gooddelta

Bangaranga was 3 and 5 earlier, now 3 and 7. 8, 24, 72 and 106 for Delta currently - come on! Rooting for her first top 75 entry since 2005.

I’d be happy for them to add 4th placed Delta too to fill their Radio 2 quota.

First time the jury and public have agreed since 2017, for all the talk of us having completely different public and televote top fives this year. So pleased with how Delta did, fourth is above or about what she had been predicted all season. And that's a fab televote score for Australia, especially when otherwise it was mostly Eastern countries dominating the televote. I'm so pleased she beat the 'lol 20 audience points' allegations she's had for months online.

Still we need to stop having Israel in the final two every year, it's horrendous. What were the juries playing at? Romania deserved 2nd.

Yassssss. Amazing score for Dara. Now is where I say I put a £10 bet on this this morning at 16/1 I wasn't going to bet this year but those odds were too inviting, and I figured betting money wasn't going to the EBU so I felt ok morally about it.

FFS, come on Dara.

Oh wow Romania, deserved.

So bad for Felicia, gah. I had a feeling in recent days it wouldn't connect, it was falling so flat in the YouTube views and odds. Shows that the international jury in Melodifestivalen means very little ultimately in the context of the wider contest.

Lol at the zeroes. Belgium and Germany weren't a surprise. Poor Sam but not a surprise either tbh.

Italy truly can send anything, good grief.

Very concerned by Israel being so high.

I think I will only ever listen again after this contest (in order from favourite) to Australia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Romania, Finland, Cyprus and Ukraine.

Yeah this, Bulgaria and Romania were the two big winners of the week, in terms of being SO much better than I would have ever expected. Kind of sounds like something from Gaga's Born This Way album if it had been more rocky.

Felicia pretty good but as is often the case with Sweden, it felt bigger and better in Melodifestivalen somehow. Should have gone for A*Teens. Millennials would have been torn on whether to vote for them or Delta. Jalla is a strong pop song but outsold in the bop (and certainly vocal) stakes by Bangaranga for me.

Linda is brilliant, her parts are winning moments. Really not at all keen on Pete's contribution or vocal tone unfortunately.

Such a bizarre UK entry. Not sure what to even say about it.

I've become obsessed with Bangaranga since the semis, would happily see a Bulgaria win if not Delta.

Deltaaaaaa, incredible performance <3 She was made to be on that stage.

I liked it even less just then than last year :/ But forever grateful of it winning.

I suspect it's pretty obvious who I want to win...think it could be any one of about five though. Bulgaria has been the biggest grower for me this week, but I'm Team Delta all the way.

Hail to the thief A month after poor Frances failed to impress and reach the BJSC final, our second miss already this year, we are doing an about turn for the 185th contest hosted by Zephyra Continuum and going down our well trodden road of the spoken word piece. While it may look like a reaction to the recent win by Mum Does The Washing, in fact it is just another of our regular spoken word outings along with the likes of Public Service Broadcasting, Real Lies, Daithí, DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, Swim Deep, Self Esteem, The Rhythm Method and God Colony/Roy, all but one of which made the final, although none made it higher than Self Esteem's glass ceiling of 10th – I Do This All The Time nonetheless setting her up to become a big star later that year. Benefits are described as a British noise punk band from Teesside in the North of England that is known for its politically charged lyrics and a fusion of punk, electronic, and industrial music, and made up of vocalist Kingsley Hall and multi-instrumentalist Robbie Major. Land Of The Tyrants was the lead single from the act's second album, Constant Noise, which was released last year and took on more dance music and rave elements than their previous material. The album received 4 and 5-star reviews in the music press and Land Of The Tyrants was noted as an electronica song criticising public servants and apathy in the UK. Musically it has been compared to Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers, as well as Underworld and even 00s Radiohead, no doubt partly subconsciously due to the 'hail to the thief' hook used during the track. Zera Tønin of the queerpop-electro duo Arch Femmesis adds backing vocals that add an extra layer to the track that, in Rontvian terms, is closest to Loss Is Not Infinite. Ricardo Delta explained the entry choice: "We had originally confirmed something else but were so immediately struck with great force when we heard this that we knew we had to send it. It has debuted at No.2 in the Rontvian charts only behind Delta Goodrem's Eurovision offering, Eclipse. "The lyrics are a cutting analysis of corruption and frustrations in the UK today that hit really hard when paired with Kingsley Hall's brilliant delivery. We also rate the sinister video that takes its inspiration from the 1980 London gangster film The Long Good Friday."

