Brer

Vote 6 Jester is behind Indian-born British indie/electronic singer and producer White Town with 'Undresed', the follow-up to his 1997 UK #1 (and only top 40 hit) 'Your Woman'. It's fair to say very few people would be able to name a second White Town song off the top of their heads but this song did give him a very minor second chart entry, peaking at #57. 'Undressed' was on the podium a few votes ago and is currently mid top 10. 1 30 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 2 28 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 3 27 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 4 25 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 5 25 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 6 22 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [Severin] 7 21 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 8 20 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 9 19 White Town - Undressed [Jester] 10 16 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 11 15 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 12 14 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [Mangø] 13 11 Young MC - Know How [???] 14 10 Annerley - Save Me [???] 15 10 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [Scene] 16 8 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 17 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 18 7 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 19 7 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 20 7 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 21 6 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [King Rollo] 22 5 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] 23 4 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 24 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 25 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] B L O B B Y ahem... Jester's votes change the leader once again, it is now The Icicle Works who lead after picking up their first 12, 2 points ahead of a similarly surging Modern Talking who get 10 points here. You'll note that Jester made a bit of an error with the votes here and included a 9 pointer and 11 songs, I've just pushed everything below Modern Talking down 1 point. We'll blame Blobby interference. Army Of Lovers are back up to 3rd, The Vapors slip off the top spot down to 4th and Donna Lewis drops to 5th. Mr. Oizo is lifted off 0 leaving poor brave Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin alone at the bottom.

Vote 5 We now reveal the song that is currently topping the leaderboard in this early stage - Severin sent one of the original British post-punk bands The Psychedelic Furs with their 1982 single 'Love My Way'. It peaked at #42 in the UK and was at the time their highest charting song, outdoing the previous year's 'Pretty In Pink' which charted at #43, but it is that song which would end up qualifying them for this contest as a 1986 re-release made it their only UK top 20 hit as it reached #18 second time around thanks to its usage in a film of the same name. 1 25 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 2 22 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [Severin] 3 21 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 4 20 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 5 20 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 6 19 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 7 19 White Town - Undressed [???] 8 18 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 9 18 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 10 15 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 11 11 Young MC - Know How [???] 12 10 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [Scene] 13 8 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 14 8 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 15 8 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [Mangø] 16 8 Annerley - Save Me [???] 17 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 18 7 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 19 7 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 20 6 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [King Rollo] 21 5 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] 22 4 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 23 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 24 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 25 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] The lead changes again as Severin foot shoots himself off #1 - The Vapors rise 4 places to hold a 3 point lead. The Psychedelic Furs slip to 2nd, with Nu Shooz, Donna Lewis and Army Of Lovers also shuffling down a place each as none pick up points here. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds get a welcome first 12 which propels them into the top 10. Already after 5 votes there are only 2 songs left on 0 points, who will get off the mark first?

Vote 4 Scene is up next with the oldest (I think) song in the contest, Dutch rock / 'Nederbeat' band Shocking Blue's 'Love Buzz' from 1969. It's from the same era as their one UK top 40 hit 'Venus' (#8 in 1970) although 'Venus' was omitted from the album in its original Dutch edition and only included in international releases. Although it wasn't a single, 'Love Buzz' much like 'Venus' would go on to have a notable cover version, as Nirvana's version served as their debut single in 1988 - Nirvana and Bananarama, what a range x Sadly 'Love Buzz' is currently sitting as one of the last 4 songs on 0 points. 1 22 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [???] 2 21 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 3 20 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 4 20 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 5 19 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 6 19 White Town - Undressed [???] 7 18 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 8 14 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 9 11 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 10 8 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [Mangø] 11 8 Annerley - Save Me [???] 12 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 13 7 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 14 6 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [King Rollo] 15 6 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 16 4 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 17 4 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 18 4 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 19 4 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] 20 3 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 21 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 22 3 Young MC - Know How [???] 23 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 24 0 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [Scene] 25 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] We have a new leader as The Psychedelic Furs snatching a silver medal pushes them up from 6th to 1st, 1 point ahead of a new runner up in Nu Shooz. Donna Lewis and Army Of Lovers drop to 3rd and 4th and the top 5 is now rounded out by The Vapors after they pick up their first 12.

