For the last three years, Team Wiwi has been counting down our favourite songs of the Eurovision national final season. So far, we’ve crowned “Sting”, “Cool Me Down” and “Spirit Animal” as winners. This year, we’re doing it all over again — but with so many national finals to choose from this year, the choice has been harder than ever!
Public selections started all the way back in October, with Latvia’s Supernova online selection round. Fast forward to December, and Albania’s Festivali i Kenges giving us the first selected song.
And on one final weekend in March, Melodifestivalen, MGP and Eurovizijos atranka brought the season to a close. Now, it’s time for us to celebrate all the artists and their songs who didn’t quite make it!
Over the next week, we’ll be covering the top 30 songs of the national final season, as voted for by our wiwibloggers. In total, there’s 16 different national finals represented in this list — that’s how competitive it was, y’all!
Of course, these are just our favourite songs that didn’t make it. We’re not saying they should have made it through — just that we enjoyed them!
Honorable Mention: “Arde” — Aitana (Spain)
A face of just how competitive this ranking was is that a song which achieved points — and high ones at that — from several of our team didn’t even make the top 30. “Arde” missed out on countback, in fact.
Still, much like in the actual OT Eurovision Gala, Aitana has another chance in our rankings. Will “Lo Malo” feature, we wonder…
30. “1 2 3” — Paula (Lithuania)
From the first week, it seemed that this year’s Eurovizijos was a foregone conclusion in favour of Ieva. That didn’t stop Paula from trying to change things up though, with her electro-pop number “1 2 3”.
In fact, Paula changed things up so much that the song ended up being an acoustic guitar song. Even if she only scraped through each week, Paula’s never-give-up attitude made the number even more endearing. It might seem to go on forever, but there’s always some quality in Lithuania.
29. “Lisboa Jerusalem” — Igit (France)
Given Israel’s current position in the odds, we’re not certain Igit wasn’t predicting the future of Eurovision travel with “Lisboa Jerusalem”. Igit’s ranking here perhaps shows the true depth of France’s Destination Eurovision, one of the highlights of the year’s national final season.
With Igit’s quirky charm matching the chanson qualities, “Lisboa Jerusalem” cleverly weaved its way through cities. Thoroughly French, but all the better for it.
28. “Party Voice” — Jessica Andersson (Sweden)
Schlager is not dead! Yes, Jessica might have finished last in the televote in the Melfest final. But it was the journey getting there that proved that the traditional Swedish hit was not over yet.
Qualifying direct to the final — even topping the odds at one stage — Jessica proved without a doubt she could kill it on stage. Now if you don’t mind us, we’re going to dance like a mother for 3 minutes.
27. “Ciao” — Malo’ (France)
Another French NF entry and (spoilers), certainly not the last. With a hint of Chris Martin, Malo’ won over quite a few people on his way to 3rd place in the DE final.
Malo”s bursts of enthusiasm certainly weren’t to everyone’s tastes, certainly. But for those who did appreciate his performance and vocals, “Ciao” could have been a very worthy entry indeed.
26. “Ngrije zërin” — Orgesa Zaimi (Albania)
A remarkably high quality year for Festivali i Këngës meant that there was always going to be disappointment with some of the songs left behind. Whilst Eugent Bushpepa proved to be a very worthy — and popular — winner, Orgesa Zaimi remains a “what if…” candidate.
Perhaps hindered slightly in the live version by the traditional FiK orchestra, “Ngrije zërin” still packs a real punch. Orgesa’s unique “librarian-turned-pop star” look also was a highlight. Hopefully she’ll be back for another attempt soon…
Those are our first five songs in our countdown. Are they some of your national final favourites? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below.
France had a good selection this year. Many good songs. Love both Igit and Malo in this list.
There is a lot of good NF songs this year. Out of those I gave at least an 8/10 I made my Top 60. Here is my top 30 (30-26):
30. Danijel Pavlovi?: Ruža sudbine (Serbia)
29. Gevorg Harutyunyan: Stand Up (Armenia)
28. Dwett: Breaking Point (Malta)
27. Suren Poghosyan: The Voice (Armenia)
26. Rakel Pálsdóttir: Óskin mín / My Wish (Iceland)
Sting and Secret Animal were previous winners? Okay, we definity are not sharing the same taste. Wiktoria’s As I Lay Me Down is my winner of 2017, still in my personal iTunes-top10. This year is much harder to find my favourite non-selected entry because so many of my favourites were actually chosen :-)… It’s probably Malo and Ciao although he only was my #2 behind Mercy. Which says a lot about the French selection. Same goes for Ukraine. Although Melovin was my favourite, I had Lelya high in my list. Disappointments – for me – rather happened in the Northern… Read more »
France made a big mistake by not sending “Eva” instead. “Mercy” is really boring.
