This year at wiwibloggs we are celebrating the festive season with a series of different polls. For the next few days, we’re going to stuff your stockings with a selection of end-of-decade Eurovision votes. Consider this a unique riff on the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas” carol.
Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, you can join us and let us know your thoughts for each and every poll.
Eurovision jury winners: 2010 to 2019
As we know, the modern Eurovision results are determined by a mixture of public and jury vote. But what if it was only the music industry professionals that made the decision? Would the winner be different? Turns out, sometimes!
Here are the winners of every jury vote this decade. Vote in our poll and decide which was the best.
Eurovision 2010: Germany’s Lena with “Satellite”
No change here, as Lena won both the public and the jury vote in 2010 scoring 246 points, a huge 76 points ahead of Turkey’s maNga with “We Could Be The Same”. However, even though the “Satellite” singer smashed the public vote winning by 66 points, Lena scraped the top of the jury vote by a teeny two points, taking home 187 points. The jury’s silver medal went to Belgium’s Tom Dice with his ballad “Me and My Guitar”.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2011: Italy’s Raphael Gualazzi with “Madness of Love”
Now in 2011, things would definitely not have been the same if it was up to the juries! Italy’s Raphael Gualazzi smashed the jury vote with his cool jazzy song “Madness of Love” with a huge 251 points. But what about Azerbaijan? Well, they didn’t do too badly as they came second on the jury table, though 69 points shy of Italy. Unfortunately for our Italian friends, the televoters did not feel the same, as Raphael took 11th place in the public vote with only 99 points.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? No
Eurovision 2012: Sweden’s Loreen with “Euphoria”
If there was one year that the result would never be in doubt, it was 2012. Sweden’s Loreen completely stormed both the public and the jury vote. Loreen took 343 televote points, 11 ahead of the Russian Grandmas — Buranovskiye Babushki. Though the real eye-opening score was from the juries. Loreen scored 296 jury points, a monstrous 123 points more than the jury’s second choice — Serbia’s Željko Joksimović and his Balkan ballad “Nije Ljubav Stvar”. A clear winner.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2013: Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest with “Only Teardrops”
Emmelie de Forest took home the Eurovision crown for Denmark in 2013 with “Only Teardrops” and it would have been the exact same result had it been only the music professionals making the decision. Even the overall second-placed country, Azerbaijan’s Farid Mammadov’s “Hold Me” came second overall and second with the juries also – consistent.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2014: Austria’s Conchita Wurst with “Rise Like A Phoenix”
Consistency was also the theme in 2014 as Conchita comfortably topped both the jury and televote tables. Securing 315 public votes, a hefty 95 points ahead of second-placed Netherlands’ Common Linnets and 224 jury votes, 23 ahead of Sweden’s Sanna Nielsen. Another year where there was cohesion between the pubic and jury.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2015: Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw with “Heroes”
No such cohesion in 2015 however, as the juries and the public failed to see eye-to-eye on the same winner in what was admittedly a very strong year. Italy would have won it had Eurovision been based on televotes. Il Volo scored 366 points, a huge 80 points ahead of Polina Gagarina of Russia in second and 87 points ahead of the overall winner, Sweden’s ‘Hero’ Måns Zelmerlöw in third place. The juries did, however, agree with the overall winner, scoring “Heroes” 353 points, 104 points ahead of Aminata’s “Love Injected” in second place.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2016: Australia’s Dami Im with “Sound Of Silence”
Eurovision 2016 was the first time ever that the winner topped neither the public vote nor the jury table. Australia’s Dami Im won the jury vote in a landslide with 320 points, while overall winner Jamala of Ukraine had only 211 points. But Dami could only muster fourth place with the public. Russia’s Sergey Lazarev won the televote, but could only manage fifth place with the juries — finishing behind Australia, Ukraine, France and Malta.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? No
Eurovision 2017: Portugal’s Salvador Sobral with “Amar Pelos Dois”
This discrepancy was certainly put to bed in 2017. Salvador Sobral very comfortably secured Portugal’s first Eurovision win with his very special ballad “Amar Pelos Dois”. Easily winning the public and jury votes, scoring 376 votes in the televote 39 more than Bulgaria in second place and 382 votes with the juries a whopping 104 points more than Bulgaria taking second once again. Arguably the most comfortable victory of the decade.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? Yes
Eurovision 2018: Austria’s Cesár Sampson with “Nobody But You”
Israel’s Netta was the resounding favourite going into the contest in 2018 and the result wasn’t much of a surprise when she won by 93 points with a score of 529. However, the juries did not concur. Cesár Sampson — who was not considered a strong contender ahead of the contest — romped home top of the jury table with 253 points, 59 points ahead of Netta and 18 points ahead of Sweden’s Benjamin Ingrosso in second place. It wasn’t meant to be for Austria though, as Cesár only managed 71 televote points putting him in third place overall.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? No
Eurovision 2019: North Macedonia’s Tamara Todevska with “Proud”
Finally, the juries in the final year of the 2010s yet again were not in tune with the overall winner. Duncan Laurence brought The Netherlands into the new Eurovision decade with the goosebump-inducing ballad “Arcade”. And like in 2016, both the public and the juries had different ideas for their victors. Norway topped the televote with a huge score of 291 and (after some controversy) Tamara Todevska of North Macedonia won the jury vote with 247 points — six more than second-placed Sweden and ten more than third-placed Duncan.