Vote 3 Mangø fulfilled the prophecy of every song contest ever having a Pet Shop Boys entry despite their obvious lack of eligibility for this one - American born Scottish singer Cicero was a protégé of the duo, having signed to their label Spaghetti Records and receiving a helping hand on production from them on both his one UK top 40 hit 'Love Is Everywhere' (#19 in 1992) and this song, its follow-up 'That Loving Feeling' which peaked at #46 in the same year. He currently sits just inside the top 10. 1 20 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 2 20 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 3 19 White Town - Undressed [???] 4 13 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 5 12 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 6 12 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [???] 7 11 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 8 8 Annerley - Save Me [???] 9 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 10 7 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 11 7 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 12 7 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 13 6 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [Mangø] 14 4 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 15 4 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 16 4 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] 17 3 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 18 3 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 19 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 20 2 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [King Rollo] 21 1 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 22 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 23 0 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [???] 24 0 Young MC - Know How [???] 25 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] Donna Lewis' lead evaporates as she stays 1st but now tied with Army Of Lovers who zoom back up to 2nd (aside: all tiebreaks will be broken down to number of 8s in these scoreboards, if anything remains tied up to that point they're then listed alphabetically). White Town gets a first 12 and flies up to 3rd, with Nu Shooz and Modern Talking also rising into the top 5. (and that's the first 3 votes being the last 3 songs in the running order the pattern does break on the next vote, how freaky though xx)

Vote 2 King Rollo is behind German pop/rock band Münchener Freiheit - known as simply Freiheit for their English language releases - with 'The Land Of Fantasy', another track from the same 1988 album that housed their one and only UK chart appearance, #14 hit and pseudo Christmas classic 'Keeping The Dream Alive'. It's opened within the top 10 having picked up a couple of points from the first votes. 1 20 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 2 12 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [???] 3 11 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 4 10 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 5 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 6 7 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 7 7 White Town - Undressed [???] 8 6 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 9 6 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [???] 10 5 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 11 5 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 12 4 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 13 4 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] 14 3 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 15 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 16 2 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 17 2 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [King Rollo] 18 1 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 19 0 Annerley - Save Me [???] 20 0 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 21 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 22 0 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [???] 23 0 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 24 0 Young MC - Know How [???] 25 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] The Psychedelic Furs jump off the mark with a first 12 which pushes them straight into 2nd place, although a second straight medal for Donna Lewis gives her an 8 point lead at this early stage. The Icicle Works rise to 3rd having got points from both of the first two voters with Army Of Lovers and Paula Cole shifting down to 4th and 5th. (aside: just realising the first 2 votes are the last 2 songs in the running order - entirely coincidental!)

Vote 1 WoW73 is the first to be unveiled, bringing us Australian singer and actress Helen Reddy with her 1983 track 'Imagination', she was much more successful across the pond with 3 US Hot 100 #1s to her name but only hit it big in the UK with 1975 #5 hit 'Angie Baby'. Reddy is much more well-known for her more easy listening 70s releases and based on what I've heard from her I definitely wouldn't have guessed this was her - her transition into the more synth-heavy 80s sound alas didn't seem to pan out commercially as this song didn't chart anywhere. 1 12 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 2 10 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 3 8 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 4 7 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 5 6 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 6 5 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 7 4 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 8 3 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 9 2 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [???] 10 1 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 11 0 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 12 0 Annerley - Save Me [???] 13 0 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [???] 14 0 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 15 0 Helen Reddy - Imagination [WoW73] 16 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 17 0 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 18 0 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [???] 19 0 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [???] 20 0 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 21 0 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 22 0 White Town - Undressed [???] 23 0 Young MC - Know How [???] 24 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] 25 0 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] Donna Lewis is our initial leader with Army Of Lovers and Paula Cole completing the podium. How well will they hold up? o:

