Earlier this month, he surpassed Alexander Rybak and Il Volo to secure the most viewed Eurovision video ever on YouTube. Today, Italy’s Francesco Gabbani broke yet another record as “Occidentali’s Karma” smashed through the 100 million views barrier.
Whereas artists such as Celine Dion and Hadise have previously reached the landmark, Francesco is the first act to do so with a Eurovision song.
Since returning in 2011, Italy’s entries have always tended to perform well on YouTube. However, Francesco’s success is unprecedented. By comparison, Il Volo had about 22 million views in the run-up to Vienna, while Francesca Michielin had 13 million views this time last year.
And don’t say it’s only Italians watching. The latest statistics put the Mediterranean country’s population at 60 million. Which means that, in the unlikely event that every single Italian watched the video at least once, 40 million views are from outside Italy.
But what of his all important Eurovision 2017 rivals? How does he compare?
Francesco Gabbani “Occidentali’s Karma” (Official Music Video)
The gap between Francesco and the remaining 41 entries is gargantuan. No one is close to matching his nine figure tally, since no other entry has even hit eight figures.
His closest challenger is Hungary’s Pápai Joci with 6.6 million views. Sweden’s Robin Bengtsson is at third with his Spotify dominating entry attracting 3.2 million views.
Altogether, 21 of this year’s 42 entries have exceeded one million views. At the other end of the scale we find Slovenia. Omar Naber has only managed to get 263,360 views for “On My Way”. The Eurovision returnee is also bottom of the Spotify rankings.
Celebrate 100 million views with a namaste gorilla shirt or phone cover, an “Occidentali’s Karma” naked ape shirt or double naked ape shirt, or a “Celebrate Diversity” phone cover or t-shirt.
YOUTUBE RANKINGS: THE LIMITATIONS
Ranking Eurovision entries by YouTube views is not an exact science. There are several limiting factors which we need to keep in mind.
Firstly, between the official Eurovision channel, national broadcaster channels, artist channels and fan uploads, there are multiple versions of every song. For the purpose of our ranking, we’ve pulled out the single most viewed version of each song. In some cases that’s the final version, in other instances it’s the national final performance.
Even when we apply this ranking method we still have to remember that some songs have been on the site for longer, therefore giving them more time to amass views. And we also have to consider geographical factors such as the size of a country’s population and its diaspora. Artists with a large pre-existing fan base also tend to rack up a higher number of views, at least before the contest commences.
Nonetheless, YouTube views can give us a good idea of what songs are going to do well. Italy’s Il Volo topped the rankings in 2015 and finished third. But that’s not always the case. The most watched video of 2014 was from Poland’s Donatan & Cleo. They only came 14th in the final.
You can take a look at the full rankings below.
Eurovision 2017 YouTube views
Eurovision 2017 entries ranked by YouTube views.
Information correct as of 22:00 CEST 24 April.
- Italy: Francesco Gabbani “Occidentali’s Karma” official music video for Sanremo version on GabbaniVEVO 100,291,866 views
- Hungary: Pápai Joci “Origo” official music video for A Dal version on Magneoton 6,627,729 views
- Sweden: Robin Bengtsson “I Can’t Go On” Melodifestivalen performance on Eurovision Song Contest 3,225,446 views
- Belgium: Blanche “City Lights” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 2,884,063 views
- France: Alma “Requiem” official music video for French version on Alma Officiel 2,726,755 views
- Bulgaria: Kristian Kostov “Beautiful Mess” lyrics video on Eurovision Song Contest 2,175,997 views
- San Marino: Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson “Spirit Of The Night” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 2,052,708 views
- FYR Macedonia: Jana Burcheska “Dance Alone” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,960,345 views
- Serbia: Tijana Bogicevic “In Too Deep” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,759,727 views
- Australia: Isaiah “Don’t Come Easy” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,607,276 views
- Poland: Kasia Mos “Flashlight” official music video on Kasia Mo? 1,564,056 views
- Netherlands: OG3NE “Lights And Shadows” official music video on AVROTROS 1,535,915 views
- Armenia: Artsvik “Fly With Me” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,464,591 views
- Germany: Levina “Perfect Life” Unser Song performance on Eurovision Song Contest 1,416,357 views
- Azerbaijan: Dihaj “Skeletons” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,400,443 views
- Ukraine: O.Torvald “Time” Vidbir performance on STBonline 1,368,042 views
- Cyprus: Hovig “Gravity” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,357,659 views
- Portugal: Salvador Sobral “Amar Pelos Dois” Festival da Cancao performance on RTP 1,282,425 views
- Denmark: Anja Nissen “Where I Am” Dansk Melodi Grand Prix performance on Eurovision Song Contest 1,090,359 views
