We’re continuing our ranking of songs that were popular in with juries but sadly missed out on qualifying due to a low televote score. Most of the time the jury and public agree, but every year there are a few songs that the juries like a lot more than the public. We’re ranking the songs that didn’t make it out of the semi-finals but still were placed in the top ten with the juries.

Note: we’re looking at songs from 2010 onwards, when the televote-jury split was first made public. To determine the ranking, we’re looking at the jury top ten placings, using the percentage of available points for tie-breaks. In the case of songs from 2013, when the split scores were not made public, we’re just using the rank and our general wiwi instinct for any tie-breaks.

11. Witloof Bay – “With Love Baby” (Belgium 2011)

Jury: 8th place (71 points)
Televote: 12th place (50 points)
Overall: 11th place (53 points)

With the juries full of music professionals, it’s no surprise that they favoured an entry by a skilled a cappella vocal group. Televoters weren’t so impressed, but Witloof Bay delivered singing, swinging, harmonising and beatboxing that won over juries who ranked them eighth.

10. Uzari & Maimuna – “Time” (Belarus 2015)

Jury: 8th place (66 points)
Televote: 13th place (32 points)
Overall: 12th place (39 points)

Is there something about songs called “Time” that juries like more than televoters? Uzari and Maimuna’s “Time” provided plenty of drama, though it was criticised for having somewhat empty staging. Still, juries were loving the dramatic combination of man and woman-with-violin, and ranked the song eighth.

9. Senit – “Stand By” (San Marino 2011)

Jury: 8th place (74 points)
Televote: 19th place (8 points)
Overall: 16th place (34 points)

After taking a two-year break, San Marino made their Eurovision comeback in 2011 with Senit and “Stand By”. The song impressed juries enough to be ranked eighth, but the public was much less taken by Senit’s ballad, ranking “Stand By” last in the televote with only eight points.

8. Nina Badric – “Nebo” (Croatia 2012)

Jury: 7th place (66 points)
Televote: 14th place (34 points)
Overall: 12th place (42 points)

Nina Badric was at a huge disadvantage in the second semi-final, performing before Loreen’s show-stopping, game-changing “Euphoria”. But Nina did well enough to impress the juries, mostly from fellow Balkan states, who gave her a seventh place in their rank.

7. Thea Garrett – “My Dream” (Malta 2010)

Jury: 7th place (66 points)
Televote: 12th place (40 points)
Overall: 12th place (45 points)

Malta are really good at entering songs that are total jury bait but make much less of a mark with televoters. “My Dream” is the first of Malta’s three jury favourites. The jury were apparently won over by Thea’s wide vocal range and/or the Maltese birdman who emerged from her under her gown, and placed “My Dream” seventh.

6. Tijana – “To the Sky” (FYR Macedonia 2014)

Jury: 7th place (70 points)
Televote: 13th place (28 points)
Overall: 13th place, (33 points)

The staging for “To the Sky” was a bit of a mess, with Tijana dressed like a powerful 1980s businesswoman, while a menacing youth in a hoodie danced around her. But the jury recognised Tijana as a skilled pop performer and ranked her seventh.

5. Molly Sterling – “Playing with Numbers” (Ireland 2015)

Jury: 7th place (84 points)
Televote: 16th place (14 points)
Overall: 12th place (35 points)

The staging of Molly’s melancholic ballad was criticised for hiding her behind an upright piano, and televoters agreed by ranking her second to last. But juries were won over by the gentle and expressive ballad, and ranked Molly in seventh place.

4. Glen Vella – “One Life” (Malta 2011)

Jury: 6th place (84 points)
Televote: 18th place (24 points)
Overall: 11th place (54 points)

The curse of Malta strikes again! Again Malta delivered a jury-pleaser, with Glen Vella giving a smiley-faced performance of his moody electropop number. Televoters weren’t convinced and placed Malta second to last. But the jury obviously liked a good bop and ranked Malta sixth, with the overall score of 54 points just one point away from qualifying in 10th place.

3. Natália Kelly – “Shine” (Austria 2013)

Jury: 5th place (6.32 average rank)
Televote: 15th place (12.33 average rank)
Overall: 14th place (27 points)

“Shine” kicked off the first semi-final at Eurovision 2013, and that early position might have accounted for it not making much of an impact with televoters, who ranked it second to last. The jury were much more forgiving, with “Shine” earning a generous fifth place.

2. Trijntje Oosterhuis – “Walk Along” (Netherlands 2015)

Jury: 5th place (70 points)
Televote: 15th place (23 points)
Overall: 14th place (33 points)

Trijntje did her best, but in the end the repetitiveness of “Walk Along” and the unengaging staging took her to second to last place in the televote. But the jury were waiting with roses and some sex (yeah) when they recognised the power of this lady of soul and ranked her fifth.