Thanks to all who have participated and voted in this tenth edition of The Best Song Contest In The World... Ever! - all votes have now been counted and verified and we have a winner which will be revealed tonight! (Let's just hope to avoid any further Mr. Blobby related shenanigans...) I've written up a little blurb about each artist/entry for anyone who cares to read such things, to be posted as each entry is unveiled. I'll be posting the votes in the order they were received so any rollercoaster movement across the scoreboards is entirely natural and not scripted. Will get started at 8:30 and will aim to post a vote every 5 minutes or so alongside a running scoreboard, should all be wrapped up in about 2 hours. x Here's a reminder of the songs in contention - but who will be crowned king(s)/queen(s)/monarch(s) of the one hit wonders? 1 0 2wo Third3 - Hear Me Calling [???] 2 0 Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody [???] 3 0 Annerley - Save Me [???] 4 0 Army Of Lovers - Obsession [???] 5 0 Chantay Savage - Betcha'll Never Find [???] 6 0 Cicero - That Loving Feeling [???] 7 0 Classix Nouveaux - Never Never Comes [???] 8 0 Donna Lewis - Agenais [???] 9 0 Freiheit - The Land Of Fantasy [???] 10 0 Helen Reddy - Imagination [???] 11 0 The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) [???] 12 0 Modern Talking - Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. For Love) [???] 13 0 Mr. Oizo - Stunt [???] 14 0 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat [???] 15 0 Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return [???] 16 0 Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait [???] 17 0 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way [???] 18 0 Shocking Blue - Love Buzz [???] 19 0 They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee [???] 20 0 Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason [???] 21 0 The Vapors - News At Ten [???] 22 0 White Town - Undressed [???] 23 0 Young MC - Know How [???] 24 0 Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Stars [???] 25 0 Zager & Evans - Listen To The People [???] oh well DONE 2wo Third3

I've not quite got the results fully prepped yet but will still be good to go this evening - will drop a thread shortly and probably aiming to start around 8:30 or so!

No worries, as long as I have them by tomorrow evening all is good! @!!! @danG last reminder for you guys to get your votes in as well (tonight if possible as I do want to get some prep done later tonight) x and a general PSA for voting in song contests, please don't just reuse an old PM 'conversation', it won't show up in the relevant inbox if the original message was deleted from there / not saved there in the first place (this was why I didn't receive Jim's votes, I do have them now) (edit: sorry I originally tagged Bjork here as well by mistake, I do have yours x)

I don't have your votes in my inbox yet @!!! @awardinary @Bjork @CowTzy @danG @Julian_ @Suedehead2 also awaiting your votes, you have just under 24 hours until the official deadline (need to send myself my own votes as well + if any non-participants may be lurking and considering sending guest votes (@Popchartfreak ?) also be my guest x)

Oop xx probably should have posted about it with a bit more notice tbf haha.

Edited a YouTube playlist into the OP x https://sync-tube.de/room/ApAM3t-I Listenthrough commencing in about half an hour

Banned

Why are you asking Rollo? x (I'll do the listenthrough tomorrow ) aside, I'm going to extend the deadline for this by a day as I now have some plans with family for Saturday evening so will be better to do results on Sunday x

1 CHVRCHES - Final Girl 2 Pet Shop Boys - Domino Dancing 3 The Saturdays - Work (Phil Tan Radio Mix) 4 a-ha - Hunting High And Low 5 Fifth Harmony - The Life 6 WALK THE MOON - Tightrope Screen Violence is such a banger album, another great choice there. This was much stronger than either of the solo categories this week for me - the Fifth Harmony and WALK THE MOON songs were both solid discoveries despite my rankings there!