- Austria: Nathan Trent “Running On Air” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 1,065,479 views
- Israel: Imri “I Feel Alive” offical music video Imri Official 1,029,061 views
- Montenegro: Slavko Kalezic “Space” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 998,168 views
- Estonia: Koit Toome & Laura “Verona” official music video for Eesti Laul version Moonwalkstudio 938,513 views
- Norway: JOWST “Grab The Moment” Melodi Grand Prix performance on Eurovision Song Contest 916,092 views
- United Kingdom: Lucie Jones “Never Give Up On You” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 901,262 views
- Moldova: Sunstroke Project “Hey Mama” O melodi pentru performance on Eurovision Song Contest 889,029 views
- Croatia: Jacques Houdek “My Friend” lyrics video on JACQUES HOUDEK 862,050 views
- Greece: Demy “This Is Love” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 847,488 views
- Switzerland: Timebelle “Apollo” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 817,091 views
- Georgia: Tamara Gachechiladze “Keep The Faith” national final performance on Eurovision Song Contest 790,754 views
- Spain: Manel Navarro “Do It For Your Lover” Audio for English version on ManelNavarroVEVO 751,676 views
- Romania: Ilinca & Alex Florea “Yodel It!” Selectia Nationala performance on TVR 731,714 views
- Ireland: Brendan Murray “Dying To Try” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 667,616 views
- Belarus: NAVIBAND “Story Of My Life” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 651,155 views
- Albania: Lindita “World” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 634,270 views
- Latvia: Triana Park “Line” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 551,055 views
- Finland: Norma John “Blackbird” UMK performance on Eurovision Song Contest 511,919 views
- Iceland: Svala “Paper” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 444,125 views
- Lithuania: Fusedmarc “Rain Of Revoloution” national final performance on Eurovision Song Contest 384,996 views
- Malta: Claudia Faniello “Breathlessly” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 334,711 views
- Czech Republic: Martina Bárta “My Turn” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 282,807 views
- Slovenia: Omar Naber “On My Way” official music video on Eurovision Song Contest 263,360 views
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100 million views and here it does not reach 190 comments??? Already the same happens in the videos of Italy: few comments and few likes for so many views …
A news article on Wiwibloggs, for example, about Salvador reaches 330 comments … The likes ratio is higher, the likes / views ratio is higher and the comments / views ratio is also higher.
I’m sorry but I think you’re comparing data in a wrong way. 🙂 For example, in the Italian/Portuguese scenario that you mentioned there are a lot of thoughts missing. First you have to understand how many Italians or Portugueses wrote under their own songs compared to foreigners (and if these people were ignited in social media and how it was that they arrived to write comments), after that you have to understand in which way the article/video/comments section is talking about “your” song (if it’s not what you expected it’s easier to complain and write and fuss about it, if… Read more »
I would give this a 50/50 chance of winning. Compared to other fan favorites in recent years, this has a broader appeal. However, massive pre-contest hype can be a bad thing when it comes to jury members who don’t like the song. If they think it is particularly overrated, they could rank it dead last in attempt to thwart it (it seems that some jurors did this to Russia last year).
By the way Greece’s song views are not actually 850k because the producers took down the old version of the Greek song which had 1.8 million views and would have definitely surpassed 2 million by now (they took down the video about 2 weeks ago).
P.S 100 million views mean Italy has already won,Rome 2018 incoming…
Really don’t understand what all the fuss is about with this song. It’s OK at best. It just reminds me of a low-rent version of Tiziano Ferro. I will definitely be surprised if this wins over Azebaijan/Belgium/Portugal/Bulgaria/Sweden.
To all the haters:
PLEASE TAKE SOME NIRVANA LESSONS!
Just get relaxed and take it easy, life’s too short to keep on hating and hating and hating and…
@lamme you asked if israel is in europe…Well go and check in the map you idiot!!!
YouTube considers views from the same IP.
So,
10 million people x 10 views each = 100 million.
…
Nothing special. The Italian population is 60 million.
…
I already saw the video of my favorite song, Portugal, about 200 times!
Hugs from Goteborg
60 milions but the majority are over 50, also over 70, people who dont even know how to use computer… and also the under 10…
so please come on stop saying they’re all from Italy!!!
And anyway, Lena had milions views and I bet nobody said they were all from Germany… almost impossible
Just to say: portoguese is spoken also in Brazil, a very big Country. By the way: the most of the comment uder Gabbani video are not in Italian…
I’m in Brazil and I can tell you that Salvador’s song wouldn’t be popular here.
