To celebrate this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest, we reveal the UK’s highest charting Eurovision stars.

 

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This weekend the final of the 58th annual Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Malmo, Sweden. Chart legend Bonnie Tyler is representing the UK with her track Believe In Me.

 

Yet, while our fellow countries in the European Broadcasting Union are waiting with baited breath to see if their act will emerge on top, we here in the UK are looking on with a similar degree of anticipation, but for a very different reason…

 

For the British public, Eurovision is car crash television. It’s a guilty pleasure. It’s a glorious - and often hilarious - display of camp theatrics to a backing track of cheesy pop. We unashamedly tune in as much for the spectacle as we do the music. (Where else are you going to see a group of grannies baking cakes in what looks like the middle of an illegal rave? A drag queen dressed up in tinfoil pretending she really is a robot? Or spacemen rapping over some dubstep?)

 

But the other EBU countries don’t seem to share our sense of amusement for some reason. In fact they take Eurovision very, very seriously:

 

After failing to qualify for the last eight years in a row, The Netherlands have brought in Anouk - their equivalent of Adele - to be their 2013 entry, while Germany have roped in Cascada, who have previously topped the charts all over Europe. (Don’t worry folks, singer Natalie Horler’s father is British, so, as a nation, we’ve doubled our chances at winning.) And there’s no denying that 2012 winner Loreen’s Euphoria was a word class dance anthem - it topped the national charts in 18 counties around globe, and reached Number 3 in the UK.

 

Maybe, just maybe, we mock the Eurovision Song Contest simply because the UK hasn’t won it in nearly 16 years? But it wasn’t always that way…

 

Making Your Mind Up The Chart

 

While the first Eurovision song contest was held in 1956 (in Lugano, Switzerland), the UK didn’t enter until the following year. Patricia Bredin represented the United Kingdom in 1957 in Frankfurt, West Germany, with her song All. Sadly, it wasn’t released as a single, and no studio recording of the track was made. It came seventh out of ten.

 

The UK withdrew in 1958, but returned for 1959’s show in Cannes, France, with Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson’s Sing, Little Birdie. While it finished second in the competition, it became the UK’s first Eurovision entry to chart. Sing, Little Birdie peaked at Number 12.

 

However, we didn’t have our first Eurovision winner until 1967. Sandie Shaw stormed the show in Vienna, Austria, with her rendition of Puppet On A String. It got 47 points – more than double that of its closest competitor, Irish entrant Sean Duffy’s If I Could Choose. Puppet On A String is also the first UK Eurovision entry to top the Official Singles Chart. It spent three weeks at Number 1.

 

The UK have won Eurovision five times in total (Sandie Shaw with Puppet On A String in 1967, Lulu with Boom Bang-A-Bang in 1969, Brotherhood Of Man with Save Your Kisses For Me in 1976, Bucks Fizz with Making Your Mind Up in 1981, and Katrina & The Waves with Love Shine A Light in 1997).

 

However, only three tracks have won both Eurovision for the UK AND been Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart (Puppet On A String, Save All Your Kisses For Me and Making Your Mind Up). Despite finishing second and eighth, respectively, Congratulations by Sir Cliff Richard (1968) and Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit by Gina G (1996) bring the total of UK Eurovision entries who’ve reached Number 1 to five.

 

That Doesn’t Sound Good To Me

The UK’s lowest charting Eurovision entry is Josh Dubovie’s Pete Waterman, Mike Stock and Steve Crosby-penned 2010 track, That Sounds Good To Me. Despite having two thirds of the legendary Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting partnership behind him, as well as the man put together Steps, Josh’s track peaked at Number 179. Ouch!

 

It also placed last in that year’s Eurovision after only getting 10 points. Still, that’s one better than Cry Baby by Jemini, which finished last in 2003 with nul points.

 

Ooh Aah... Just A Little Hit

Brotherhood Of Man’s Save All Your Kisses For Me is the UK’s biggest selling Eurovision entry of all time. It’s the only Eurovision song to sell over a million copies, and just one of 131 tracks to do so in the 60 year history of the Official Singles Chart.

 

Meanwhile Blue’s 2011 entry I Can is the biggest selling UK Eurovision track of the digital age (post 2004) with over 62,000 downloads. It peaked at Number 16 on the Official Singles Chart.

 

The biggest selling UK Eurovision track since last years’ event (excluding Bonnie Tyler’s Believe In Me and 2012 entry Love Will Set You Free by Engelbert Humperdinck) is Sir Cliff Richard’s Congratulations.

 

Oh, and 2,700 of you have bought Gina G’s Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit since last year’s Eurovision Song Contest. We thought we’d throw that in just because!

