .  At the same time, Mehmet Zahid Sobacı will take the role of new General Manager . Both Albayrak and Sobacı are political allies of Erdogan and members of the Islamist AKP party.  Therefore, their profiles do not seem to reconcile with the spirit of the Eurovision Song Contest.’

Nevertheless, fans can keep their hope of a future Turkish return to the competition.  This however, will depend of a political decision by Erdogan who may be interested to demonstrate that Turkey remains a European country and to improve his international reputation.

Do you think that Turkey will finally return to the Eurovision Song Contest?