Y’all, Eurovision 2016 just got very real. All 43 songs have now been submitted to the EBU at today’s Head of Delegation meeting in Stockholm. With the paperwork all filed, business moved on to one of the most important parts of the HoD meeting: the host country’s draw. We now know that Sweden will perform 9th in the running order for the Grand Final on May 14th!
This was something that neither Frans nor SVT had any control over, too. Whilst the broadcaster will get to choose the running order for every other song in the semi finals and final, Sweden’s draw was chosen at random. This is to ensure fairness — although, in theory, there would be nothing stopping SVT putting songs that might make Frans seem “better” around him. Of course, Austria’s ORF didn’t exactly do much to help The Makemakes last year…
Of course, in the past two years, the winner has come from the first half of the draw as well. Conchita Wurst performed in 11th out of 26 countries, whilst Måns Zelmerlöw performed 10th out of the 27 countries in the 2015 final. Could the chain keep going for a third year in a row?
Watch: Frans interview after Melodifestivalen
If Frans were to win, he would become the first person in nearly 30 years to win from singing in 9th. Of course, the last person to do so was a certain Celine Dion, back in 1988. 9th place has also given us three other winners: Udo Jurgens won 50 years ago with “Merci, Cherie” in 1966. Lys Assia also won the first ever contest from 9th place, as well as Isabelle Aubret in 1962. There is some real history there for Frans to add to!
Watch: Måns Zelmerlöw talks to us about Frans
What do you think about Frans’ draw in the final and how it might affect his chances of winning? Let us know in the comments section or through our Twitter page. Make sure to check back later on today too, for a roundup of all that has been revealed at today’s Head of Delegation meeting.
DR apology accepted 🙂 And considering the gay fans were save in Baku I am sure they also would be in 2017 is in Moscow. And we all say things we dont mean when we are mad, dont worry haha.
Daan For that I do apologize, I shouldn’t have said that. But I was angry at reading so many baseless conspiracy theories about Sweden, and I went too far. Overall I think no one should make claims until they have proof, or at least a justified reason. Mainly ad if they become mainstream beliefs they can damage to contest. If they are true then call the EBU out rightfully. I also think politics shouldn’t be in the contest, unless you are forced to comment like with our qualk doctor friend, our it actually effects the contest, such Russia’s ability to… Read more »
I think I know who you are talking about DR and I did place a message to him which never got post by Wiwibloggs.. as it was too long and apparently that makes it to be moderated. He sadly made all his posts invalid after he said something about the degeneration whatever. But this is getting untopic. I am just saying I do not trust the way Sweden won, I have no facts for this. But nor do we have for Azerbaijan winning in 2011 etc. Its just my opinion and you shouldnt have called me out for it in… Read more »
Daan What you will have seen me do is show that not all Russian people agree with the LGBT laws, including Dima Bilan. I put links up showing that Russian stars had written to Putin agwins the laws. I then had ago at someone who tried to say that being gay was a curable mental illness and that defended the Russian GOVERNMENT, for saying the LGBT laws will bring stability to the many minorities in Russia. In his words it would start a civil war to give freedoms to the LGBT community. When people start saying I have a mental… Read more »
DR darlin, low standards? You keep on throwing insults don’t you? Little bit confused on what low standards mean to you then.. I support Russia on ESC this year and like last year its my favorite to win, and yes, I am also gay, so dont try to bounce the ball back like that. 😉 Though I am sure I have seen you post negativity on Russia threads but whatever.
@ Daan
How dare you to accuse me of ranting in Russian articles. I never rant about Russia. I like their song and I ignore the politics in the contest, even as a member of the LGBT community. Don’t group me with ignorant people who use any opportunity to hate Russia. I judge the songs in the contest, not the country. I hate the Russian government but I don’t hate the country. Therefore I will treat their song with fairness. Don’t judge me by your low standards.
Every time Sweden is hosting the contest they fail to get a good placing, this year it’ll be the same story.
yasss! welcome to baku/moscow 2017!