 

Crunching The Numbers (For You)

The average chart position of a UK Eurovision track is Number 25, while the average Eurovision placing of a UK entrant is eighth. That said, the UK has finished second more times than any other country. (Thanks Josh Dubovie and Jemini for bringing that average down!)

 

The complete list of the UK’s Eurovision tracks (with Official Singles Chart positions) is as follows:

 

YEAR TRACK TITLE ARTIST PEAK CHART POSITION EUROVISION PLACING

2012 Love Will Set You Free Engelbert Humperdinck 60 25

2011 I Can Blue 16 11

2010 That Sounds Good To Me Josh Dubovie 179 25

2009 It's My Time Jade Ewen 27 5

2008 Even If Andy Abraham 67 23

2007 Flying The Flag (For You) Scooch 5 22

2006 Teenage Life Daz Sampson 8 19

2005 Touch My Fire Javine 18 22

2004 Hold Onto Our Love James Fox 13 16

2003 Cry Baby Jemini 15 26

2002 Come Back Jessica Garlick 13 3

2001 No Dream Impossible Lindsay 32 15

2000 Don't Play That Song Again Nicki French 34 16

1999 Say It Again Precious 6 12

1998 Where Are You Imaani 15 2

1997 Love Shine A Light Katrina & The Waves 3 1

1996 Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit Gina G 1 8

1995 Love City Groove Love City Groove 7 10

1994 Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free) Frances Ruffelle 25 10

1993 Better The Devil You Know Sonia 15 2

1992 One Step Out Of Time Michael Ball 20 2

1991 A Message To Your Heart Samantha Janus 30 10

1990 Give A Little Love Back To The World Emma 33 6

1989 Why Do I Always Get It Wrong Live Report 73 2

1988 Go Scott Fitzgerald 52 2

1987 Only The Light Rikki Peebles 96 13

1986 Runner In The Night Ryder 98 7

1985 Love Is... Vikki Watson 49 4

1984 Love Games Belle & The Devotions 11 7

1983 I'm Never Giving Up Sweet Dreams 21 6

1982 One Step Further Bardo 2 7

1981 Making Your Mind Up Bucks Fizz 1 1

1980 Love Enough For Two Prima Donna 48 3

1979 Mary Ann Black Lace 42 7

1978 Bad Old Days Co-co 13 11

1977 Rock Bottom Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran 19 2

1976 Save Your Kisses For Me Brotherhood of Man 1 1

1975 Let Me Be The One The Shadows 12 2

1974 Long Live Love Olivia Newton-John 11 4

1973 Power To All Our Friends Cliff Richard 4 3

1972 Beg, Steal Or Borrow The New Seekers 2 2

1971 Jack In The Box Clodagh Rodgers 3 4

1970 Knock, Knock, Who's There? Mary Hopkin 2 2

1969 Boom Bang-A-Bang Lulu 2 1

1968 Congratulations Cliff Richard 1 2

1967 Puppet On A String Sandie Shaw 1 1

1966 A Man Without Love Kenneth McKellar 30 9

1965 I Belong Kathy Kirby 36 2

1964 I Love The Little Things Matt Monro n/a 2

1963 Say Wonderful Things Ronnie Carroll 6 4

1962 Ring-A-Ding Girl Ronnie Carroll 46 4

1961 Are You Sure The Allisons 2 2

1960 Looking High, High, High Bryan Johnson 20 2

1959 Sing Little Birdie Teddy Johnson & Pearl Carr 12 2

1957 All Patricia Bredin n/a 7

 

 

© 2013 The Official Charts Company.

Brotherhood Of Man Save Your Kisses For Me is still the biggest selling UK entrant in Eurovision, I think its high time we had something to change that and I can't see Bonnie Tyler doing it ^_^ . Enter Adele in for Eurovision next year! :P

Edited May 17, 201312 yr by fiesta

UK used to have a great record, you can tell when it all started to go pear shaped for us, basically from 1999, mind you 12th placed is not bad, with a few minor exceptions from Jessica Garlick (2002) and Jade Ewan (2009).

Gina G is surely among the over all biggest selling.

As mostly terrible as our songs have been since 1999, that was also the year they abolished the rule that all countries had to sing in their native language, meaning countries like the UK and Ireland no longer had the advantage. I doubt we'll ever beat Save Your Kisses For Me given it was a million-seller :P

 

Would be interesting to see the sales of some of the highest charting foreign entries? Fairytale and (especially) Euphoria must be high up, but then Nicole (Germany) and ABBA (Sweden!) got to #1 here in their respective years, as did Ireland's Johnny Logan and Dana!

