Wishes granted: The full ranking of our Wednesday Wishlist artists who went on to Eurovision

For the sixth year running, the team at Wiwibloggs is organising our “Wednesday Wishlists”. As the title suggests, it’s our yearly round-up of the artists we think would do a fantastic job representing their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest. But before we dive earphones first into this year’s list, we thought it’d be fun to look at our past wishes that actually became a reality. Did the stars in our dreams ultimately soar high in the sky — or crash and burn on their way out of the semi-finals?

Over the five Wednesday Wishlist editions we have done, our wishes were granted a total of eleven times, with a total of twelve entries sent to the grand Eurovision stage. Here’s how they fared.

12. Franka Batelic – 17th place in the semifinal

Described as “a versatile, genre-hopping diva that has gone from pop to teeny bopper to house”, Franka brought her own brand of “Crazy” to the Eurovision stage in 2018. Despite not qualifying for the final, her live performance was described as pitch-perfect. Franka oozed a sultry cool that still raises the temperature today.

11. Michele Perniola (featuring Anita Simoncini) – 16th place in the semifinal

Fresh from a memorable performance at Junior Eurovision in 2013, Michele Perniola made the logical step of repping the microstate in the mother contest once he turned 16. And when that date came, he found himself in Vienna in 2015, next to his fellow Junior contestant Anita Simoncini of the Peppermints. She was the youngest-ever artist under the current age rules to participate. Sadly their “We are the World”-style duet “Chain of Lights” didn’t replicate Valentina’s surprising qualification. But to this day we are still saying that iconic “No”.

10. Srbuk – 16th place in the semifinal

After the high-octane pop explosion that was “Half a Goddess”, we were sure this Armenian bombshell would have saved something huge when our wish was granted for Tel Aviv. But while “Walking Out” had its fans, it didn’t make it through to the big final. Was it the staging? Was it the song? All we know is that it wasn’t down to Srbuk — a singer of immense poise and power.

9. Alekseev – 16th place in the semifinal

Our wish for Ukraine was granted via Belarus when, amid a bit of controversy, Alekseev ran away with their national final and punched himself a ticket to Lisbon. “Forever” underwent multiple changes before hitting the big stage, going from electro-pop to ballad, complete with an extreme display of roses. Unfortunately he was left behind in one of the most competitive semifinals to date.

8. Freddie – 19th place

This raspy-voiced Hungarian stunner took the 2016 version of A Dal by storm, rocking his “Pioneer” all the way to Stockholm. Arguably the biggest alum from the Hungarian version of Rising Star, he earned an impressive fourth place in the Eurovision 2016 semifinal. But he could only muster a right-hand-side finish on the scoreboard of the Grand Final. Curiously, Freddie could be said to be the only “mid-table” placing of all of our wishes!

7. Tamta – 13th place

After years of waiting and dreaming from fans, superstar Tamta finally got the opportunity to sing at Eurovision in Tel Aviv. This Greek beauty went via Cyprus to grace us with her banger “Replay”. Serving Britney at the VMAs during the final, she ended up in the bottom half of the table. However, after fixing the scoreboard following that EBU jury gaffe, she found herself on the left side of the scoreboard. See: Good things come to those who wait!

6. OG3NE – 11th place

This sisterly trio had been on the Eurofan radar ever since they rose to success on The Voice (and, if you’re a fan of JESC, ever since they sang at the Junior edition as tweens). So when they were recruited as the Dutch act for Kyiv in 2017, expectations were high. Their flawless harmonies elevated the Waylon Jennings-themed “Lights and Shadows” to the status of fan favourite, and they managed to achieve a very respectable 11th place — just as their predecessor Douwe Bob.

5. Iveta Mukuchyan – 7th place

Hey, it’s her. Iveta took the plunge — and won Eurovision Next Top Model — during the 2016 edition in Stockholm. The art-pop piece “LoveWave” became iconic from the moment she hit the rehearsals with her undeniable sensuality and vocal power. She earned a hard-fought seventh place in an extremely competitive edition of Eurovision. To date Miss Mukuchyan is the last Armenian artist to place in the top ten. It’s a place where we hope to see them again soon — and hopefully with a diva who slays as hard as she did.

4. Mikolas Josef – 6th place

This was more of a premonition than a wish, since we all had a taste of what the Josef offered Czech Television in 2017. His submission left us craving more from the suave singer at Eurovision. And we didn’t have to wait for long, as “Lie To Me” was sent to Lisbon. No back injury could stop Mikolas who, backflip and all, skyrocketed the Czech Republic to its best placing to date. And that’s no lie.

3. Sergey Lazarev – 3rd place

Arguably the most successful Russian pop star, Lazarev had long been the top of many a wishlist and fans clamoured for him and his banging pop style. It whet the appetite of bookies and fans alike once he went to Stockholm. The staging of “You Are The Only One” is among the most impressive of the decade, pushing the boundaries of special effects and showmanship. It won the televote convincingly, but finished third in the end owing to a divisive jury vote. But this wish had more than one life….

2. Sergey Lazarev – 3rd place

…it had two! Three years later, the wish returned at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv — this time with Sergey offering a more theatrical take with the help of the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra. With impressive rain and reflection effects, he managed to repeat his bronze feat, scoring another podium finish for Russia after the country failed to qualify for the final the year before.

1. Eleni Foureira – 2nd place

The Gods did it again, granting our wish for Greece to the island nation of Cyprus. And what a way to grant it! After trying for years, Eleni Foureira had her Eurovision dream come true in 2018, where she changed the contest as we know it, one hair flip and “aye aye aye” at a time. “Fuego” rose through the ranks as soon as rehearsals started, at one point becoming the favourite to take it all. In the end, Eleni’s second place granted Cyprus its best-ever finish and the performance remains one for the ages. Yeah yeah, fire!

What do you think? Do you have a wish you want fulfilled for 2020? Do you think any of our previous wishes has what it takes to win it all if they return? Let us know in the comments below!