@Joe Of course it would not be popular in Brazil, the current Brazilian musical pannorama is terrifying with so much bad taste. The golden era of Brazil in music died in the 80’s. Where is Elis? Caetano? Gal? Simone? Betânia? Thankfully there is Portugal!
I’ll be so happy if this load of crap doesn’t win.
I’ll be so happy if you stop complaining about this song and talk about your favorites in their articles instead. See? You can’t have everything in life.
I’d be so happy if you could hate less…
No!
Ooooh yes!!!!
THE WINNERRRRRRRR…
ROME 2018
Oh yes!!!
Congratulazioni cugito ! ^_^ Actually this number shows to me that he is a winner. He may not win Eurovision but I think his career, his album will be boosted. I think he has all planets aligned to win.
Ali makes a good point. Many of those views are from outside Europe. Apart from Australia, they won’t have a vote next month.
Ridiculous comment! Just take a look at the comments after his official video, they are all in English and come from other nations!! Mostly from Europe!
And almost all of OGAE polls gave him 12 points so please stop saying stupid things 😉 don’t be so envious
Again the same pathetic person who try to defend her ape.
And here you are, the same pathetic person who tries to demolish an ape without noticing he’s also an ape.
You pathetic offender and hater GET A LIFE!
It wasn’t a reference. Last year Jamalia didn’t have the largest number of views on Youtube, but at the grand final, she wins. The jury always had the last word, despite what the public would prefer. This year I would like to see Alma win but I feel the jury will choose someone else.
The only time the winner was the one I wanted it was Lordi! XD
Two time!
I was for Loreen and “Euphoria” too. ^-^
Does someone bother to make a number YT hots divided per inhabbitants of the country?
I think Malta will shoot up the list as they are basically 1 (same number of hits as population) whereas my country Denmark will drop a lot (app. 1/5).
I would do it but have too little time right now 🙂
@polegend Godgarina Good stay in your business and stop been an advocate here.
@Polegend Godgarina Maybe you lacking of self – awareness, but you mock and react aggressively in almost all the articles here and its too much you need someone to shut you off.You should respect other opinions..and no one ask you to be advocate for the italian song in almost every comment.Yes my name is proud Tel Aviv 2018.do you have a problem with that also?
You didn’t answer my question at all, but that’s none of my business 🙂
@polegend Godgarina Shut up please!!!! Your comments are so stupid..we all know you LOVE Italy’s song..there is no need to mock pepole who dont like it. I bet you are annoying dude with no friends..such a pathetic.by the way i also not like the italian song i think its not a winning song.i want sweden, bulgaria, hungary, israel to win.so again shut up.
I’m not mocking anyone, I’m just explaining the meaning of the song to those who don’t grab it and I’m arguing about why it’s naive to think it is unlikely to win. Where are your arguments? Are you capable of coming up with something sensible? Tell us more about it, Tel Aviv 2018 😀
Yes, Tel Aviv 2018 I think that Polegend Godgarina should get a life and stop being so rude to people who have a different opinion to him, he’s a rude cow!
Israel… …is that Europe???
Italys Song its not that good. I HOPE its not gonna Winn. In the begining its not My kind of Song. But now i think its a cheap Song, and i HATE it
Aren’t you that person who was lecturing people about not to spread hate under Sweden’s articles? Well, you aren’t doing it right, henny.
@Adam : Did you even read the lyrics? OK is bagging on westerners who treat eastern religions as a kitschy, exotic little remedy for them to culturally appropriate and cure them of their first world problems……isn’t mocking eastern religions in the slightest.
Can you tell as all, what eastern religions are really for? More than that … what any religion is for?
No religion is so important as it pretends to be.
All religions have the purpose to help us find peace of mind and soul, and as long it achieves that, it means it’s applied properly.
Youtube Views, Spotify Views, 200 millions of Youtubers Top 42, nothing counts at all, as much as I like the Top 2 of this one.
We all know that there is a majority out there, that will hear the songs at the Contest the first time, they will see them from another view. And there is the jury, the Wrecking Crew of some of the favourites in previous years.
@Racal – ‘It’s the role of juries to “butcher” joke entries like Donatan & Cleo. That’s why they were brought back and that’s what we expect from them. I wouldn’t actually mind going back to a 100% jury system.’
I didn’t like Donatan & Cleo, but this phrase : ‘It’s the role of juries to butcher joke entries…’, THAT IS WRONG. The jury role is not to butcher/kill anyone, but to vote in a cold manner, respecting the criteria given to them.
I was just replying to Franco who used the term “butcher”, I simply re-used it in my answer (that’s why I put it in between quotation marks).