Eurovision songs (All Top 40 chartruns in UK Singles Chart, not only from United Kingdom)

 

1. Domenico Modugno - Volare (Italy) (12 wks)

(06.09.1958) : 15-10-11-14-22-12-13-17-17-21-22-30

2. Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson - Sing, Little Birdie (United Kingdom) (8 wks)

(21.03.1959) : 22-20-12-15-16-19-26-23

3. Bryan Johnson - Looking High, High, High (United Kingdom) (11 wks)

(12.03.1960): 34-25-26-22-21-20-23-24-28-31-37

4. Jacqueline Boyer - Tom Pillibi (France) (2 wks)

(30.04.1960) : 33-33

5. Allisons - Are You Sure (United Kingdom) (16 wks)

(25.02.1961) : 31-04-02-02-03-02-02-02-02-03-06-18-21-21-37-40

6. Ronnie Carroll - Say Wonderful Things (United Kingdom) (13 wks)

(09.03.1963) : 37-21-16-11-06-07-08-14-16-20-25-28-34

7. Gigliola Cinquetti - Non Ho L'Eta (Italy) (13 wks)

(02.05.1964) : 36-28-24-22-20-18-17-18-21-28-27-34-37

8. Kathy Kirby - I Belong (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(13.03.1965) : 39-36

9. Kenneth McKellar - A Man Without Love (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(19.03.1966) : 30-33

10. Sandie Shaw - Puppet on a String (United Kingdom) (16 wks + 3 wks # 1)

(18.03.1967) : 27-16-06-04-03-02-01-01-01-03-05-11-13-20-24-37

11. Cliff Richard - Congratulations (United Kingdom) (13 wks + 2 wks # 1)

(23.03.1968) : 32-08-03-01-01-02-06-11-12-17-24-28-31

12. Lulu - Boom Bang-a-Bang (United Kingdom) (12 wks)

(15.03.1969) : 22-22-09-04-02-04-07-10-22-18-25-38

13. Mary Hopkin - Knock Knock, Who's There? (United Kingdom) (12 wks)

(28.03.1970) : 07-02-04-04-05-14-15-22-29-31-40-38

14. Dana - All Kinds Of Everything (Ireland) (14 wks + 2 wks # 1)

(04.04.1970) : 13-02-01-01-02-03-05-10-21-27-29-36-33-38

15. Clodagh Rodgers - Jack in the Box (United Kingdom) (9 wks)

(20.03.1971) : 23-10-06-04-05-10-17-26-35

16. Severine - Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue (Monaco) (9 wks)

(01.05.1971) : 32-28-11-12-09-20-23-28-35

17. New Seekers - Beg, Steal or Borrow (United Kingdom) (12 wks)

(04.03.1972) : 12-04-03-02-02-02-03-06-12-26-28-37

18. Vicky Leandros - Come What May (Apres Toi) (Luxembourg) (15 wks)

(08.04.1972) : 39-26-14-05-03-02-04-04-10-17-29-30-33-37-40

19. Cliff Richard - Power to All Our Friends (United Kingdom) (10 wks)

(17.03.1973) : 13-04-04-04-07-07-14-26-29-36

20. Anne-Marie David - Wonderful Dream (Tu Te Reconnaitras) (Luxembourg) (9 wks)

(28.04.1973) : 28-25-13-13-13-19-26-37-39

21. Olivia Newton-John - Long Live Love (United Kingdom) (7 wks)

(16.03.1974) : 28-21-18-16-11-19-22

22. ABBA - Waterloo (Sweden) (9 wks + 2 wks # 1)

(20.04.1974) : 17-02-01-01-02-06-15-23-33

23. Gigliola Cinquetti - Go (Before You Break My Heart) (Si) (Italy) (8 wks)

(11.05.1974) : 37-22-16-08-12-11-25-31

24. Mouth And MacNeal - I See A Star (Netherlands) (7 wks)

(18.05.1974) : 29-18-12-08-10-15-29

25. Shadows - Let Me Be the One (United Kingdom) (7 wks)

(15.03.1975) : 32-32-23-12-13-15-38

26. Teach-In - Ding-A-Dong (Netherlands) (6 wks)

(12.04.1975) : 26-18-18-13-19-24

27. Brotherhood of Man - Save Your Kisses for Me (United Kingdom) (16 wks + 6 wks # 1)

(13.03.1976) : 14-04-01-01-01-01-01-01-02-02-08-16-20-25-29-37

28. Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran - Rock Bottom (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(02.04.1977) : 29-21-23-19-23-29