1 Addison Rae - Fame Is A Gun 2 Avril Lavigne - When You're Gone 3 SASAMI - In Love With A Memory (feat. Clairo) 4 Christina Aguilera - Can't Hold Us Down (feat. Lil' Kim) 5 Rina Sawayama - Send My Love To John 6 Mary J. Blige - I'm Goin' Down 7 Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do

For what it's worth I did actually say during the listenthroughs that I didn't think 'Joyride' sounded like one that would do that well so yeah it's not like picking an artist with multiple recent hits is a 100% guarantee of getting another big hit (the same could also be said for TDJ missing the top 10 this time). Still always going to be side-eyeing anyone attempting it though. x

Already posted my piece about this in the results thread but the wait for 30th is over, I now have the top 39 so am one final-flop-but-not-quite-wooden-spoon away from the clean sweep (just realised Addy was 1 position away from his own holy grail 19th place *_* and Jade 1 place off from completing the top 32 as well) Finalists: 01 - 2 (67 Jay Dabhi + 74 A-WA) 02 - 4 (57 Jaymes Young + 61 Kids Of The Apocalypse + 113 Baiuca + 129 Minuit Machine) 03 - 5 (53 Truls + 78 tiny deaths + 79 DANCE WITH THE DEAD + 123 070 Shake + 150 Nur Jaber) 04 - 1 (72 Dawn Richard) 05 - 3 (76 Audrey Napoleon + 99 LUNA + 172 Chikoi The Maid) 06 - 3 (30 Spark + 81 The Shanghai Restoration Project + 148 Hazel English) 07 - 2 (124 Neggy Gemmy + 128 Ela Minus) 08 - 2 (139 Godford + 164 Agent blå) 09 - 1 (142 7CIRCLE) 10 - 2 (100 Life Sim + 105 The Halluci Nation) 11 - 2 (116 Heilung + 155 Fatal Youth) 12 - 2 (86 Aron Can + 145 ill peach) 13 - 3 (31 Beth Ditto + 90 Baby Blood + 98 Dead Husband) 14 - 3 (45 Kidnap + 51 Roses Gabor + 60 Rustie) 15 - 4 (26 Jónsi + 64 TĀLĀ + 75 Audialist + 132 House Of Harm) 16 - 8 (85 Color Guard + 103 Mikael Seifu + 121 BROCKHAMPTON + 135 gupi + 157 Paris Texas + 165 Cowgirl Clue + 171 Speedial + 174 Messa) 17 - 8 (23 Vampire Weekend + 42 Azari & III + 48 Machines Don't Care + 69 Elijah Blake + 101 IC3PEAK + 110 raaginder + 125 Vacant + 149 Da Vosk Docta) 18 - 1 (111 In The Loop) 19 - 5 (49 Deaf Club + 50 SOHN + 82 Digitalism + 94 KNARS + 107 µ-Ziq) 20 - 4 (87 TWRR + 89 Fallgrapp + 160 Maruja + 161 Re-TROS) 21 - 1 (97 Saor) 22 - 7 (33 Savage Skulls + 44 Karin Park + 92 End Of The Dream + 118 Kælan Mikla + 130 Jorge Elbrecht + 144 Yumi Zouma + 154 Baseck) 23 - 2 (63 Surkin + 65 Quirke) 24 - 5 (24 Kid Sister + 40 The Rapture + 52 Spor + 62 Paris XY + 66 Jade Blue) 25 - 4 (58 Gent Mason + 83 BOOTS + 134 Quadeca + 137 Hildegard) 26 - 3 (104 Set And Setting + 127 Fatoumata Diawara + 147 Momma) 27 - 2 (146 SadSvit + 153 Model/Actriz) 28 - 3 (71 San Holo + 138 Deafheaven + 141 Lah Malara) 29 - 6 (25 Frankie & The Heartstrings + 70 Fura + 106 J.I.D + 120 Vegyn + 158 Deadlands + 162 Kim Gordon) 30 - 1 (175 Kikagaku Moyo) 31 - 5 (29 Penguin Prison + 32 The Bullitts + 68 Eagles For Hands + 88 Øfdream + 91 xi) 32 - 2 (119 Amon Tobin + 122 Max Cooper) 33 - 3 (133 Mim Suleiman + 140 ATARASHII GAKKO! + 143 Daughters Of Reykjavík) 34 - 2 (114 Molchat Doma + 166 The Frozen Autumn) 35 - 2 (117 Sampa The Great + 152 Tim Hecker) 36 - 2 (77 WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA + 169 Bohren & Der Club Of Gore) 37 - 2 (108 Skee Mask + 136 Japanese Television) 38 - 2 (27 Dennis Ferrer + 95 David Starfire) 39 - 2 (28 Young Money + 151 Black Belt Eagle Scout) 40 - 0 41 - 1 (167 Smiling) 42 - 1 (173 Ghais Guevara) 43+ - 0 DNQs: (15-) - 0 (16) - 1 (46 Wild Belle) (17) - 1 (47 Angel Haze) (18) - 3 (38 Joe Goddard + 55 MAASAI + 59 The Hics) (19) - 1 (34 Beat Connection) (20) - 4 (43 POLIÇA + 56 Orphic Oxtra + 73 Sogand + 109 Ash Koosha) (21) - 5 (35 SBTRKT + 41 Wonder Villains + 102 ROSALÍA + 163 Crushes Bones + 168 Die Nerven) (22) - 2 (96 BROCKHAMPTON + 156 Paper Lady) (23) - 4 (19 deadmau5 + 21 The Temper Trap + 115 MIRÈLE + 170 Imane El Halouat) (24) - 3 (36 The 2 Bears + 54 Kadie Elder + 126 Ecco2k) (25) - 2 (84 Bachar Mar-Khalifé + 131 Ichiko Aoba) (26) - 1 (20 Envy) (27) - 2 (80 Yung Lean + 112 Rico Nasty) (28) - 1 (93 Achillea) (29) - 1 (159 Slauson Malone 1) (30+) - 0