Sure DR, but if this was Russia you would spout out your hate like you do in every Russian thread. I don´t believe Sweden won fair and square in 2015 no. I am not convinced that a mediocre pop song won from a well preformed Opera song or power song like Russia, who both got higher in the televoting. If anything people thought Italy would win the jury vote, not one in a dozen yawnfest songs. I think Mans proved it himself in the MF final that his song is nothing without his act. Its dangerous for a keyboard to… Read more »
The russian song= a bad copy on Moves like Jagger
All this Eurovision conspiracy is hilarious. So you don’t like the song. It doesn’t mean that there is a conspiracy on it. The reason that there is alot on Sweden at the moment is because the biggest National Final has just concluded watched all over Europe, and is from Sweden. Also Sweden is hosting. So two streams of stories from Sweden, both legitimate. And whoever said Björkman is buying articles, step away from the keyboard, you’ve just shown how unsafe it is for you to be around one, when you make up stories with no proof. Just because you hate… Read more »
Sal, what the hell is wrong with you? To comment negatively on a teenager’s looks is just…wrong. ” Richer song and with two less ugly (not difficult) guys who are actually genuinely British.” – you are talking completely subjectively in any case. Genuinely British? You sound like some sort of right-wing bigot.
No offense.
@RobynI think Russia is in the top of betting odds because Russians are the ones placing the bet themselves. After finishing 2nd last year, they seem confident to win….I feel like its Aram MP3 hype all over again
Is in that glass box all number from 1 to 26. When Sweden draw number 9, men wiht microfone in hand have paper with number 4. See video on 01.08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXtjMN66OjY
I mean, Mans performed at #10 last year, and Conchita also performed first half. If the jury or the crowd really like the song, it won’t matter.
Conchita Performed in 1st half of the final*
There’s no excuses people, Conchita performed in 1st Semifinal and she Won both Televoting and Jury.
Swden won’t go anywhere in may, of course they are hosting the contest But in the Scorboard as well,
I can’t see this as a standout in the final, he will go totally unnoticed.
Well, since the last couple of years the running order doesn’t matter that much. The big favorite usually wins with or without a good running number.
Just for the record, Frans will perform in semi final 1 as well so he will “steal the thunder” from Russia anyway 😛
Robyn Gallagher
We all know that 90 % of chance to Russia open grand final.
@MTD nope, alot of songs got lost in a sea of the same genre.
My predcition for draw , because draw decide host and reference group full of members from western nordic countries and SVT like uptempo song for opening and close or song with tehnical inovation I semifinal 1.Russia 2.San Marino 3.Croatia 4.Hungary 5.Armenia 6.Moldova 7.Greece 8.Finland (to suport neighbours and not good song from 6, 7 place in draw) 9.The Netherlands (to suport western countries) 10.Azerbaijan 11.Estonia 12.Czech Republic 13.Bosnia Herzegovina 14.Austria 15.Montenegro 16.Malta ( not good song from 13 to 15 place, and maybe swedish authors of new song instead chosen Chameleon) 17.Cyprus (swedish author) 18.Iceland (to suport nordic countries) For… Read more »
@Xeph – I wonder why people were fully awake BEFORE introducing the producer’s deciding the running order, a.k.a. before 2013.
That argument is silly and you know it.
Y’all hating on SVT are silly and need to take off those tinfoil hats. When the broadcaster picks the song order it ensures that there won’t be 5 ballads in a row, or 5 uptempo songs in a row, ensuring that viewers don’t get bored, and everyone gets their chance to shine.
Also start number 9 has never been considered a good start number so give me a break. What you typically want is something like 20-25th, because then the song is still fresh in peoples minds when the voting starts.
I don’t think it will do well. And honestly, could you just stop forcing this whole Sweden/Melfest thing? Hello! There are other artists that are way stronger i.e. Serbia’s, Russia’s, Armenia’s etc, with way less media space.
Starting position is like age, just a number. That alone won’t influence wining chances. What will is the performance, if there is many similar in that genre to compete with and what acts comes before and after. A winner is a winner, no matter the number.That isn’t the decisive factor.
As the last two years have shown the winner started pretty early and managed to win. And no, don’t mean the “Italy won the tele-vote and is the right winner” nonsense that’s been done to death. I mean the overall winner, the one that actually matters and that actually won.
I was thinking that any of the Big 5 will prevail this year. Look at Spain and France for example as they are great contenders. Sweden is starting to exhaust every efforts they are doing now for Frans and it may end up tiring and chaotic. If only they begin to become aware about it.
Frans song is so strong that it will likely succeed no matter what start number it has.
If SVT and the EBU really want Sweden to win again, then their starting position will not mean anything, it will happen regardless.
I hope not though: Paris/Riga/Madrid/ Reykjavik 2017 please!!