I totally agree with you.
Right now I’m happy for Ermal Meta that he’s not dragged in this mess.
Can someone tell me why would Sweden win the jury vote? It’s not meaningful,it’s full of sex intention. If you say “Because it’s Sweden”, then I think it may end up like last year and not winning. TBH the song is worse than last year (jury wise)
Juries base their verdict on 4 equally weighted measures:
– Composition and originality of the song
– Vocal capacity of the artist(s)
– Performance on stage
– Overall impression of the act
As you see, neither ‘meaning’ nor ‘sex intention’ is included in these guidelines. And even if those factors might have a negative impact on the ‘overall impression’ it will only have a very slight effect on the ranking.
If Sweden wins in in the same manner as 2015 there’s gonna be a public outrage of biblical proportions. ^^
Wow! What an incredible feat! And, in just over 2 months. I’ve never seen a song garner so many views in such a short time–even K-pop vids! If this doesn’t bode well for Italy, I don’t know what does. My prediction; 1st in televote with huge points and likely top 5 in jury vote = winner of ESC 2017.
People say Italy will flop hard. I doubt it (unless producers [Bjorkman] places Francesco to open the show!). But why no one is mentioning Sweden flopping? You don’t think people, even jurors, will have Sweden-fatigue?
Francesco is a great singer and I love his song. He’s not my favourite this year, but I’d be very happy if Italy won. If Sweden wins… well, it’ll be great to have Petra and Mans host the show again, but on the other hand, Sweden again? Please let’s give other countries a chance too… Now it’d be great to see Bulgaria win, after the amazing performance Poli gave us last year… and I think it’d be the first time a country of the old Iron Curtain wins (I’m not counting ex-Yugoslav republics, since they weren’t considered as part of… Read more »
People saying most views come from Italians. Hello open your eyes, all my american friends LOVE Italy this year, latin americans watching, the entire world loves this song. We watch the song at least once a day.
FAKE VIEWS as for san marino’s video, Italy and san marino with fake views it’s normal, these countries are not fair play, you can see that they are cheating about their views maybe because they think the number of views will make them more popular or bring the victory, but no way they only show how pathetics they are,, lol ridiculous
Fake views? This song has been getting 1M+ views per day from Italy, which is normal as it’s a huge hit here, plus being the bookies’ favorite by a landslide got people from other countries interested. As for San Marino, there are ads of the video just like the ones Emmelie de Forest had.
@ Polegend: I am glad you are admitting to the $1 million views per day from Italy… of course, these viewers cannot vote for OC and finally the over-hyped song will get the lower ranking it deserves… Personally, I can’t wait.
shut up
polegend
Padraig…..thanks for this article. It makes me feel better about people appreciating hungary’s Joci Papai since he has the second most YouTube views.
#POLEGENDSHUTUP
THIS PERSON IS TOO TIRING HERE
ALWAYS REPEAT THE SAME THING ALL THE DAYS
#POLEGENDGETALIFE
ok there are 60 millions of italians, and YES this views are most of from “italian’s world” italy san marino and switzerland, moreover if 30 millions of italians watched the video three times it’s enough, and like all italians gabbani’s fans are completely crazy and blinded this year they are watching their pathetic singer all the time…. SO YES I ASSUME TO SAY THAT THE MOST OF GABBANI’S VIEWS ARE ITALIANS and basta.
So you’re saying (based on nothing at all) that 30*3=90 million views are from Italians, which means 10 million aren’t – that means that without the Italian views Occidentali’s Karma would still be the most watched by far. Thank you for proving my point, I guess 😀
Meanwhile, Putin is laughing knowing he will rig this vote too.
seeing polegend defending his fav gave me life.
I actually feel this Polegend Person needs to cut down on his Estrogen pills.He’s getting too crabby even for the level of idiocy of Eurovision wannabe divas.
Italy is winning the televote undoubtedly.
The question is how much of a deficit will the jury vote give it?
And whether the jury winner will be able to do decently well and stay competitive in the televote as well!!
One of these songs will win:
Italy Belgium Sweden Bulgaria Azerbaijan France Portugal// Netherlands Croatia Austria Hungary Belarus
This is by no means a prediction of top.
Its dependent on what stands out in jury/televote/out of box.
Some of these will flop but a mediocre safe song may reach top 5 but will never win.
There is nothing “undoubted” about the televote. There are 43 countries in Europe and many of them have cultures which simply do not fit with this entry. Yes, it is fun and good laugh, but most people still expect musical originality and quality and not just a good joke. You speak as a typical Italian who has very little exposure to the Europe outside of your immediate neighbors and former western block.