So in spite of my 'hate campaign' (!) 'Maschio' is actually my 2nd favourite winner of the year so far, it's just that I still haven't voted for any of them which is not great at the halfway mark of the year oops! As I posted the other day I'm just not super thrilled about the meta of so many of this year's winners being artists who had recent and imo better songs making the top 10, I gave a few points to 'Mon Amour' but this one ended up ranked 24th for me. What can ya do though, shall look forward to a new République d'Áskorza hosting! (even if our delegation may have to be acting in exile now after their controversial public statements 😿 ) We were this close to actually having my favourite winner since Fat Dog but alas not quite, still very happy to see the great result for 'Underground', it's slapped more every time I've listened to it and has been stuck in my head a lot for the last couple of weeks - a little relieved that the winning margin was more than 2 points as I'd have kicked myself for not going all the way and giving it my 18 otherwise! Actually it is a really good top 10 overall for me as the winner was the only song that didn't at least get a commiseration from me, voted for 6/10 of them including my 18, I don't think I would have predicted She Past Away coming as high as 8th so yay for that *.* also great and better than I'd have guessed results for yeule and Kumo 99 + fab to see both of the oceanic dance instrumentals making the top 10, Atlantic Ocean pulled ahead as my preferred one of the two over the course of the contest but they're both still great. And 'POP GIRL' was my biggest grower of the contest even though it didn't quite make my votes, nice justice for Lexie after 2 previous undeserved DNQs and cool for Yehesi to get their first top 10 hit in over 8 years (since MUNA in BJSC 92!) A couple more faves just outside the top 10 too, good showings there for Greenfroze and FARC, plus a nice top 20 for Zanmatony and a pretty decent result in the end for Herbilore after floundering at the bottom for way too long during the reveal. Quite disappointing for Why So Sirius though which I thought could be a dark horse for the win, also far too low for Jadakissnia and Cumulonimbia </3 + Scotland 2 deserved better too but their position before deduction is probably about what I'd have predicted. Am genuinely really happy to finally be able to cross 30th off as a unique position - I actually would have had one already from my very early contests if tiebreak rules were always standardised as they are now as Penguin Prison in BJSC 29 would have been 30th instead of 31st using today's tiebreaks so that position being missing for me has long been uniquely frustrating especially as I have a ton of 29th and 31st place finishes. Only 40th to go for me to have the clean sweep of the entire top 42 position geeking aside, another unremarkable result for me but I didn't have particularly high expectations so I'll take it, not bottom 10 yay. (and it appears my singular medal position from Pestolia in the final came after they didn't vote for me at all in the semi? everything else from the semi spreadsheet with regard to my song and their votes seems to make sense so maybe just a big grower there x) Thanks for the hosting Addy