Ooh a double Rontvian recycle in Way Out West and Public Service Broadcasting! I considered sending To France many times, such a lovely 80s track, hopefully it will win some fans for Addy.

Quite a few pop underperformances in the last few weeks. Following Jesse Hold On, both After The Love Has Gone and Larger Than Life had certainly been expected to go top three too! I would say that the top four in that first week is one of my favourite top fours of all-time, and certainly the first chart where I had bought all four on single. Loved how Christina and Ann Lee both held up and I just adore Don’t Stop. I bought the album in the summer on import as I’d heard the original version was desperate to have a copy but the X-Cabs remix for the UK as Jester says, was just wonderful. A very impactful song that deserves more attention. I also loved that Honeyz track, a very sweet song. I wasn’t so keen on After The Love Has Gone at the time as it felt like a retread of One For Sorrow, both obviously copying The Winner Takes It All. However I’ve come around to it since and it worked absolutely beautifully in the Here and Now musical. It really suits that setting. It’s funny that Steptacular was so huge in the end despite the relative failure of this single, just a misstep of a song choice for the public I guess! I do remember this first week is the week we went to Disneyland Paris as I was trying to hear the chart with a very poor radio signal going over on the ferry to France. I managed to tune in just in time to hear 911 go in at 13 with Wonderland and was gobsmacked a brand new single by them had done so badly - then it ended up being their final hit altogether! Quite a catchy and jolly track too, crazy how fast they faded after finally getting to No.1. On paper it feels like that first Liam Gallagher featuring single outside of Oasis should have done better? I vaguely remember hearing it at the time. Flying Without Wings was one of Westlife’s better singles so I can’t deny them No.1 for this, would have felt slightly odd of all songs this one not getting to the top. Shane and Mark really give it their all on this track. Looks like we were lucky to avoid an R Kelly performance and skipped episode. I actually didn’t mind that song at the time, but don’t care to hear it again now particularly. Surprised to hear Scott Mills’ voice reading out the chart countdown after they pulled all his episodes. Pretty good although fairly forgotten song in the scheme of things by Destiny’s Child, I love that they’re singing about pagers a couple of years before they pioneered the art of dissing people on the internet. Truly ahead of their time with technology. The Tina Turner song was good too - the chorus was later used as the basis for part of Love On My Mind by Freemasons! Also not a bad song by Eternal in the top 20 but I think all their goodwill had gone after sacking Kelle, I’m glad her single peaked higher a few weeks earlier. ATFC was a great sample use but a little premature! Still, it meant the Ministry of Sound Annual could mix the two songs together very effectively on that release. Late 1999 feels like the changing of the guard a bit. Lots of big 80s and 90s acts were finally starting to fade or have lower peaking lead singles. And acts that would come to define the early 00s like Eminem, Christina and Britney had emerged this year. A really interesting period in so many ways.

I really don't mind Rein Me In, it has actually grown on me over time and clearly will be a well remembered track in decades to come, the intro already sounds instantly nostalgic. Far prefer it to some other really long running No.1s, like Ordinary, or Billie Jean getting back there. If it was Human Nature or Go that was challenging then for me they are more than welcome to have a turn.

Many of my favourite albums of 2006 represented here - Nelly Furtado, The Pipettes, Regina Spektor, All Saints, Infernal, The Cardigans, Evanescence, Dannii - I will refrain to say what I thought of the songs picked but some are very good indeed. One in particular reminds me of very happy uni memories <3 Flawed from Delta's Japan only album! I missed the chance to send that to Pop Factor, be interesting to see how it does here, it could have been a nice choice for ballad round. I did not know or had forgotten that Moony had a 2006 single!