I am not European even.Lol
I don’t even understand Italian.Very few of us here in the US do.
But the signs are for all to see.
Last year Russia did win the televote and the year before Italy did win the televote.
@Aria–Russia has a diapora which Italy does not, and consistent neighbor vote, which Italy may or may not get this year. I happen to be a west coast american, an I can definitely say that you sound like an Italian peetending to be an American… the anonymity here is so convinient, but let me telk you that no American without close ties to Italy will fight with teeth and nails to prove a point about Francesco winning. So you, and the rest of the Italian gang hanging out on this blog can take a break from pretending you are something… Read more »
Based on your Awesome spellings I have no doubt you are a west coast American.
If it were upto me Italy wouldn’t win cause there are more than a handful of songs better than it.But I can’t pretend to be ignorant just because i won’t be penalized for it.
And Italy still didn’t have a diaspora in 2015 and they still did win the televote by a landslide.
“my awesome spelling” is due to fat finging while typing on my phone. My American English unlike your includes vocabulary and slang which is American, because I am American. Italy had an anthemic song in 2015, which has much broader appeal than the current monkey dance. People listen to Occidentali Karma not because it is great music, but because it is amusing… but this is not the same as great music/performer and while it will get some votes, do not expect a sweeping high vote throughout Europe.
* fat fingering…
Several languages eh!!
You Mexican??
Well I don’t use slangs coz I got an education homie.No shade on you.
Sitting here I can’t really say what Europe prefers!!But the odds , Polls and OGAE voting would all seem to agree with me than you.
Why you no use autocorrect?? -_-
Yeah, because an operatic song reaches a broader audience than a pop one… suuure. People like Occidentali’s Karma because it’s a good song, have you read the reviews, even from international outlets? I feel like you guys are clinging to the most irrelevant things in order to drag Francesco’s song down, but let’s face it, it IS a great song. And no, this ain’t America, cultural appropriation is called cultural exchange here and Occidentali’s Karma is deeper than whatever ~offensive~ meaning you tried to carve out of it.
It isn’t a great song by any means. Its a fun song well cut out for Eurovision. I wouldn’t pay to download it but I would definitely dance along if it plays.
@ Polegend Godgarina: I type on several languages on my phone and setting an autocorrect on any of them will mess up the rest… in addition to the other issues with the auto..
But to go back to your comment-the same arrogant Italian attitude… just like the Italian a few comments below who thinks that Francesco faced tougher competition in San Remo than in ESC… you Italians definitely need you butt kicked. Arrogance and sense of entitlement are off-putting.
Several languages eh!!
You Mexican?
No. Jewish American with Eastern European decent.
@Aria–May be a was a little rude in my previous comment to you, for which I apologize. But I do hope Europe will choose something better than the monkey and the whole circus performance. It is an ok song, very good for it ganre, but Eurovision winner–I think and hope not.
That’s all right!! You have your own opinion and I have mine!!
The point here was to make the other person see that we may be right!! And both of us have seemingly done that. Good night 🙂
Yeah, you’re american just as Melania…
Well no, my parents are from Singapore.
The new voting system could be what gives Italy the win. Italy have been in the position of being televote favourites before and ended in third and that was a bigger score than Sergey last year. The big question is how many televote points will acts like Belgium, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan get because if more than one of them punches above 200-220 it’s unlikely Italy will score above 360 which honestly it needs to stand a chance of winning because I can’t see it scoring above 6th with jury it’s really not a jury song in terms of musical style… Read more »
I don’t think the juries kill the televote favorite for the 3rd year in a row. Jury votes *should* be based on much more than just the vocals and the sound of the song. They also have to vote based on the choreography, the performance, and the song contest – all things Occidentali’s Karma excels in. Add the fact that this year’s competition is weak, and you won’t be surprised if Italy wins the jury vote as well as the televote 🙂
Honestly I think it’s likely to get 6th or 7th with juries but it’s still got a likely chance of being towards the bottom with juries just down to vocals just look at Poland 2014 and UK 2011 the choreography and stage presence were there but vocals and song weren’t up to scratch and they plummeted down the board. The song as much as it’s fans don’t want to admit has it’s flaws with it sounding a bit dated and Francesco’s vocal being very polarising it also like Sweden has gimmicky staging, I know the gorilla is related to the… Read more »
All you said is based on some past isolated cases. 1. My Slowianie was overly sexual and I Can was competing in a year with no real favorite. Ell & Nikki, who had one of the worst vocal performances of the year, were 2nd in jury vote. Lena and Alexander Rybak are no better vocalists than Francesco, and they won by a landslide. 2. EBU has the possibility to host in a first world country with enough money, they won’t throw it away like that. 3. Russia’s “vacant” points won’t necessarily go to one specific country, and they certainly aren’t… Read more »
If anyone has any doubt that Francesco will smash the televote then they need to get their head checked, the evidence is in plain sight, denial is futile.
