Just over one week ago, Finnish rock band Blind Channel won UMK 2021 with their song “Dark Side”. Now the “violent pop” creators have chalked up another milestone. Their song has reached No.1 in the Finnish singles chart.
After debuting at No.5 one month ago, Blind Channel are now enjoying the top spot in the Suomen virallinen lista singles chart.
It’s not all that common for a Finnish Eurovision act to make the singles chart, let alone hit No.1 Most recently, Finland’s Eurovision 2009 act Waldo’s People reached No.1 with their single “Lose Control”. Three years before that, Lordi hit the top spot with their Eurovision-winning-single “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.
More recently, Finnish Eurovision acts have been more likely to only make an appearance in the downloads chart, however Saara Aalto managed to make No.6 in the singles chart with her 2018 entry “Monsters”.
“Dark Side” reaches over 2 million listens on Spotify
Hitting the top of the Finnish singles chart isn’t the only recent accomplishment for Blind Channel. The band’s Eurovision 2021 entry “Dark Side” has now clocked up 2.06 million listens on Spotify.
This also makes “Dark Side” the Eurovision 2021 entry with the highest number of Spotify listens. Blind Channel are followed by France’s Barbara Pravi who has 1.37 listens for “Voilà ”, while Norway’s “Tix” is in third place with 1.29 listens for “Fallen Angel”.
While this a good indication of the popularity of these songs, it is important to note that Spotify use varies from country to country.
Blind Channel earned their ticket to Eurovision 2021 by winning Finland’s national final UMK 2021. They enjoyed a landslide victory, with both the jury and televote giving overwhelming support for their rock anthem “Dark Side”.
The Finnish rockers are also favourites with wiwibloggs readers. In a recent poll, wiwibloggs readers picked Blind Channel as their favourite act so far in Eurovision 2021.
What do you think? Does Blind Channel’s chart and Spotify success predict good things for Eurovision 2021? Tell us your thoughts below!
Looks like Blind Channel are on the Bright Side chartwise ?
As a rockfan, I am very glad they returned to rock. Love their song 🙂 My favoruite!
Oh wow, congratulations to Blind Channel.
the singles chart in Finland is relying on streaming (mostly) hence they got to number one, unlike previous ESC entries.
The hype for the national final show helped a lot. Cicciolina had major success last year as well (she was the winner of televoting).
So happy for Blind Channel. I was really rooting for Finland over the last years and hoped that they would get a good result. This year it seems possible not just that Finland will make it to the final again but that they will get a good result. And they deserve it!
Please could someone tell me how you find out to amount of streams for a song on Spotify? I would love to keep track of songs that way.
well those are great news!! Im so happy to see them succeed, hopefully well see many more rock songs at eurovision
Being the first anything since Waldo’s People would have me worried if I were Blind Channel. 😉
I kid. It’s great news. Good for them and good for Finland for getting behind the song.
I cannot believe it, a rock song topping a singles chart. When was the last time that happened?
It’s not uncommon in Finland, unsurprisingly I suppose. They’re a very rock-friendly country.
So pleased for Blind Channel and for the rock genre more generally. I think this one will easily sail through to the final and depending on what else is selected by the remaining countries, I think there is a fair chance it is going to stand out against the competition in the final as well and therefore I am predicting very good things.