gooddelta

And now, before the first vote, enjoy the live version of our winning song from BJSC 179, Luukered by SADU!

Good evening! The first vote will be posted as promised at 6.30pm, but first some housekeeping. The final is presented in order of receipt, with the exception that FSR Rontvia's votes will be presented last (we voted about fourth to last in the end so I just moved it back a bit). So if there are any long droughts, it's not engineered that way! Each vote will have a scoreboard posted after it. Now let me explain the new scoreboard format. I wanted to introduce something different having not hosted for so long, but also something useful, that makes everyone feel included in the final including the DNQ nations. So following our second vote, a new scoreboard format will be presented which gives a lot of the information that you usually can't see until the semi-final results are posted. As an example, it will look something like this. ⬆ X // X. FSR Rontvia: Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Only Girl - X points (X votes received). Last pointed: X votes ago | Biggest fans: X (18 points) | 🥇× 🥈× 🥉× So reading along, the first X with the arrow is the points scored in that particular vote (we will see live on the scoreboard who scored what), the second X is its current placing on the scoreboard. The third X is the points it has achieved to that point, the fourth tells us how many different people have voted for it up to that point. Then we have the drought counter - it can sometimes be hard to keep track of our own drought, let alone everybody else's. This information tells you how many votes ago a song last received points. And then we get to see which countries are the biggest fans of each track - everybody gave out an 18 so every country will be mentioned at some point in this section by the end of the evening. And then we also have a running medal tally. This will all make more sense as we go along, but we hope it helps everyone to keep better track of what is going on.

Hello, and thank you for spending your last three weeks, and the final contest of 2025, here in Constarvan, FSR Rontvia. We hope you have all enjoyed your stay for this most festive of contests, albeit one which hasn't been without controversy. You've all been voting for the 42 songs that made it this far, and I can confirm that the votes have been counted and verified, and we have a winner. Who will win the final contest of 2025? Who will top the end of year chart? How will our long-time returnees do? Did anybody 'do a 180' so effectively that it won them the whole thing? Find out all of this and more tonight! We have a new scoreboard layout we are trialling this evening, which we hope you enjoy. We've been refining it for the last couple of weeks and think it should make the results progression (outside of our own entries) a little easier to track. I will explain more later when the results begin. Discuss what you expect to happen, and where you think you will place! Then join me at 18.30pm GMT when Ricardo Delta from the RTVN will, at long last, get to present the results for the first time since 2014. Here is a reminder of the 42 songs in contention this evening: Skall: Oneohtrix Point Never - Rodl Glide Hendinia: Iris Caltwait - Alchemy (Living Is Not For The Heart) Flynnonda: KNIFE BRIDE - alone at the altar Lookylion: Chandler Leighton - Say Less Zanmatony: Steven Wilson - Drive Home POPHub: Goodnight Louisa - Actor A-Konohagakure: Sukatani - Tumbal Proyek Cumulonimbia: Narciss - Ludmilla Ojnoj: Absolutely - No Audience Séyetana: VIOLENT VIRA - Saccharine Kluminican Republic: Mall Grab & Real Lies - Ripples In The Timeline Bronzil: The Hellp - Live Forever Herbilore: Francesca Michielin - FRANCESCA Kathaldazia: XRUSTALIC - 892SICK Fljótavík: Tori Amos - Spark Utopia: Daniel Avery & Ellie - Haze Ajanaeda: Alessi Rose - Get Around Lentyll: bbno$ - 1-800 (feat. ironmouse) FARC: Snow Wife - YoYo Land of DW: Euromasters - Amsterdam... Waar Lech Dat Dan? (Maastunnel Mix) Harmonica: ARY - Running In A Dream The Spodic Empire: Marc Moon - Dubai East Rukahavian: LUNÈS - Hold on the moment Pagasa: Danny Brown & underscores - Copycats Taahino: 3Quency - Once I Was A Good Girl Mothertopia: JT - Girls Gone Wild FSR Rontvia: Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Only Girl Yehesi: Evangelía - Vále Terra Avium: ANOTHER; COUNTRY $$$$ - TETHER STROBE WARNING Greenfroze: LEE CHANHYUK - Vivid LaLa Love Aeroche: DOVE & Kehina - CHROMA 009 KR36 Cor Lupus: Jerry Heil - Earth (Dradada) Aelandor: Saltillo - A Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist N DNTN: XG - GALA Elëdan: Amaia - Aralar Neliönoir: Rakky Ripper - Las Cosas De Antes STROBE WARNING Sovarasma: paco te quiero - qué más da République d'Áskorza: Say Now - Can't Keep A Beat Pestolia: Sassy 009 - Enemy Danæviia: Austra - Fallen Cloud Aesthetica: f5ve - I Choose You STROBE WARNING Dalisska: Flora Fishbach - La Machiavela

No worries, I'm not in a position to drag anything out to midnight on a Sunday evening with work the next morning, so will try and move through them fairly swiftly if I can prep it in time!

What other compilations have Iron Maiden appeared on in the UK with that particular song? (Bring Your Daughter…) Missing a trick would be if it was available to them in the first place.

