In an intense showdown last night, four acts qualified to the final of Destination Eurovision. Just as Bilal Hassani won over both juries and televoters, he’s also winning over mainstream listeners, as we can see from streaming and download figures.
The four acts to perform again on January 26 are Bilal Hassani, Chimène Badi, Silvan Arèg and Aysat. With most of the songs available on the biggest music platforms, some tracks climbed up the sales and streaming lists.
On iTunes, Bilal Hassani‘s “Roi” takes the lead at number nine. The track had peaked at number two following its release. Chimène Badi comes up close behind in thirteenth position. Fifth place duo Lautner join the top 50 at number 48 despite being eliminated last night. Another non-qualifier making the cut is Battista Acquaviva. While the juries didn’t feel the moment, the public seems to do so with her song sitting at number 78.
Taking a closer look at the current figures on Spotify, “Roi” enjoys a comfortable lead on the platform. The track currently is the selection’s only entry to enter the French Spotify charts. It debuted at number 103 on January 4 due to its release and hasn’t left the top 200 ever since. The song has already accumulated a total of more than 500,000 streams. Fantastique!
None of the other acts have so far achieved similar success on the biggest streaming platform. Florina‘s “In The Shadow” received about 40,000 plays and Naestro‘s “Le brasier” stands at 30,000 plays. Besides, “La-hàut” from Chimène Badi is at 50,000 streams. Other acts such as Aysat, Lautner or Mazy have received far less streams. Moreover, the songs from Silvan Arèg and Battista Acquaviva are nowhere to be found yet — but we’re hoping to get them as soon as possible to hit the play button!
So what does all this chart action tell us? It’s important to remember that iTunes has lost some of its popularity over the past year. As in many other countries, streaming has taken over as the dominant form of consuming music in France.
There is at least an indication of what songs made an immediate connection with some listeners. It shows us what songs inspired listeners enough last night for them to track down the song online and download it.
What do you think? Do iTunes charts and Spotify streams indicate who might represent France at Eurovision? Share your thoughts below!
Bilal’s song is not that good..
What kind of people are still using Itunes? Even in America the download numbers are horrendous.
The same ones who have Apple Music, I believe.
Serious question: Why is everybody comparing Bilal with Conchita? I mean, yes, there are parallels. But Bilal is not a “drag artist”, but an androgynous boy. And yes, they are both singing about self-empowerment, but many songs are about that. “It’s my turn” (UK 2009) was also about self-empowerment, but nobody said “oh, Jade Ewen must be LGBT then”.
Conchita was also androgynous, so I could see the comparisons. Although I think Bilal is more like a rip-off of Pabllo Vittar, who is a Brazilian drag queen and somewhat successful singer (he/she appeared in Major Lazer’s “Sua Cara” song) also with blonde hair and tons of make up.
Uhm I guess thats why they are compared because of the self-empowerment message they want to pass on and the ambiguous/androgynous look. The songs, of course, are completely different, but at the end of the day we judge the image as well not only the song
To be honest I don’t think the songs are that different, its just conchita performed hers with way more passion and flare which bilal hasnt developed yet.
Personally I think roi is a much better song its just bilal cant give life to it the way conchita gave life to rise like a phoenix.
Just a small correction. Jade Ewen UK 2009 was “It’s My Time.” 🙂
(“I’m not gonna let go of it…”)
Was it a Pride song? Literally, yes. But it would be better to ask Diane Warren, since she wrote the lyrics.
As for Bilal v. Conchita… actually Bilal addressed this comparison on YouTube recently. The comparison could be seen either genuinely as idolisation or cynically as a marketing strategy.
Ah, thank you! 🙂 I think, I have mixed Jade’s “It’s My Time” with John Lundvik’s “My Turn”, oops 😀
Bilal is more like, French Szpak, not Conchita. Tho Szpak is much less androgynous.
I think the song is really strong. Just like his eyebrows.
it’s alright
My issue with Roi is that the more I listen to it the more I get bored of it. I switched my choice and now I prefer Seemone. Roi is a good one but in my opinion his voice is a little bit flat and emotionless, I do not know, I am not an expert.
Don’t take me wrongly but, as much gay Eurovision is, gay anthems, as Roi is, don’t do well at the end unless they have an outstanding quality, look Rise like a Phoenix vs Monsters. And Roi doesn’t have it, it’s a good song, but not a ‘Winner’ and Bilal lacks the powerful aura Conchita has.
Exactly this is what I am trying to say. Someone noted that the majority of flags we see in the crowd during the live shows is the gay pride one and not flags from all the nations. Of course, I do not have any issue it but the person said that Eurovision lost its main cause and meaning. I understand that the gays own a large part of the fan base but if you think about it, when we live in an era of the LGBT movement, it is an incentive to sell something to them as a “be yourself”… Read more »
Bilal is young, hopefully he will get better and develop the passion conchita has
”Rise Like A Phoenix” wasn’t really that good outside of Conchita context, it sounds like a mediocre Bond sountrack in the making. It’s Conchita personality that saved it.
Well let France screw up their chances by choosing Bilal. I’ll be so annoyed with the international juries and France if they pick Bilal over Seemone (that could win Eurovision altogether). It might chart and be a successful track in France, but you wait until Eurovision night where France ends up in the bottom 5, like they did MANY times before their slight improvement!
well the thing is if the juries don’t vote for seemone there are not many chances that she can score well with them in the real esc. You can dislike them but they do exist and vote. So let’s see how she scores next week.
Omg calm down !! Seemone hasn’t performed live yet, wait and see. And please respect the French vote.
Really? That song has literally no movement or lift. Unless seemone proves to be an incredible performer it will be boring af. People comparing it to amar pelos dois is a joke.
It’s a ”Rise Like A Phoenix” mixed with Mo’s ”Heal” to the tune of ”Don’t Come Easy”. Juries might vote a lot for this, since there’s a personal and pro-LGBTQI+ message, that’s about 200 jury points guaranteed at least. It’s not going to flop.