But the juries make me nervous. I want to believe they’ll vote sensibly, but then again it never would have crossed my mind that they could rank Il Volo outside the top five…
humour is the highest form of intelligence that´s why many people are not “getting” the meaning of the song lol
I don’t speak Italian, so I can only understand the song by the subtitled versions I have seen. To me it sounds like this song mocking and degrading people for their religious beliefs. Like if they are Buddhists, believe in karma and nirvana, or do yoga etc. To me this song just sounds sounds like pretty mean bullying, making fun of things that are important to a lot of people’s lives. I wonder if the song would’ve even been able to be in the contest if it had, for instance, been mocking and making fun of Christian beliefs and rituals… Read more »
Lol no, you got it all wrong. The song is making fun of the pointless and ridiculous trends people follow like sheep in the social media era. People finding solace in Asian philosophies they understand nothing about is just an example of these trends.
That comment only shows your ignorance… and you represent exactly what the song his mocking “Internet experts/ Cleverness is out of fashion/ Easy answers
Pointless dilemmas” AHAHHAHHA so so funny!!! LOLOL
http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/02/15/occidentalis-karma-lyrics/174193/
@Em: I completely agree. Additionally, if a person has been lucky to be exposed to the beauty and humility of the Eastern religions, and knows people who actually live this kind of pure lives for others, this is like an equivalent of mocking the Pope and have nuns going to a striptease bar. An official video like the one produced for Occidentali’s Karma would have resulted ina public outrage in America would have been condemned by most Hollywood celebrities and would have forced the performer to make a public apology. Funny how Europe glosses over the sterotyping of a world… Read more »
Did you even read the lyrics? OK is bagging on westerners who treat eastern religions as a kitschy, exotic little remedy for them to culturally appropriate and cure them of their first world problems.
And luckily OK didn’t get produced in America, because we Americans tend to overreact and live up to our airhead-stereotypes when it comes to these issues. Europe doesn’t have a problem with it, so America shouldn’t project its own problems onto them. Even so there is no problem in the first place, since OK isn’t mocking eastern religions in the slightest.
Italy in past always get many points from Mediterranean countries and good points from Eastearn Europe, but they don t get many points from Nordic countries and Atlantic countries.
mark my words, he will win the votes of the public and juries!! 😉
Italy will be in TOP 3 but not winner. I think fight for win between Sweden and Belgium, I think Sweden will win (in top 3 both with juries and televote).
My prediction TOP 5 with juries in final
1.Belgium (points like Australia)
2.Sweden
3.Denmark
4.Australia
5.The Netherlands
TOP 5 with televote in final
1.Italy
2.Bulgaria
3.Sweden
4.Romania (like Poland 2014)
5.Armenia
Yeah, you can stop posting this unrealistic prediction in every article of this kind. There’s no way Italy won’t do brilliantly in the jury vote, and there’s no way the juries will sleep on Bulgaria as well.
I can bet that Sweden will have better result than Italy in juries points . Francesco lost in San Remo from all two juries , he won only televote, and Robin was got so many points from international juries and finsihsed only 3 rd in televote( small difrerence in points from televote) and huge difference bettwen points with juries in MF final. Juries will vote more for Australia then Bulgaria and if Ireland also go to final, Bulgaria will l lost many points from juries.
Why don’t you bet some money on it then? You should do it just for the kiis! 😀
Also, the Sanremo juries say nothing at all. They didn’t vote heavily for Francesco because he’s something new in the Italian music panorama, and Italians are traditionalists.
Francesco lost the jury vote to Ermal Meta who had a masterpiece XD.
Francesco had a tougher competition at Sanremo than Eurovision 😉 So your jury point makes no sense.