1. Amber – “Warrior” (Malta 2015)

Jury: 5th place (84 points)
Televote: 12th place (32 points)
Overall: 11th place (43 points)

The curse of Malta continues. Amber gave a spirited performance of “Warrior” and – surprise, surprise – the jury loved it while the televoters were less impressed. It seems Malta has found the winning formula for how to get on the good side of juries, but they just need to figure the secret of selecting songs that viewers will love just as much.

Which is your favourite non-qualifying jury favourite?

Have your say in our poll and vote for your fave. You can vote for as many acts as you like, but you can only vote once so make your vote count!

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  • Also see the definitive ranking of non-qualifying jury favourites – part one and part two.

What do you think? Were any of these songs robbed of a rightful place in the final? Share your thoughts below!

CHECK OUT MORE OF OUR EUROVISION LISTS

21 Comments
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(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

Nina Badric was robbed too! How could the crap from Turkey qualify instead of her?!

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

@EnjaESC

LOL, Latvia placed dead last with the juries in 2011!

EnjaESC
EnjaESC
7 years ago

I voted Glen Vella,I loved his song so much,and he’s awesome 🙂 .
Btw,you should totally add Musiqq’s Angel In Disguise,Latvia 2011…it was my favourite that year,and they got absolutely robbed…

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

OMG, how could “Warrior”, “My Dream” and “Walk Along” stay in the Semi?! The juries are definitely needed, almost all entries here deserved to qualify!

Doorioo
Doorioo
7 years ago

An interesting article 🙂

Sometimes I agree with the juries – when they go for the more original / daring songs. Apart from Belgium 2011 – not many of them in this list though. But in the other list, there were many great songs. Israel 2012, Macedonia 2010, Montenegro 2016 etc.

Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

@ Robyn Gallagher – can you blame the televoters, though? Sending a super generic song (2012, 2016) or a super boring performance (2014) that no one’s going to remember by voting time is certainly not the best idea. What makes it worse is that all these songs had extremely favorable positions in the running order, as they were performed 20th or later. Malta should’ve definitely sent Brooke Borg with “Golden” this year (with a visually improved performance) for a smashing result.

Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

“My Dream” by Thea Garrett is one of my favorites! It absolutely needed to qualify over tragic acts from the same year like Moldova or Cyprus.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago

Trijntje Oosterhuis getting to the final would have been criminal.
Having said that, the songs that the juries over-rated were much better than the ones the viewers over-rated. Yay for juries!

Doorioo
Doorioo
7 years ago

@Ethan – very good point! Sometimes too much drama…

Ethan1994
Ethan1994
7 years ago

@ct_greece
Has there ever been proof that Malta is buying jury votes?

Bermooda
Bermooda
7 years ago

Wow! Jury are addicted to Malta.

Avstryia
Avstryia
7 years ago

Another example of Maltese bribery that did not pay off

ct_greece
ct_greece
7 years ago

@ Möhrant

They don’t have “bad luck” with the televoters. Whatt they have is extreme coziness with the juries every single year due to corruption. And this list of non-qualifiers proves it.

Pollaski
Pollaski
7 years ago

Amber, and Uzari & Miamuna totally deserved to qualify.

Molly should have too, but she was more borderline.

Trijntje? I (I-yi-yi-yi) don’t think so.

ESCFan
ESCFan
7 years ago

I think San Marino (2011, 2013), Israel (2013), Belarus (2015), Croatia (2012), deserved to get through too 🙂

ESCFan
ESCFan
7 years ago

@Maya G – Yes some acts may be suspicious (2011) but come on Malta is hugely underrated by televoters. Also, one has to keep in mind that Malta provides jury friendly songs (2014).

Maya G
Maya G
7 years ago

@Möhrant – I’d say it’s the other way around: Malta has suspiciously good luck with the juries.

Doorioo
Doorioo
7 years ago

“With Love Baby” is impressing. Such vocal skills! As for the others, many songs I find average. “My Dream” downlight boring

Koka
Koka
7 years ago

Nina Badri? really deserved to qualify…

Möhrant
Möhrant
7 years ago

Malta really do have bad luck with televotes at Eurovision. As well as the three entries on this list, their 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 entries all did better in the final with the juries than with the televote.

ESCFan
ESCFan
7 years ago

Poor Amber 🙁 She deserved much more…

Woah did they seriously like Glen Vella’s entry? I am Maltese and I hate it