I wonder how much Dictator Bjorkman paid Wiwibloggs for having 2-3 pages of Sweden articles in a row now. And wow.. 9th spot.. Coincidence? This was the only entry who got a random draw right? Any transparance for this? Pretty much every Eurovision fan I see on fan websites are SICK of Sweden and their constant arrogance.. Especially Bjorkman saying “that we will be celebrating Sweden winning again on the 15th this year”. Sure darling, if you pay your victory again like you did in 2015 sure.. I think I can speak for most Eurovision fans when I say this..… Read more »
People hating a song = Jealousy
Nice logic there. Gullible and biased fans are adorable.
Rock Me
That place is save for Russia this year , or France.
Daniel E.
Agree with comment. They lobby for Sweden, Malta, Azerbaijan every year and sometimes for Ireland and Albania.
Mvaneijk97
People are not jealous at Sweden , but don t like injustice at contest after 2013.
People are so jealous at Sweden, so funny
I wouldn’t mind if it was the 1st of the night cause the song is definitely not a winner or top 5 material.
Is it just me, or there are too many stories about Sweden on wiwibloggs?! Enough already! Too much is too much, it’s getting irritating!
Ok. Really? SVT had NO control over it? Like, none? Rubbish. I suppose that’s why they are trying to continue a tradition of the past couple of years. The winners positions: 2014- 11 2015- 10 It’s gone down by one. So if we do that again…. 2016- 9 Ooh! What a coincidence. Of course, it could be a coincidence! But we really need the draws chosen at random. Maybe the big 5 + host could pull their numbers at the semi allocation draw? And the qualifiers could choose their exact spot at the winners press conference after each semi final.… Read more »
The draw only really effects the televote. Mans won overall yes, but did not win Televote
Over last 10 years 2005-2015 televoting winners have come from
2005 2nd half
2006 2nd half
2007 2nd half
2008 2nd half
2009 2nd half
2010 2nd half
2011 2nd half
2012 2nd half
2013 2nd half
2014 1st half
2015 2nd half (televote winner)
Of course it’s possible to win the televote from the 1st half as Conchita showed but it’s a huge disadvantage nonetheless.
This is the effect of the introduction of jury in 2009. Now we will have boring rivalry of countries, as we had before 2000. This will be just modern version of these craps.
he reason why the Frans received only 14 percent in the viewer´s voting was probably due to mobileapp voting. Becuse viewers could vote free 5 times on each song with the mobileapp, and many voted probably on many songs which made the votes were spread out on many songs. if you compare previous years when the mobile app is not used, the result is quite different in viewer´s voting
Hey can someone answer my question? :p what is it with guys here saying that the draw is not random? It is random right at least for the final night.
We saw from the results of Melodifestivalen that, despite the hype, he doesn’t have THAT much support with juries and not even enough with the public to contribute to a landslide win which is what Mans had.
I actually think the U.K performing after Sweden in the running order could also massively damage his chances. Richer song and with two less ugly (not difficult) guys who are actually genuinely British.
I think these years have shown the draw plays no important issue to the outcome. Måns and Conchita won with early starting positions, where you’re usually supposed to not do well. And Italy did well starting last in 2015, and usually these last years going last wasn’t really good either
The draw is just that, a number. That doesn’t affect success. What depends is what comes before and after it.This year there are many similar songs so he could do well based on that
@MTD @Racal, Thanks a lot not to be alone to say here enough is enough with Sweden entrie !!!!
Being honest, the draw really doesn’t affect a song if it deserves to win. A first-half draw did not change the fact that the favourite won.
We all know that Sweden will be overrated by juries points like they did from 2012 to 2015. My prediction for Frans from 160 to 240 points from juries.
I don’t think Sweden will make top 10 from the juries, since there isn’t enough content in the song itself (and almost zero choreography). However, I think Frans could easily win the popular vote, and with no other clear candidate to do that this year this could lead to an exciting and dramatic final voting result. 🙂
I still hate that the host broadcaster chooses the running order…
I knew it , I knew I got Nr.8 or Nr.9 then I said Nr.9 fits more to sweden . There for a random 🙂
I wonder why they didn’t put him 2nd or 3rd? 😉 Now seriously, isn’t it starting to be shocking that the host broadcaster decides on the draw, and gets to give an advantage to their favorite entries?
For the rest, I agree with MTD. Although I like Frans’ song, I’m getting sick of the 24/7 coverage of Swedish entries.