I think the weird vocal and pronunciation really stuck with me over the years! It's a good track though musically and production wise 😄

Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle Rank: 6.5/10 Reason: Going two for two today with the list of fun dance songs that I like up to a point but also find mildly annoying, American producer Chris Brann, aka Wamdue Project, hit the top towards the end of the year with King Of My Castle, debuting at No.1 (after a few weeks charting low on import) ahead of Cliff Richard's The Millennium Prayer although as we saw earlier, Cliff overtook the following week. For me I will best remember this song for the lyrics I always misheard at the time 'free in my trestle' (is this about art?) and 'baking examples of you' (or cakes?). I really like the music and production, it's not a dissimilar backing track really to 2 Times by Ann Lee which had been No.2 a few weeks earlier. But I wasn't overkeen on the vocal and, again, it's not a song I particularly go back to. I actually saw the act perform this live at the same concert I saw Westlife headlining in March 2000 and I thought they were fine but the near identical follow up single You're The Reason, which only got to No.39, was pointless. King Of My Castle also went top three in Germany, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands and Italy and top 30 in Australia.

Mr Oizo - Flat Beat Rank: 6.5/10 Reason: I would imagine this will be the first very contentious rank I have, I know it's popular, sorry! In the 80s and 90s there were countless examples of adverts helping songs to the top of the charts and Levi's jeans for some reason was often particularly successful. For their campaign around this time they enlisted the help of French dance producer Mr Oizo with the instrumental track Flat Beat, memorably featuring the puppet Flat Eric in the very cute and funny video. It's quite amazing that this song was so successful, it's a pretty underground sounding electro house track that has the same bassline looped for basically the entire track. It's quite hypnotic and I can't hate it due to the video and how different it was at the time, and it managed astonishing sales, but it's not a song I put on to listen to ever so just being honest! The track also reached No.1 in Germany, Austria, Finland and Italy but only No.5 in Mr Oizo's homeland of France.

And I have received Pagasa's votes so no deductions - thank you! Please join me at 6.30pm where we will find out the winner of BJSC 180!

She was a good track tbf, should have done better. I liked From The Heart too, one of the better songs from Another Level.

I’ve received votes from Hendinia and Scotland 2 now. Please can you vote in the next hour to avoid deduction @dhwe!

Voting is officially closed, thanks everyone! Votes (that I don't already know about) are outstanding from @RobBot @dhwe and @!!! If you can all please vote ASAP, then I'll accept them without deduction if they're in by 9am GMT tomorrow. Otherwise it's 33% deduction for the pair in the final. And if you don't vote you can't participate next month. Please join me from about 6.30pm Sunday when I will reveal who is victorious and who I'll be handing the baton over to!

Easily Shaggy, Pure and Simple is very mid for me.

Three hours left please, not going to do any more tagging but 16 votes outstanding at present.

Very similar actually! I have heard her version of it before btw and it’s nice.

When All Is Said And Done and The Winner Takes It All are my favourites.

Generally I liked Boyzone - Westlife less so - but I didn't think their 1999 singles were very good. I was never that into N'Sync or BSB outside of a few songs each. I have seen Boyzone and BSB live in the last decade and both were very good live. I saw Westlife live once in 2000 as part of a wider indoors multi-act concert and found it quite boring.

Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All Rank: 6.5/10 Reason: We will soon be free of Boyzone/Westlife/Ronan, but not quite. After spending the best part of a decade fronting Boyzone, Ronan was ready to go it alone from the band and the first opportunity (outside of presenting Eurovision 1997 in Dublin anyway) came in summer 1999, with the soundtrack of the blockbuster British romcom Notting Hill. The soundtrack generated a few hits, from the likes of Another Level and Elvis Costello, but When You Say Nothing At All was definitely the main focus and star signing for the soundtrack and sure enough the track was a huge No.1 hit, albeit only spent four weeks in the top ten overall. It was also one of the three No.1 hits that kept Better Off Alone at No.2 but finished lower in the year end chart. A perfectly nice and well sung ballad with some nice instrumentation, it was actually a cover of a country song that was initially a US hit for Keith Whitley, and this formula would serve Ronan well throughout his solo career, as well as Boyzone in their latter 90s career (You Needed Me as mentioned was a country cover, and so was 1998 No.2 hit I Love The Way You Love Me). The country element was not evident here though, the song was turned into a pop ballad with a slightly Celtic lilt, and the video included clips from Notting Hill while Ronan sings the track on a bench. He rejoined Boyzone for one final single in December 1999, Every Day I Love You, and then launched his solo career proper just under a year later, with the actually really good Life Is A Rollercoaster.

As I'm voting so late this time I think I will, indeed, vote LAST! Let's hope it's a close one 🤣

Thanks for all the votes, we're up to over 50% now with just shy of 14 hours to go. I always admire how rigidly so many people stay faithful to the songs in their own semi final. I guess it stands to reason as you've had more time to get to know them than the songs in the other semi!

Angel

Oh a top five for Kelly, and No.1 album for Kylie! What festive joy this chart brings ❤️ RAYE has done amazingly well to hold up among the Christmas onslaught.

Dropping in to celebrate my favourite Christmas song's annual voyage back to the top 40

Not seen any sign of a remaster unfortunately today. I did pre-order this but have had no word of the vinyl being sent out despite payment being taken and it seems out of stock everywhere on release day, so that bodes well...