Orgeza´s song was GREAT. Eugent is very worthy but she would’ve been awesome too. Glad to see her here. Definitely the best out of these five.
I hope Disem by Nina Petkovic from the Montenegro national selection appears on your list somewhere, great song ?
Just last night I heard « Ciao » play in a McDonald’s and honestly it made me so emotional haha. France really had the best national final this year, wayyyy better than Melfest this year! So many songs were so much better than the actual ESC songs, I think that Ciao, Eva, and Rêves de Gamin could all have finished top ten
Although I like “Mercy”, I would cross my fingers for France also if they had chosen Igit with “Lisboa, Jerusalem”. I love chansons! 🙂
Destination Eurovision was so good! Every song from their final (except Mamma Mia), and even some that missed it, deserve to be on this list. Shutout to MGP too, they had amazing songs.
From these I love “1 2 3” (the initial version), “Party Voice” and “Ngrije zërin”.
I almost cry when i see so many good songs left in the NFs (((( & the chosen songs are crap like Romania ‘chose’ or Lithuania (((((((
my top6
1 The Roop – Yes I do
2 Lisandro Cuxi – Eva
3 Biber – Svatovi
4 Miriam – Lejos de tu piel
5 Vaje – Laura (Walk with me)
6 Kamil Show – Puerto Rico
There has been a “national final top 50” over the last years. This year only 30 songs are presented. *sigh*
I hope Sara De Blue with Out of the Twilight will make at least top 5. Still can’t believe she didn’t win. 🙁
Hi everyone. These are my top 20 favorite non-winning national final songs of Eurovision 2018, in alphabetical order: Astronaut – Liam Tamne (United Kingdom) Crazy – Raya (United Kingdom) Cry – Dotter (Sweden) Heart of gold – Brooke (Malta) Holder fast i ingenting – Rikke Ganer-Tolsoe (Denmark) I mog di so – Voxxclub (Germany) I won’t cry – Gunesh (Belarus) Lejos de tu piel – Miriam Rodriguez (Spain) Lo malo – Ana Guerra & Aitana Ocana (Spain) Mitt paradis – Elias Abbas (Sweden) Music for the road – Albin Fredy (Denmark) My own way – Natia Todua (Germany) My world… Read more »
Love, love, LOVE “You Got Me” from Stella & Alexsandra in MGP Norge!
“Who we are” from Rebecca is a close second too…
I love Ngrije zërin, I’m glad it made it into this list.
Party Voice is a SHAMELESS bop!
My 10 year old dauter think it’s old fashon, but her old mother loves it. ; )
Love, love, peace, peace from Sweden
How good was Destination Eurovision! “Mercy” is on my top 3, “Ciao” would also be there (though I believe France made a wise choice). “Lisboa Jerusalem” would sound like a prophetic entry for many at this moment, based on Israel early favoritism. It was something very exquisite and delicate, something special we haven’t found on any other act on this whole Eurovision season. “OK ou KO” grew so much from the semi to the final and it had space to go even further. “Eva” may only be my 5th choice there, but it’s way better than most of the other… Read more »
has*
I bet Madara or Felix Sandman will make it to the top. Which are also my two favourites besides Sudden Lights from Latvia.
Is Sara De Blue a part of the Top30? 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have a feeling Sara will be right near the top of the list. She’s releasing “Out of the Twilight” worldwide very shortly
Igit is my NUMBER 1.
Paula would’ve been my number 3 if she had qualified. I’m still mourning.
She did.
Uhm no she did not. Ieva did 🙂
Felix (Sweden) and Feli (Romania) will sure be high.
Maybe 2019 will be Feli(x) year.
Great selections so far. I loved Igit, Malo and Orgesa. I hope these aren’t the only ones that I like on your list. I think I am confident in saying Igit and Malo are the first of several of French NF songs on your list. Thanks wiwibloggs.
Igit was my fave. Even so , Mercy is now my number 2, Oly second to Georgia. Destination Eurovision was superb! Just as a reward for that, France should win Lisbon!
Lisboa Jerusalem remains one of my favorite National Final songs. I would’ve loved to see it at Eurovision!
+1
Orgesa probably would’ve been in my top 3 had she been chosen however Mall is great although I can’t see it qualifying.
Mall way more chances to qualify than Ngrije zerin