YTD update (see here for previous positions) All change at the top as Kluminican Republic's small but solid lead evaporates following a bottom quarter finish this month, leaving us with an all new top 2 and the first 2 countries to top 1,000 points for the year - and it's a close one with just 2 points separating them right now! At the half year mark it is Neliönoir sitting atop the pile, rising 4-1 after their third top 5 hit in a row (my stat from earlier in the thread once again turning out not to be relevant but still impressive x). Biting at their heels are Danæviia who also ride a top 5 finish to a 6-2 climb in the YTD. Kluminican Republic still just about hang onto a podium place falling 2 spots but remaining just 6 points ahead of Bøtanikkä who are also down 2 to #4. Jadakissnia likewise drop 2 places to round out the top 5. Cor Lupus slip a place to 6th and Greenfroze rise 10-7, pushing each of Aeroche, Hendinia and Bronzil down 1 place as they complete the top 10. FARC, Trifoski and Aesthetica surge to the mid teens as they vie to become top 10 contenders (but all held off by myself holding my own with only a 1 place drop to lucky #13 x). 1 1027 Neliönoir 2 1025 Danæviia 3 986 Kluminican Republic 4 980 Bøtanikkä 5 930 Jadakissnia 6 892 Cor Lupus 7 852 Greenfroze 8 835 Aeroche 9 828 Hendinia 10 821 Bronzil 11 797 Altyr Muunilinst 12 783 Skall 13 770 Persephonia 14 744 FARC 15 740 Trifoski 16 735 Aesthetica 17 732 Lookylion 18 727 Ajanaeda 19 713 Why So Sirius 20 694 FSR Rontvia 21 688 Cumulonimbia 22 669 Séyetana 23 657 Land of DW 24 645 République d'Áskorza 25 643 Kathaldazia 26 607 Macromia 27 595 Baleghde 28 578 Lotunia 29 577 Fljótavík 30 567 Terra Avium 31 533 Pestolia 32 520 Mothertopia 33 513 Zanmatony 34 498 Taahino 35 481 Elëdan 36 478 Scotland 2 37 472 POPHub 38 449 New Lexico 39 418 Hinterlandia 40 395 The Spodic Empire 41 387 Ben's Sanctuary 42 370 Herbilore 43 352 A-Konohagakure 44 351 Yehesi 45 350 Thelonia 46 318 Aelandor 47 307 Dobago 48 306 Cheiron 49 288 Hushkanukia 50 249 Jupiterdonia 51 229 Singerpurear 52 164 Beaverdonia 53 157 Kylienips 54 141 Oslol 55 121 Ojnoj 56 114 Niceland 57 110 Flynnonda 58 106 Ultraviolenceland 59 97 Palmyra 60 95 Summericia 61 93 East Rukahavian 62 83 Conoria

