although jemini were not always in tune i still think they dint deserve nul points,alsou had a great song i would have loved to have seen her win that year althouh ji also really liked uk and estonia and greece that year

Some great songs in there Rich - really like all of them apart from Jemini I think!

45. Ani Lorak - Shady Lady - Ukraine 2008

 

 

ESC Result: 2nd in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #3

 

Why I love it: As soon as the voting became apparent that it would be a three horse race between Ukraine, Greece and Russia, I was supporting Ani all the way. Fantastic disco song with a very clever performance, the use of lights on the dancers was superb. Put Charlotte Perrelli's performance rather to shame, even though I still think Hero is the better song...

44. Vesna Pisarovic - Everything I Want - Croatia 2002

 

 

ESC Result: 11th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #6

 

Why I love it: I didn't find the 2002 contest to have a particularly high standard overall so it was surprising to see a country I don't usually like, Croatia, give one of the best songs. Everything I Want was a very contemporary pop song (at the time) sung by a girl who could be one of the Corrs' sisters. It's a shame it just missed the top ten, especially considering the dire Russian boyband song that was one place ahead...

43. Shiri Maimon - Hasheket Shenishar/The Silence That Remains - Israel 2005

 

 

ESC Result: 4th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #8

 

Why I love it: A stunning ballad from a stunning looking lady, Israel often prove that every now and then they can completely prove the political voting debate completely wrong with a good enough song. And this song was most certainly good enough, a gorgeous song sung in part Hebrew and part English in ESC, definitely deserved its top five finish.

42. Esther Hart - One More Night - The Netherlands 2003

 

 

ESC Result: 13th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #2

 

Why I love it: A hugely underrated song, you feel it could have made the top 5 with ease in the Charlotte/Selma dominating 1999 contest, although maybe the fact that it was a little dated at the time is what stopped it from going top ten. Chirpy mid tempo pop songs by solo female singers weren't the 'big thing' in ESC 2003, and I think a large proportion of Esther's points went to the superior Birgitta from Iceland. Nevertheless, this was a great pop song and Esther was a very strong singer live, and I think this is the best Netherlands result in recent years, if you consider 2003 to be recent :lol:

41. Lindsay D - No Dream Impossible - United Kingdom 2001

 

 

ESC Result: 15th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #2

 

Why I love it: There were a few problems with this song but essentially it is one of the UK's stronger entries of the decade. A rather enjoyable dance-pop song, Lindsay had a very strong voice for a 16 year old and the final note was sensational, even though you could tell how nervous she was, and there was a very dodgy note hold about two thirds of the way through the song. Unfortunately, Lindsay looked as if she'd got dressed in N-Dubz rejects cupboard, and what was worse is the rent-a-rapper that she decided to bring on stage with her, who for me, completely ruined parts of the song. Still, I loved it at the time, and still like it a lot, I just cover my ears when the (very very bad) rapper comes in :lol:

40. Natasha St-Pier - Je N'ai Que Mon Ame - France 2001

 

 

ESC Result: 4th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: N/A

 

Why I love it: Easily the best French entry of the decade, the brilliant Natasha (who is a huge star in France, at least she used to be!) was incredibly Celine in both vocals and skill, and the song was absolutely brilliant. A song that starts off subtley before growing into a monster, it was easily the classiest thing about Eurovision 2001 and it's nice to see excellent ballads doing well every now and then! For reasons I won't go into, it's something of a family favourite too, and probably the most played ESC song of all time in my house (and not just played by me!)

39. Rollo & King - Never Ever Let You Go - Denmark 2001

 

 

ESC Result: 2nd in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #9

 

Why I love it: I don't recall the hosts ever coming up with a better follow up entry than this one. Denmark followed their win with Fly On The Wings Of Love, with a song that you actually felt could win again by another male duo, Rollo & King, and guest female singer Signe Svendsen. The song was instantly catchy in a pop meets country meets Banjo-Kazooie sort of way (:heehee:), and without a doubt deserved its second place and was one of many reasons why the 2001 contest was so excellent. Many would argue that it should have been the winner...I however, don't share this feeling :P

38. Ines - Once In A Lifetime - Estonia 2000

 

 

ESC Result: 4th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #6

 

Why I love it: Estonia were on a fantastic roll in the late 90's/early 00's and this was one of their fantastic entries. She looked like LeAnn Rimes singing a Lene Marlin song, but considering both acts were huge in 2000, it just proved how contemporary this song was. Very very infectious, I believe it was the favourite to win before the contest but unfortunately only came 4th, which is at least a couple of places lower than it deserved.

