Team Wiwi’s Top NF songs of ESC 2020 (30-21)

The countdown continues.

Today we enter the top thirty in our countdown of our top songs from this year’s Eurovision National Final season. There’s arena rock, songs about reptiles, and more in our next ten songs. So let’s see who our wiwibloggers have voted for.

Team Wiwi’s Top NF songs of ESC 2020 (30-21)

30. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”

It’s a bold move to bring a song named after one of the Beatles to a competition. But Pinguini Tattici Nucleari delivered on the hype. The band were a justified fan favourite ahead of Sanremo and “Ringo Starr” has now been streamed over 15 million times on Spotify.

29. Hege Bjerk – “Pang” (Melodi Grand Prix)

The top thirty kicks off with Hege Bjerk from Norway. “Pang” fizzes with dark intensity and the studio cut has an avant garde quality to it. In the live performance, Hege seemed a bit exposed on stage, and fell victim to the MPG knockout duels.

28. ANNNA – “Polyester” (Supernova)

“Polyester” was a piece of quirky and fun pop music. In many ways this felt like a bridge between Latvia’s newer modern pop sounds and past novelty entries the Baltic state has sent. The song also packed in a timely message about sustainability.

27. Gabrielius Vagelis – “Tave Čia Randu” (Pabandom iš naujo!)

Kimono he better do! Lithuania’s national final flourished this year and “Tave Čia Randu” proved popular with our wiwibloggers. It is a lovely modern midtempo number and the fact this didn’t make it to the final demonstrates the high quality in Lithuania this year.

26. Pam Rabbit – “Get Up” (Eurovision Song CZ)

Pam Rabbit was another highlight of Czech Republic’s national selection. “Get Up” fused together dubstep, electro elements and an ethereal vocal for a compelling, kooky package.

25. KaYra – “Alligator” (Pabandom iš naujo!)

To Lithuania again now. KaYra’s “Alligator” was a total delight: Catchy hook, fun staging and a competent performer. In another year, this might have gone all the way for Lithuania.

24. Mariette – “Shout It Out” (Melodifestivalen)

There’s always a buzz around Mariette when she returns to Melodifestivalen. This may not have been the song that took her to Eurovision, but “Shout It Out” is true to her as an artist and stood out in an otherwise lacklustre semi-final.

23. Jaagup Tuisk – “Beautiful Lie” (Eesti Laul)

In a year of sad boi songs, Estonia might have had one of the best in their national final. While the impact of “Arcade” can be seen in “Beautiful Lie”, Jaagup took it in a different direction, and added Jedi force effects for added performance impact. As with many songs, live performance really brought this to life.

22. IVA – “Oculis Videre” (Söngvakeppnin)

It felt as though Iceland got its game back together this year. And “Oculis Videre” was a big part of that. Unique may be overused, but this entry was one of a kind this season. It brought huge spiritualism, but on the night somehow the magic didn’t quite land.

21. Rancore – “Eden” (Sanremo)

Sanremo always brings quality. And Rancore brought one of the year’s standout entries in “Eden”. Modern, captivating and cool it demonstrates why Sanremo is held in such high esteem in Italy.

What do you think of the first entries in this year’s top thirty? Are any of them your favourites? Let us know in the comments below!

Update: An earlier version of this post failed to include Pinguini Tattici Nucleari at #30. This was a human error. It has now been updated, which means that songs originally ranked 30-11 (Hege Bjerk to Elodie) all improve a space in the rankings. Apologies for this oversight.

You can view all our top national final posts here