How many more scoreboard updates do we have to come before we find out Cor Lupus actually never qualified? 🫣

If it makes you feel any better, Cody, you’d be 32rd if I’d submitted my votes properly and voted for Aesthetica. Food for thought really.

And note Rob is spelling that thirty turd

...and it would have been 33rd if Lex had actually voted on time xo

#kicking

reserving any judgment on the YTD until bray posts it

Anyhoo x

Intriguing that Séyetana were only 10th in the semi! There were 3 countries who snubbed it in the semi but voted for it in the final adding up to 11 total points (Aeroche 0 -> 5, Pestolia -> 4 and Zephyra Continuum 0 -> 2), the 11 who voted for it in the semi all also voted for it in the final and largely giving it about the amount of points you'd expect based on their semi votes so it seems it was just a bad semi draw for it rather than it being an especially notable grower for people from its semi. But with it being such a massive hit (it's just about pipped 'Mum Does The Washing' as the best performing song of the year so far by the overcomplicated standard deviation calculation I used in the EOY countdown thread x) it could still be top 10 in the semi even with that bad draw.

Also done a quick stats check on Séyetana going from last in the semi to winning the next contest - I did remember it happened once before, with Herzebania following Monica's 'Grown-Up Christmas List' (lol) in BJSC 12 with Agnes' 'Release Me' in BJSC 13, and can confirm that this is only the second time ever!

Séyetana aside, thrilled to see my 18 from FSR Rontvia also making the top 5, I had hoped that would do quite well! I voted for two others in the top 10, yay for Neliönoir (that one definitely was a big grower x) and Fljótavík. Glad to see that the biggest pop hits actually lined up a bit better with my own taste this month as well, Natalie Jane and Tash Blake were both towards the top of my rankings of the pure pop entries. Genuinely thought that me liking 'dance til i die' a lot more than 'sabotage' was an omen that it'd do worse than that lol but glad to be wrong there x Happy to see another top 10 for Lentyll too, a late cut from my votes.

Nearly all of the rest of my votes are bunched up in the 2nd quarter - I voted for every song in 12th-21st place except East Rukahavian (and ofc they'd have been above that range if not for their deduction)! Glad in particular that Danæviia did come top half, I felt that could suffer from being a bit overshadowed by FSR Rontvia's entry with that being in a very similar style but a bit more attention grabbing, I stanned both of them though. Yay for my bronze Jadakissnia getting another pretty sizeable hit too. Aside, I have now heard the daine song that got vetoed and I can definitely see why it was in high demand, I'm sure that would have been a big hit! (The one Jade actually tried to send I don't like as much oop x). Don't think I'd have necessarily predicted such high finishes for Skall or Pagasa either so go them x

The Spodic Empire being the most robbed from my votes. And then New Helvetica was the only other song in the bottom half I voted for, although Deandria were pretty close so a shame to see them so low down (although ending up being quite far ahead of last place after the scoreboard correction oops, Harmonica bringing another flop smash!)

Thanks Harve for the hostings (and apols for my part in causing a bit of delays but we got the rest of the contest done on schedule with pretty much no hiccups hooray). Very much looking forward to another Séyetana hosting next month!

YTD update coming up in a mo x

3 minutes ago, Bror said:

(The one Jade actually tried to send I don't like as much oop x)

YTD update

Hendinia's previous 109 point lead is fully overturned and becomes a 35 point deficit with Bøtanikkä now taking the lead with three contests to go following a silver medal this month! Both are well over 200 points clear of the rest of the field now so some flopping will be needed for anyone else to catch up most likely. Fljótavík overtake Cor Lupus into the bronze medal slot, and I will allow you to all be distracted by the Cody meltdown over this so you don't take any notice of me plummeting down to near the bottom of the top 50. Neliönoir nearly managed to push them down to 5th but remain in place 4 points behind. Aeroche's second good result in a row sees them rise 2 places to 6th ahead of Sovarasma and Kluminican Republic, while Elëdan and The Spodic Empire swap around at the bottom of a top 10 that has no changes to its membership. The big move outside that is unsurprisingly Séyetana rocketing up 13 places to 16th following their long awaited win, being the lowest of 6 more countries that surpass 1,000 points for the year after this contest (Ojnoj were just a point away from being a 7th).