37. Charmed - My Heart Goes Boom - Norway 2000

 

 

ESC Result: 11th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #8

 

Why I love it: All things considered, Norway are up there in my top 3 favourite Eurovision countries, and looking at the quality of the entries they've sent this decade, they might even be at the top. Girl group Charmed kicked off the decade in a happy style with this absolutely great pop song, insanely catchy and worthy of much more than 11th even if it's probably the one ESC song that can cheer me up whenever I listen to it!

36. Antique - Die For You - Greece 2001

 

 

ESC Result: 3rd in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #6

 

Why I love it: The first time Helena Paparizou represented Greece in the ESC was as part of the male/female duo Antique in 2001. This absolutely brilliant, very original pop song that fused traditional Greek sounds and language with modern pop went down very well and gave them a very well deserved 3rd place and was the first in a long line of huge successes that the country have had over this decade. Alcazar ripped off the song rather sensationally with their 2003 Melodifestivalen entry 'Not A Sinner, Nor A Saint' yet somehow escaped a lawsuit;

 

Iraqi War

 

Then how did Spain and Poland - who also took part in the invasion - do so well?

I don't personally see that the Iraqi war had much to do with Jemini finishing last, but I guess the UK is the closest country to the US in terms of friendship so we were the easiest target I suppose...still if we'd had a fantastic song/performance, I'm sure it wouldn't have affected us much, if at all

 

I think there was a very good reason that we finished last with 'nul points' in 2003; who in their right minds would have picked up the phone to give a vote to Jemini's atrocious off key performance when there were so many better songs/performances on offer...

35. Friends - Listen To Your Heartbeat - Sweden 2001

 

 

ESC Result: 5th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #6

 

Why I love it: Typical Swedish schlager, this was hardly revolutionary but kicked off a noughties love affair of fifth place for the Swedes, send a typical ABBA tribute and come 5th became an interesting quirk that also benefitted Fame, Lena Phillipsson and Carola!!! Friends were actually more Hear'Say than ABBA, quite contemporary and this song, which got plagiarised for ripping off a Belgian entry from the 1990's, seemed to owe a lot more to Abba's The Winner Takes It All and Steps' After The Love Has Gone to me...great song though!

34. Christine Guldbrandsen - Alvedansen - Norway 2006

 

 

ESC Result: 14th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #5

 

Why I love it: One of the underrated highlights of 2006, it was a shame that all of the auto-qualifiers all seemed to be drawn at the beginning of the final, and although a lot of them were awful and deservedly finished at the bottom, Norway's song was not deserving of this fate. Traditional Norwegian folk music mixed with contemporary pop and strange boinging sounds throught the verses, this song blew away most of the competition in terms of quality but the Lucie Silvas lookalike didn't appeal much to the voters at home despite putting in a near flawless performance...

33. Claudia Beni - Vise Nisam Tvoja - Croatia 2003

 

 

ESC Result: 15th in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #7

 

Why I love it: Following their brilliant 2002 entry with a better song were Croatia who gave another excellent contemporary pop song with a chorus that was very infectious to me, even despite the language barrier. Sadly, the song did even worse than Vesna the year before and ended up 15th despite the last verse and chorus being in English...I don't know what went wrong considering some of the utter rubbish that finished above it...

32. Kate Ryan - Je T'adore - Belgium 2006

 

 

ESC Result: 12th in the semi-final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #10

 

Why I love it: Finally it looked as if Belgium had struck gold with a near perfect Europop song sung by one of Western Europe's biggest stars. However, it was the fan favourite that fell at the first hurdle (there is one every year) and crashed out in 12th place in the semi-final which was a ridiculous injustice. Nevertheless, the song went on to become one of the most recognised ESC songs of the year and I've often heard it on UK radio, in the background to TV shows and in clubs since and the video made some of the UK music channels!!!

31. Corinna May - I Can't Live Without Music - Germany 2002

 

 

ESC Result: 21st in the final

 

Peak in my personal chart: #2

 

Why I love it: The bookies favourite before the contest, this brilliant uplifting Europop track somehow slumped in at 21st place despite a good draw and a good performance. Obviously something about this disco pop song didn't connect with the viewers and the blind singer gave Germany their first of many many flops of the noughties. It could have been the stage presentation, she looked appalling and her backing vocalists looked even worse, there was no cohesion at all, or it just could have been the fact that the voting was extremely random and block-led which led to a completely undeserved Latvian win...

Norway 2006 :heart: Liking others too :o