Did the jury pick the overall winner? No
Who was your favourite Eurovision jury winner of the 2010s?
The jury vote this decade only managed to pick six winners from ten, clearly showing that the jury winner isn’t necessarily going to take the Eurovision crown. Interestingly, they have only picked one winner in the last four years. The juries have spoken but it is now time to hear you speak! Which is your favourite jury winner this decade? Let us know in the Poll below.
[crowdsignal poll=10483755]
Australia 2016
Austria 2018
Sweden 2012
Austria 2015
1.Austria 2014
2.Australia 2016
3.Portugal 2017
No doubt 2016 Sounds of Silence by Dami Im
Sound of Silence is the best of the bunch by light years
Wasn’t her song about being distant? 😉
Euphoria are the best by far
I would have preferred and Italian win in 2011 and a Australian win in 2016
Tamara.
Queen.
When I see all those names one word comes to my mind. Thanks! Thanks jury for voting as well as you can to offset the votes of the public sometimes strange. I know a lot of people don’t like juries because they always give good points to Sweden but they deserve it. I know public hate juries because of very bad points given to public favorites (Norway 2019, Poland 2016 and many others). But in the end, the results always seem fair to me (except for some countries). Some examples of juries saving a good performance from the worst: -2010:… Read more »
Bless them for saving “Milim” and “No One” from oblivion.
Also for giving the gems Moldova in 2013 and Malta in 2016 what they rightfully deserve. I cannot imagine if these two did not qualify.
They were all great, but I’ll stump for Satellite, Madness of Love, Amar pelos dois, and Proud. We complain about the juries, but honestly, I can’t complain about any of these.
Again, all these songs are good, but… voted for Euphoria, Nobody But You and Heroes.
Euphoria!!!
North Macedonia only won the jury vote thanks to the Belarussian juries getting disqualified and some arbitrary algorithm replacing them. If the Belarussian juries had kept their mouths shut, Sweden would have won the jury vote like in 2012 and 2015.
Wut? How could you know which countries belarussian juries would have voted for? I mean other than Russia and Azerbaijan… Belarus hasn’t that much better relationships with Sweden than North Macedonia.
algorithm is bad. They combined how countries votes (in pot where Belarus ) for countries in final.
Salvador Sobral & Amar Pelos Dois. It was just beautiful to listen to and watch.
Tamara, Cesar and Mans were all on my personal Top 10, so I voted for them. I didn’t have Euphoria on its day, I was with Italy, Turkey and Slovenia, but I do recognize Loreen had the best overall performance and was a fair winner.
I do think that there’s some of them that seem really random (Tamara, Cesar and Dami) compared on how the televote went on.
Years later and still don’t understand how Mans won that jury voting with such a big difference. Like almost every single juror put him in their Top 5 (literally). I think Latvia and Belgium were the 2 clear/deserving jury winners that years for what they brought and Sweden, Russia and Italy deserved more or less the same support from juries. It was a bit the same in 2016 where Dami had a 100 points lead over Jamala idk. They deserved more or less the same score imo and to me it’s always more exciting when there’s no jury winner in… Read more »
I think the staging boosted Sweden’s just vote in 2015. The public weren’t as impressed.
I agree, Aminata should have won the jury voting in 2015. Her vocals perfectly matched the avant-garde Love Injected, something that was never heard in Eurovision before. Imho, she should have snatched a place in the Top 3.
Dami Im and Salvador Sobral!
I wonder whether there is more standard deviation (variability) in jury votes or televotes.
I have a feeling that in earlier years there was more variability( and neighborly voting) in televotes. Nowadays there is more in jury votes- this year there was a huge gap between the top 10 in televotes and the rest.
Hmm. Looks like Loreen wasn’t that big of a favourite since she only got a mere 11 points difference by the audience. People really thought grannies were worthy winners? Gee, no wonder KeeiNo won the televote..
Concerning indeed. Although think about how exciting that voting sequence would have been. The voting sequence in 2012 was extremely boring.
Grannies were super memorable and likeable. Song was catchy and just like you mention Keiino.. Genuine enjoyment will always appeal to people at home who just want to have a good time and feel something. Ofc people were going to vote for the Grannies. The whole continent was smiling in that moment.
Both Loreen and the Grannies were 2 giants in the same year who got points from ever single country. It was a nice battle in my opinion and something that ESC really needed it after the lack of consensus of 2011.
No offence to grannies but I dont think they are at the same level as Loreen. Surely not that great to only have 11 points difference. But hey, Loreen won and a win is a win..