Critics love Occidentali’s Karma
As for Sweden, you should know there was a App voting that makes impossible to have gaps. Otherwise, Nano and Wiktoria would have been way ahead from Robin in the televote.
polegend get a life you’re so tiring, it’s not because you are here just to defend gabbani or verona, that you will make them love, so stop the massacre, and go to bed to sleep you need that I think.
here we go again with your “does this predict a win”- articles! I actually like them, fun to read:) To think some people take it seriously.. Of course it doesn’t mean Italy will win, in the same way Spotify lists doesn’t mean Sweden will win or OGAE voting predicts Italy to win. Nothing can of course predict a winner in ESC, certainly not YouTube views. Those will only be checked out by die hard ESC fans, the majority who are non ESC fans will check out the song in final. Not sooner. So of course it doesn’t mean he will… Read more »
This will flop so hard! With bad staging and it will be forgotten! The ape has totally got nothing to do with the song! And is just making the song worse! It will be Spain 2016 2.0
1. The ape is mentioned throghout the song;
2. Barei was never #1 in the betting odds, she was never close to being VEVO certified, and she didn’t chart in 15 different countries;
3. The performance is part of the reason why the song is so successful and tipped to win;
4. You need to accept that you’re angry and bitter.
Just because you can’t accept that everyone has a different opinion!! Your the one that is angry and bitter!!
Your “opinion” is completely off, and not immune to criticism. Grow up. 1.) The ape is mentioned all throughout the song, so at this point your “opinion” is already wrong. But lets go on. 2.) It obviously doesn’t have bad staging if it managed to win Sanremo. 3.) “Forgotten”? Your telling me a song with 100,000,000 views on youtube will be forgotten, compared to all these other songs barely hitting the 2-3 million mark? 4.) Like Polegend said Barei was nowhere near being a favorite (other than a fan one, like nearly all Spain entries are every year) and wasn’t… Read more »
The irony of you calling people angry and bitter while responding to every single comment in this section that doesn’t kiss your country’s behind. Some people on wiwibloggs really need to get a life…I hope they will start monitoring the comment section better soon.
He said that “the ape has nothing to do with the song”, he’s clearly trolling. Bless your heart.
@Ariana I agree Polegend Godgarina should be banned from commenting on wiwibloggs for being rude to people for having a different opinion
Read that as “I don’t have any arguments/clapbacks, so I wish he’d just disappear”. Bravo Kolumbo! 🙂
you are becoming so pathetic…
And you have no arguments (no, calling someone “pathetic” is not an argument) to support your statements. Try to contribute to the discussion with something sensible, maybe 🙂
15 differents countries, lol which countries? can you tell me?
stop to lie please!!!!!!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidentali%27s_Karma
On iTunes. I thought you were smarter than that, gosh.
Liar, pathetic liar, we have the evidence now
You’re not able to give me one other country, because it has never existed certainly, you are useless here .
COME ON ITALY!
I love this song and I’m not Italian. It doesn’t matter if he wins, it’s always a good job. It isn’t true that he is ignorant; he just said he doesn’t practice yoga, which is very different.
On the contrary, Francesco is a guy very sensible and mature for his age. He explains in many interviews when he needs to relax or connect with his centre, he usually plays drums, rides a bike, or practices mountaineering.
The gorilla makes it harder for me to take the performance seriously. It just looks like he’s performing a song on a kids’ program. I have no problem with his voice, the lyrics or his charisma, but the background music sounds so cheap and just no.
You’re criticizing Francesco’s dancing gorilla which is mentioned in his song and relevant to its meaning, but praising Sweden’s nonsensical gimmicks a few comments below… you lack consistency with your statements, girl.
I think you’re confusing me with someone else, cause I hate Sweden’s performance and I would love to see the jury butcher it 🙂
I just read in the comments of the technical rehearsals, of another favourite song “this song needs a really spectacular staging..or it will ends up as a boring shows..” Everyone criticizing the “gorilla gimmicks” but hoping that “staging” will “do it” for another songs. That seems exactly to me like the hypocritical society we have, and the song points exactly that. He does not need the gorilla. The gorilla is there, only for the statment it´s supposed to send. And one of the messages of the song is criticizing the gimmicks used in contemporary music scene!! AHAHHA You can see… Read more »
Well I have the same feeling. That monkey gives me the feeling that we are watching at the Junior eurovision song contest instead of the eurovision song contest. And his dance anomy’s me also.
And Fairytale and Satellite didn’t give you that feeling? Both songs and performances were far more childish than this… yet, they were popular winners. So please, tell us more about it, wimp 🙂
@wim, @marina I think that too its, very boring to watch
I agree with you. I’m not Italian, but I speak Italian and I understand all his interviews. He’s an intelligent, sensitive boy with his feet on the ground; he isn’t arrogant, perhaps a little shy. I don’t hate any of the singers or their song. I like all singers, some songs a bit less, but this does not give me the right to offend someone. I love the songs of Brendan, Blanche, Christian. I also like Nathan, Slavko, Miruna, Alma, Isaiah, Ilinca etc.
“The most watched video of 2014 was from Poland’s Donatan & Cleo. They only came 14th in the final.”
They were criminally butchered by juries. Televote hade them in top5.