Sorry for a bit of a delay but here's the final scoreboard with tiebreaks and deductions - I have a few points totals slightly different to Addy's but they don't affect positions any further, I had to dig a bit to find the discrepancies as I don't have Addy's spreadsheet to cross reference! For posterity I have Yehesi and Cor Lupus 4 and 1 points higher respectively, and POPHub and Flynnonda 4 and 1 points lower respectively - the Yehesi/POPHub discrepancy looks to definitely be from Kluminican Republic's votes (will just be Addy's spreadsheet mistakenly giving their 4 to POPHub instead of Yehesi), while the Cor Lupus/Flynnonda one could be one of two things as it appeared in the scoreboard after the pair of votes from Kylienips and Why So Sirius, so either Addy's spreadsheet has them swapped over in Kylienips' votes (should be 3 to Cor Lupus and 2 to Flynnonda) or has mistakenly given Why So Sirius' 1 to Flynnonda instead of Cor Lupus. (Cody you'd better be thankful for my investigative journalism to give you 1 extra point xox) 1 237 République d'Áskorza // Annalisa - Maschio 2 230 Aesthetica // f5ve - Underground 3 228 A-Konohagakure // Nora En Pure - Memories 4 221 Danæviia // Ummet Ozcan - Ocean's Voice 5 217 Neliönoir // yeule - Evangelic Girl Is A Gun 6 213 Terra Avium // Atlantic Ocean - Waterfall 7 205 Trifoski // Kumo 99 - Dopamine Chaser 8 198 FSR Rontvia // She Past Away - İnziva 9 191 Yehesi // Lexie Liu - POP GIRL 10 186 Mothertopia // SASAMI - Slugger 11 180 Greenfroze // Yōko Oginome - Dancing Hero (Eat You Up) (Dear Pop Singer Version) 12 178 Kathaldazia // TDJ and Clara Kimera - On And On (You Lie) 13 176 FARC // Ikkimel and Robbensohn - BIKINI GRELL 14 168 POPHub // YEJI - Air (19 votes; 1 18; 2 15s) 15 168 Lotunia // VICTORIA - IN BETWEEN (19 votes; 1 18; 1 15) 16 167 Hushkanukia // Sorana - DON'T SEND ME FLOWERS 17 166 Altyr Muunilinst // PUNCHBAG - You Used To Be So Sexy (20 votes) 18 166 Zanmatony // Solarstone - Seven Cities (Solar Stone's Atlantis Mix) (19 votes) 19 157 Lookylion // Beks - Melodrama 20 149 Bøtanikkä // 2 Eivissa - Oh La La La 21 147 Why So Sirius // M¥SS KETA - SINNER 22 143 Taahino // Sophie Powers - move with me 23 129 Herbilore // Keaton Henson - Even 24 128 Skall // Avalon Emerson - Don't Be Seen With Me (16 votes) 25 128 Land of DW // TIM PLVNK - ANNE KAFFEEKANNE (13 votes) 26 121 Ojnoj // Kylie Cantrall - Denim 27 120 Jadakissnia // EQ - B.S.A.S. (Si Alguna Vez Te Sentís Sola De Noche) 28 119 Hendinia // CATTY - Joyride 29 117 Séyetana // Hot Milk - Insubordinate Ingerland 30 116 Persephonia // Kikagaku Moyo - Cardboard Pile (16 votes) 31 116 Kluminican Republic // HoneyLuv - Dancehall (15 votes) 32 115 Bronzil // Cult Of Venus - Algorithm (17 votes) 33 115 Macromia // Nao Toyama - Tomoshibi No Manimani (14 votes) 34 111 Cumulonimbia // Elphi - clover 35 110 Flynnonda // David Archuleta - Crème Brulée 36 105 Scotland 2 // caroline - Total euphoria {15% deduction; 105.4 before rounding} 37 104 Baleghde // CamelPhat and Massano - Oblivion (feat. Nu-La) 38 98 Ajanaeda // Banshee - I'm a never forgive kinda girl 39 88 Aeroche // PS1 and Adam Griffin - Late Night Lover 40 82 Cor Lupus // Jodie Harsh - Kiss It Better 41 45 New Lexico // DE SOFFER - Waste No Time {33% deduction; 44.89 before rounding}

I believe Scotland 2 have a 15% deduction which isn't accounted for in that table though so I am in fact 30th (as I do win the tiebreak with Klum) *.* it's all I ever wanted (congrats Phil, will comment more in a bit x)

Oh sorry we didn't pass this info on yet but New Lexico have extenuating circumstances so they won't be banned (but they do still get the deduction). I guess the host votes will be favouring Annalisa so hoping Jacob was embracing the chika chika chika x edit: nevermind, it's over (thanks for some more points though Jacob, I've done pretty well with the later voters - although ended up only getting one medal position and it was right at the start!) (and oh at it being a tie in the top 2 so Rd'Á not really being overthrown)

Thanks Cow, bringing me up to triple figures there (ty Noche for the mealworm as well!) edit: and thanks !!! as well <3 I think Aesthetica are now in the lead then? So even if Rd'Á do still snatch it back at the end they won't have been in the lead in literally every scoreboard after all.

Ok I am manifesting a f5ve win hard now