1. satallah
2. godphoria
3. only classics
4. rise like a phoenix
5. nobody but you
6. sound of silence
7. proud
8. amar pelos dois
9. horrors
10. deafness of love
Allah, praise Satallah
1. Only Teardrops
2. Euphoria
3. Rise Like a Phoenix
4. Sound of Silence
5. Proud
6. Heroes
7. Nobody But You
8. Madness of Love
9. Satellite
10. Amar Pelos Dois
1. Salvador
2. Conchita
3. Loreen
4. Rafael Gualazzi
5. Tamara Todevska
A worrying trend in the last couple of years. I don’t think anyone would say “Nobody like you” or “Proud” were winning songs. I hope the juries get back to representing the public, like they have for most of the 2010s.
They have never represented the public nor are they meant to either. Whats the point of having a jury if they confirm with what public thinks should win? There is already a public vote
I think it is important they “represent” the public, not “reflect” the public. The jury role is incredibly important, there is a large amount of power in the hands of a small number of people. They must have their finger on the pulse of what is currently popular in current trends, otherwise I fear the contest will lose its relevancy. I am fine with the juries existing to block joke songs winning, but when they vote songs like Austria 2018 and North Macedonia 2019 as the best songs in a particular year, they demonstrate how out of touch they are… Read more »
I wrote a long justification and it got blocked and can’t be bothered to write it again. They should “represent” the public, even if they don’t “reflect” the public. They have a great responsibility to keep the contest relevant.
The public vote is what represents the public. If both are to represent the same then whats the point of having two systems? One system would be enough. Juries arent there to confirm public taste
Where did I ever say “confirm” what the public thinks? The jurors have an obligation to understand what is popular in current trends because they have a very privileged role in the competition. If they are music professionals, there should be a good chance they understand these trends but judging by recent jury results, it is obvious some of them don’t.
That doesn’t mean they have to cancel each other. This trend is indeed worrying because it’s easier to find the “formula” to get the jury’s support, while the televoting is more unpredictable.
I think I understood what Kosey was getting at. In recent years (not every year), the juries have more often gone for songs that aren’t just a little bit away from the public taste but completely in the middle-of-the-pack. This is a bit of a problem in a 50/50 system as the winner becomes more of a weak compromise instead of a genuinely exciting winner.
Spot on Briekimchi, you said it better than I did myself!
The jury does not represent the public. They represent music professionals
People who don’t grasp the difference between a professional judgement and a layman’s impression shouldn’t even comment on this topic at all. If this was a cooking show half of you guys would vote for a chicken sub and complain why the professional chef’s taste doesn’t reoresent the public.?
2017.
I also liked 2019 and 2016 although in both cases, the songs weren’t that great but the performances were.
Sweden is the best so it’s 2012 and 2015.
My top 5:
– 2012
– 2013
– 2018
– 2016
– 2015
I didn’t know this back then, but it’s still Sweden 2012 and Denmark 2013.
Dami and Loreen.
2011, 2012, 2017.
Seeing all the jury winners listed like this – it really emphasise the need for televotes to be included!
Indeed. You can have a crappy song but the juries will love you as long as you scream your lungs out.
Just make sure it’s a ballad!
It looks like that to me, too. They really hurt Blanche who did not scream her lungs out. But songs like City Lights are exactly what juries are supposed to push, in my opinion. A really good song usually comes without having to scream.
City Lights is a great song. But are you really saying juries should back the very weak vocals Blanche gave us? That has nothing to do with having to scream but with being capable to sing.
I also thought it could have much been better, but it’s not like she was bad. She still sang it in the way the song required to be sung. And yes, I do believe that an okay performance + a great song should be rated higher than a pitch perfect vocal performance of a boring song. It’s still a song contest, according to it’s name, not The Voice of whatever. It’s different when you screw up your performance completely, obviously. I don’t think Blanche did.
It’s not a vocals competition. The quality of the song was still apparent despite Blanche’s nerves.
Blanche was horrible live. She had a great studio track but she was lifeless on stage. No way she should have done well if voting is based on her live performance. But I still have the studio track on my playlist.
City lights not winning in 2017 was a travesty
Depends on what hundreds of those jurors are looking for in a song. Sometimes they favor commercial viability, regional sensitivities and production quality over vocal ability, originality and lyrical content.
It’s still a popular music competition, not an academic assessment, Ms Minga. Can you elaborate on regional sensitivities?
Regional blocs tend to favor certain types of music, whether ethnic ballads, commercial Top 40 pop, or novelties, et al.
The time for which the contest is aired per country also affects the type of audience the contest attracts.
And to elaborate as you requested: Depending on the background of an individual juror, they would most often respond to songs that is familiar to them the most. Some would appreciate a good Balkan ballad, others would prefer a more professionally-done commercial track, others would look for technical aspects found in the performance. With regional sensitivities, this would apply to what I mentioned earlier. What is popular, mainstream, culturally-dominant in one particular region of Europe may not be so in another. For example, people in the Caucasus region would be more familiar with Georgia’s 2018 entry and would have likely… Read more »
I think they just make random choices based on their personal taste or, in some cases, they combine results among themselves to make sure a song will get a high score.
Which I find problematic. Everyone should vote on their own.