It’s the role of juries to “butcher” joke entries like Donatan & Cleo. That’s why they were brought back and that’s what we expect from them. I wouldn’t actually mind going back to a 100% jury system.
Nobody would watch the show if it was 100% jury vote, the public wants to have the saying in the result in the most watched yearly televised competition in the world. The only ones who want to go back to 100% jury vote are literally people who already watched the contest in the 90s or before. The songs have only gotten more interesting and more diverse ever since 1998, and the performances have become more elaborate than just standing there on the stage for many songs like it was before Marija Naumova won in 2002, so the televote only brought… Read more »
Beg to differ: the show was actually more popular when it was 100% jury vote. Viewing figures are growing because more countries broadcast the show today and because it’s live on the web, but they lowering proportionally to countries’ population (especially in Western countries). Here in the UK, most people don’t even know it’s on TV and who the British act is. “The televote only brought good things”? Is that a joke? Neighbouring and diaspora voting literally exploded, as well as the number of joke entries. The contest had gotten so trashy in the 2000s that they had to bring… Read more »
Diaspora votes are a problem, but in the end, the best song for the public always wins regardless of voting blocs and trends. I get it that in the UK the show isn’t taken as seriously beause of their poor showings that lead people to believe Europe hates them, but thankfully now the worldwide audience is broader every year and last year it reached a record-breaking 201 million viewers.
It’s not just in the UK. You’re Italian right? Last year, the final only scored a market share of 16% in Italy, whereas almost the entire country watches San Remo. And yet Italy is quite successful in Eurovision.
I don’t think the low viewing figures come from poor showings (although it doesn’t help), I think it comes from an overall perceived lack of quality (which would be even lower without the juries, as seen in the 2000s).
The Eurovision isn’t a talked about event in Italy. Keep in mind that we didn’t participate from 1998 until 2010, but if we win this year, I’d expect the public interest to grow exponentially for the future editions.
Except in 2015, when the juries robbed Il Volo.
Joke or not. Song for itself wasn’t. That song was big radio hit in Poland.
Eurovision is also about fun.
And televote is not biased unlike juries. Public vote what they like and that’s it. Juries 100% will kill this contest.
Yeah, the juries sometimes are very corrupt… just look at Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and San Marino swapping points every year. The televote has its flaws but at least it’s more fair because it’s representative of the 200 million viewers (30 million single televotes were submitted last year iirc).
Tell that to Azerbuyjan who send buses full of people with prepaid SIM cards to various countries every year to vote for their song. 😉
Corruption can happen in both votes: you can’t use that as an argument against jury vote because it happens with televote as well.
That hasn’t happened ever since they got exposed in 2013. Can’t say the same about the jury votes – since you mentioned “Azerbuyjan”, just look at the votes they got last year. 10 from the Swedish jury, and ONLY because it was a Mediocrityfestivalen reject, whereas the Swedish televote had it in the bottom 5.
Even with only 50% juries, we would never have had cheap “winners” like Estonia 2001, Marie N or Dima Bilan. Jury vote doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, it means that acts have to hold themselves to a certain professional standard (and I actually think that Francesco does that perfectly: the performance is fun but the song is well produced and he can hold his own live). I’m sorry but “big radio hit in Poland” doesn’t really mean quality. 😀 The melody was awkward, the live vocals were bad and the performance was offensive to females and full of clichés… Read more »
And that’s why in 2015 the public voted for a quality opera song fully sung in Italian, but the jury went for the gimmicky and cheap David Guetta ripoff from Sweden? Come on…
As I said: I’m not always in line with the juries (especially in 2015), but I’m in line with them more often than I am with the televote. You can’t deny that there’s been a big increase in quality since the juries came back in 2009, can you?
2008 was my favorite year, it was a combination of flawlessly produced pop songs, quality ballads that didn’t try hard and troll songs that were actually funny, so no lol but 2009 was great as well
Polegend Godgarina
You are so rude. Why you have to criticise Sweden in every sentence? I think everybody here knows you hate Sweden. We get it, stop the hate now.
Juries always vote for creativity, originality and charismatic performances… Francesco has the whole package. I did not wonder he could win the vote of juries and the public at the same time.
“And don’t say it’s only Italians watching. The latest statistics put the Mediterranean country’s population at 60 million. Which means that, in the unlikely event that every single Italian watched the video at least once, 40 million views are from outside Italy.” … What kind of an argument is that? 😀 I don’t think that these views only come from Italy, but Italians could still watch the video more than once (as most people can). More importantly, YouTube videos track the geographical spread of their viewers, so it should be easy to get that info from YouTube to know where… Read more »