State broadcasters hosting the Eurovision Song Contest don’t just need to impress Europe—they also need to impress the home crowd. Fielding a strong contestant is crucial to that. In the past ten years, half of the host nations have managed to follow their victory with a Top 10 finish. Of these Turkey and Azerbaijan did the best. Athena and Sabina Babayeva each placed fourth the year their country hosted. Ukraine and Norway were the host nations who did the worst. Greenjolly came 19th in Kyiv, while Didrik Solli-Tangen finished 20th in Oslo.

Below you can review the last 10 performers who competed on home soil. They are listed from best finish to worst finish. After reviewing the songs you can vote in our poll. You can vote for as many contestants as you’d like, but you can only vote one time. The poll closes on October 13. Let us know what you think below!

2004: Turkey’s Athena with “For Real” 4th place with 195 points

2012: Azerbaijan’s Sabina Babayeva with “When the Music Dies” 4th place with 150 points

2008: Serbia’s Jelena Tomasevic with “Oro” 6th place  with 160 points

2006: Greece’s Anna Vissi with “Everything” 9th place with 128 points

2011: Germany’s Lena with “Taken By a Stranger” 10th place with 107 points

2009: Russia’s Anastasia Prikhodko with “Mamo” 11th place with 91 points

2013: Sweden’s Robin Sterjnberg with “You” 14th place with 62 points

2007: Finland’s Hanna Pakarinen with “Leave me alone” 17th place with 53 points

http://youtu.be/dUagGZ21Cbo

2005: Ukraine’s Greenjolly with “Razom nas bahato” 19th place with 30 points

http://youtu.be/NQoSGGBxmxg

2010: Norway’s Didrik Solli-Tangen with “My Heart Is Yours” 20th place with 35 points

[polldaddy poll=”7433244″]

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Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)

30 Comments
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Anastasya Prihodko
10 years ago

Nastya rulz!
And Lena! 🙂

Anastasya Prihodko
10 years ago

i loved Lena and Anastasya Prihodko, they have some real interesting voices, totally different, but nice and have some real appropriate music to valuate them in the best way!

Marlene
Marlene
10 years ago

Anna Vissi!!! Simply the best!

Annie
Annie
10 years ago

Anna Vissi, no question about it! All alone on stage, she made the whole of Greece (and not only) cry that night!

What a voice, what a performance! 🙂

gianluca
gianluca
10 years ago

Anna Vissi by far. One of the biggest european stars in esc.

mania
mania
10 years ago

the best ever was Anna Vissi with everything!!
I also like Azerbaijan’s Sabina Babayeva

Tiriel
Tiriel
10 years ago

Finalnd is by far my favourite. Hanna Pakarinen brought a lot of emotion into her performance. However she doesn’t make it look weak; she makes it look powerful and just rocks it all out. Girl power! And she only placed 17th? Outrageous. Should have been in the Top 5 Robin is adorable and the part of the chorus where he screams “YOU” is great, but other than that it’s so lame. It just comes across as a middle-of-the-road ballad you listen to a couple of times then it gets so tiring that you never listen to it or even think… Read more »

MoOn-FLoWeR
10 years ago

AZERBAIJAN 119 VOTES ???? :(((((((

fikri
fikri
10 years ago

azerbaijan, russia and turkey (oh, how i miss them!!)

Leon
Leon
10 years ago

Greece was by far the best. Had to be in the top 5.
Serbia was the second best. Love the cultural influence in the song.

Azerbaijan as always, largely overrated (they probably paid people to vote on this blog too). You could hardly see Sabina’s face and her vocals were not so great, I’m not even talking about the Alladin on the carpet who sounded like he was crying loudly wtf was that.

Padraig Muldoon
Admin
10 years ago

How on earth is Sabina doing so well? The music died as soon as her song began IMO. Still at least Lena is top 🙂 Pity Robin isn’t 2nd.

takecare
takecare
10 years ago

azer, greece, serbia, sweden

EurovisionFanatic
EurovisionFanatic
10 years ago

I voted for Russia. I got all emotional at the “Mamo” performance. How could I not vote for it?

paco
10 years ago

la Griega 2006 me encantaaaaaa.Una diva dandolo todo.Lena 2011 por su originalidad.Lo otro mas de lo mismo

Kalomira-greece
Kalomira-greece
10 years ago

Greece and Anna Vissi <3!! You just have to hear her singing on final 2006 on you tube by HD channel!!She was brilliant!! By far the best!!

MoOn-FLoWeR
10 years ago

SABINA BABAYEVA<3
<3
<3
<3
A
Z
E
R
B
A
I
J
A
N
<3
<3
<3

joey
joey
10 years ago

The last time that a host country won the ESC was in Ireland in 1994. Will it happen again 20 years later, but this time, in Denmark?

Mike
Mike
10 years ago

Since 2006 I liked every song from the hosting country! But the best I think were Greece, Finland, Serbia and Norway!

Julian
Julian
10 years ago

It is difficult for an organising country to promote a song. This is in conflict with the inherent need for organiser’s neutrality. Maybe winning countries should not compete the year they organise the contest and focus solely on their duties as hosts.

Comy
Comy
10 years ago

Voted for :
Sabina Babayeva(Azerbaijan)-perfect song with perfect perfomance 🙂 Her voice is stunning.
Jelena Tomasevic(Serbia)-Same as Sabina 😀
Anna Vissi(Greece)-Yet again,same as Sabina and Jelena 😀
Lena(Germany)-Dark,mysterious :3 Love it 😀

Savannah
Savannah
10 years ago

1. Finland.
2. Greece.
3. Sweden.

Vlad
Vlad
10 years ago

I think all songs were okay except Ukraine (2005) and Russia (2011).

Z24
Z24
10 years ago

He had a great voice, but the song and performance overall were… kinda dreary and stiff. But as Anna Vissi’s, they had one note where they succeded big time.

Robin’s song was decent, but they had songs that were way better than him in that final.

R
R
10 years ago

I’m in the extreme minority here because I REALLY enjoyed Norway’s song. That voice. Yes please.

But overall Sabina did Azerbaijan the proudest, I think.

Diane
Diane
10 years ago

Germany! Oh gosh, Lena went indie-pop with “Taken by A Stranger”, should’ve done better in 2011..

Z24
Z24
10 years ago

Oh look, my idea was used 😀 Well, my top 3 (and the only ones I voted for) 1. Sabina (This one had to be the winning Azeri song. Not really the winner of that particular contest, but the one who should’ve brought the contest to Baku) 2. Lena (not counting the thick accent in the live, this song is great. It’s dark and mysterious and embidoes that well, a great mature song to follow the jolly Satelite) 3. Hanna (Finland doing what they do best, bringing the hard rock. Sexy girl rocking it out. I’m sold) The worst being… Read more »

Emily
Emily
10 years ago

Jelena Tomaševi? is the best BY FAR.

Marion
Marion
10 years ago

Robin Stjernberg & Sabina Babayeva !!!!

Sarah S
Sarah S
10 years ago

Really hated Turkey. Really loved Azerbaijan!

D
D
10 years ago

I liked all of these songs, except Turkey, Norway, Ukraine, and Greece’s.