1 2 1674 Bøtanikkä

2 1 1639 Hendinia

3 4 1370 Fljótavík

4 3 1336 Cor Lupus

5 5 1332 Neliönoir

6 8 1323 Aeroche

7 6 1308 Sovarasma

8 7 1299 Kluminican Republic

9 10 1230 Elëdan

10 9 1227 The Spodic Empire

11 12 1165 Skall

12 13 1142 Danæviia

13 11 1127 Trifoski

14 14 1121 Jadakissnia

15 15 1075 Altyr Muunilinst

16 29 1056 Séyetana

17 25 999 Ojnoj

18 26 951 Bronzil

19 20 950 Terra Avium

20 30 932 Lentyll

21 16 906 Cheiron

22 27 897 République d'Áskorza

23 23 864 Yehesi

24 24 842 Deandria

25 31 829 Freidland

26 17 824 Pestolia

27 18 808 Zephyra Continuum

28 35 799 Kathaldazia

29 19 792 Baleghde

30 37 786 FARC

31 34 783 Greenfroze

32 21 775 Juranabaijan

33 33 760 Land of DW

34 22 753 Scotland 2

35 28 726 Dalisska

36 43 706 Pagasa

37 38 701 N DNTN

38 39 700 Lookylion

39 46 683 East Rukahavian

40 44 663 POPHub

41 55 650 FSR Rontvia

42 32 635 Ajanaeda

43 36 608 Dobago

44 47 600 Taahino

45 50 593 Zanmatony

46 52 547 New Lexico

47 40 542 Persephonia

48 54 535 Jupiterdonia

49 41 530 Summericia

50 42 526 Mothertopia

51 53 510 Herbilore

52 45 504 Aelandor

53 48 446 Ennea

54 49 444 A-Konohagakure

55 51 431 Hushkanukia

56 56 372 Cumulonimbia

57 57 348 Flynnonda

58 60 328 New Helvetica

59 59 303 Harmonica

60 64 292 Aesthetica

61 58 258 Ben's Sanctuary

62 61 180 Utopia

63 62 176 Lotunia

64 63 156 Wholune

65 65 131 Thelonia

when the next Persephonia entry ends up winning ouuuuu

If only I didn’t have that sneaky DNQ earlier this year; my best result since the 40s x

That seems to have done worse things for my Top 3 😭😭

I could be wrong...

133, most entries without a win and even an Top 3 place.

Three very unwanted records for us, including the first nil points in an BJSC semifinal.

11 minutes ago, Mack. said:

Three very unwanted records for us, including the first nil points in an BJSC semifinal.

You weren't the first, Trifoski beat you to it x

I’ll probably make the top 10 next time, since I expect to qualify for the final 😂

But if not.....

Mack to win in the next 18 contests

so I keep the record of most entries before a first win of course x

I did feel it was a pretty unfavourable semi for my song (though in this case because semi 1 was filled with its fans!) to good to see that confirmed by stats also and we love to see that YTD increase.

Oh! I saw I finished last yesterday and just now saw I lost almost a quarter of my points, iconic I did notice some points were mysteriously added to my total, hilarious that they came from myself. I'm genuinely not even disappointed because all I wanted was to end my DNQ streak, just being in the final was refreshing!

Congrats Iz!!! It was fun to watch all the Seyetana hype literally manifest itself into a win over the past two weeks. 'Caught In A Jam' was already such a memorable entry regardless of where it finished. And Harve completely had me fooled with the reveal order, I couldn't believe seeing it low top 10, or even lower, wasn't convinced it would ever catch up until it finally happened.

That's quite possibly my favorite top 10 of the year! Great result for all of those. Poor result for my top 3 though, with Friedland, Aesthetica and Herbilore all in the bottom half.

Thanks to the few of you who did give me points, and thanks Harve for hosting!

N DNTN’s ‘Catch Catch’ should’ve won this in a landslide!!! Criminal that it’s so low on the scoreboard. BJSC is racist as per and nothing has changed there!

Daehun will 100% be back next month, narrowing a list of K-Pop songs now. Next to everything is cheap these days given how widely exposed the genre is so I really have no idea what is deemed acceptable or not to send oops.

Edited Sunday at 07:004 days by Oricon

Looking at the year to date and my two most recent entries, it hit me that qualifying and flopping in the final can still be a big boost in the YTD. Between this contest and the previous one, I have accumulated 296 points coming 27th (153) and 28th (143).

Taken together, that score would have been a top 4 score in any contest this year.

181 4th

182 3rd

183 2nd

184 2nd

185 3rd

186 2nd

Floundering in the lower 20s for 2 months scores higher than someone with a top 10 hit who DNQed in the previous month, in most cases.

Edited Sunday at 07:224 days by Colm

Indeed doing very well on the YTD is largely about minimising DNQs, unless you have a particularly big hit at some point.

A bit like hits in the streaming era. 20 weeks in the low top 75 is better for your YTD position than peaking in the top 10 but disappearing in a few weeks.

As I've had four DNQs this year my chances of a respectable placing are non-existent, but on the plus side I feel no pressure to maintain anything and if I slip up again then 41st or 48th makes no difference to me.

Coming up to the end of the year is when some countries I would imagine will start to play it safer to maximise their YTD placing.

Although I would caution people to think again about what they consider is safe because the competition is so hot these days. 'Playing it safe' can easily mean something gets forgotten or overlooked for being samey and is an accidental DNQ.

A very interesting battle going on at the top between two pop countries, I couldn't call which way that will go as both are so consistent.