29. Co-Co - Bad Old Days (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(22.04.1978) : 39-16-13-14-21-32

30. Izhar Cohen And Alphabeta - A-Ba-Ni-Bi (Israel) (6 wks)

(13.05.1978) : 27-26-21-20-22-40

31. Milk And Honey - Hallelujah (Israel) (6 wks)

(14.04.1979) : 35-05-06-07-14-22

32. Johnny Logan - What's Another Year? (Ireland) (7 wks + 2 wks # 1)

(03.05.1980) : 15-02-01-01-03-10-32

33. Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up (United Kingdom) (11 wks + 3 wks # 1)

(28.03.1981) : 24-05-02-01-01-01-04-06-16-26-37

34. Bardo - One Step Further (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(17.04.1982) : 16-06-02-06-21-33

35. Nicole - A Little Peace (Germany) (6 wks + 2 wks # 1)

(08.05.1982) : 08-01-01-04-10-16

36. Sweet Dreams - I'm Never Giving Up (United Kingdom) (4 wks)

(23.04.1983) : 34-23-21-28

37. Belle and the Devotions - Love Games (United Kingdom) (5 wks)

(28.04.1984) : 39-21-12-11-24

38. Johnny Logan - Hold Me Now (Ireland) (9 wks)

(23.05.1987) : 25-03-03-02-04-06-13-20-33

39. Emma - Give A Little Love Back To The World (United Kingdom) (3 wks)

(12.05.1990) : 40-33-39

40. Samantha Janus - A Message To Your Heart (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(11.05.1991) : 30-30

41. Michael Ball - One Step Out Of Time (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(25.04.1992) : 20-21-23-32-25-30

42. Sonia - Better The Devil You Know (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(01.05.1993) : 22-18-25-17-15-40

43. Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes (Ireland) (3 wks)

(19.06.1993) : 27-24-33

44. Frances Ruffelle - Lonely Symphony (United Kingdom) (5 wks)

(16.04.1994) : 25-29-35-25-32

45. Love City Groove - Love City Groove (United Kingdom) (8 wks)

(15.04.1995) : 36-17-12-17-16-07-12-27

46. Gina G - Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit (United Kingdom) (15 wks + 1 wk # 1)

(06.04.1996) : 06-05-02-03-03-03-02-01-02-04-13-21-24-30-35

47. Katrina And The Waves - Love Shine A Light (United Kingdom) (6 wks)

(17.05.1997) : 13-03-08-17-31-40

48. Imaani - Where Are You (United Kingdom) (4 wks)

(16.05.1998) : 32-15-24-33

49. Dana International - Diva (Israel) (2 wks)

(27.06.1998) : 11-24

50. Precious - Say It Again (United Kingdom) (5 wks)

(29.05.1999) : 06-08-13-21-33

51. Charlotte Nilsson - Take Me To Your Heaven (Sweden) (2 wks)

(03.07.1999) : 20-35

52. Nicki French - Don't Play That Song Again (United Kingdom) (1 wk)

(27.05.2000) : 34

53. Lindsay Dracass - No Dream Impossible (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(12.05.2001) : 32-32

54. Jessica Garlick - Come Back (United Kingdom) (4 wks)

(25.05.2002) : 13-17-19-29

55. Jemini - Cry Baby (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(07.06.2003) : 15-39

56. James Fox - Hold On To Our Love (United Kingdom) (5 wks)

(01.05.2004) : 13-25-37-36-35

57. Javine - Touch My Fire (United Kingdom) (2 wks)

(28.05.2005) : 18-27

58. Daz Sampson - Teenage Life (United Kingdom) (4 wks)

(20.05.2006) : 13-12-08-24

59. Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah (Finland) (2 wks)

(17.06.2006) : 25-36

60. Scooch - Flying The Flag (For You) (United Kingdom) (3 wks)

(19.05.2007) : 05-08-22

61. Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai (Ukraine) (1 wk)

(26.05.2007) : 28

62. Jade Ewen - It's My Time (United Kingdom) (1 wk)

(30.05.2009) : 27

63. Alexander Rybak - Fairytale (Norway) (2 wks)

(30.05.2009) : 10-38

64. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (Germany) (1 wk)

(12.06.2010) : 30

65. Blue - I Can (United Kingdom) (3 wks)

(14.05.2011) : 16-26-22

66. Jedward - Lipstick (Ireland) (1 wk)

(28.05.2011) : 40

67. Loreen - Euphoria (Sweden) (4 wks)

(09.06.2012) : 03-13-20-30

Edited May 17, 201312 yr by AlexRange