The Eurovision 2023 season was once again filled to the brim with national finals. A total of 24 countries used a show to select their entry for the contest. Although we now have 24 winners who will move onto Eurovision, many of the other entries that didn’t make it will remain on our playlists for some time. To celebrate these acts, it’s time for our countdown of Team Wiwi’s top 50 national final songs of Eurovision 2023.
As usual, the team from wiwibloggs have voted for their favourite songs that competed in the national finals for Eurovision 2023 but were not selected. Note this is not an objective list, but is determined by the personal votes of a panel of wiwibloggers. We encourage you to share your own personal favourites in the comments below.
After reviewing the 100s of songs that were entered into this year’s national finals, we finally settled on our top 50. And now we’re ready to share it with y’all. We’ll reveal ten tracks each day until we reach the winner.
Let the countdown continue!
Team Wiwi’s top national final songs of Eurovision 2023: 30 to 21
30. Fusa Nocta – “Mi Familia” (Benidorm Fest)
Fusa Nocta reflects on her relationship with her family. “My family is first”, she says. “My grandma once told me: look well into the mirror and look at yourself with pride”. She also refers to her parents: “Pride be with my parents, let them brag about their child”. But don’t take these lyrics as cocky. The song is all about how Fusa’s family helped lift her up during her lowest moments. Full lyrics here.
29. Akuvi – “Triumph” (Melodi Grand Prix)
Akuvi got an automatic pass to the Melodi Grand Prix grand final during her debut appearance in 2020. But with that option no longer available in 2023, the Norwegian star had to battle it out in the semi-finals this time around. There were flames, backing dancers and an empowering song. However, Akuvi’s quest to “Triumph” didn’t quite go to plan and she failed to qualify, much to the dismay of many fans.
Previous top national final songs: “Som du er” (#40 in 2020)
28. Krut – “Kolyskova” (Vidbir)
In “Kolyskova”, Krut sings about the life of a baby during war. Starting with the classical Ukrainian lullaby “lyuli-lyuli”, which also features in Kalush Orchestra’s “Stefania”, she describes the situation of a mother trying to put her child to sleep as predators stalk the country. The song makes a reference to families destroyed as result of the war. The father of the child is not near them, but is fighting on the battle field: “Sleep, sleep, sleep / Dad guards the steppes”. Full lyrics here.
Previous top national final songs: “99” (#34 in 2020)
27. ELLA A – “Waist” (Melodi Grand Prix)
Before Festival da Canção arrived on our screens, it was ELLA A who provided us with some Brazilian Portuguese spice. Competing in semi-final two of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix, the star delivered a sultry and sexy bilingual track. In the end, ELLA didn’t make it to the grand final. But we’re still shaking our “Waist” to the song all these weeks later.
26. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You” (UMK)
What we said: “Girls Like You” is pop perfection. Robin’s breezy vocals glide smoothly over a slick modern production. Fulfilling the brief, but not overselling it, “Girls Like You” stands tall by being fun, honest and insanely infectious. This appreciates with repeat spins — it bears the quality craftsmanship expected of radio staples. (Deban)
25. Harmonija Disonance – “Nevera (Lei, lei)” (Dora)
As soon as the songs for Dora 2023 were released, Harmonija Dissonance stood out as a contender. The Croatian group brought layered vocals and harmonies with their upbeat and atmospheric folk song “Nevera (Lei, lei)”. However, the group just missed out on the ticket to Liverpool and finished second in the selection.
24. Rosa Chemical & Bdope – “MADE IN ITALY” (Sanremo)
What we said: In a quality year of Sanremo, “MADE IN ITALY” has been a surprisingly catchy entry with an unexpecting lead singer. The call-and-answer technique is always fun at Eurovision, and Italy have been pros at engaging the audience throughout their performances. With a striking look, an unassuming persona and an amazing hook – I think Rosa Chemical will stand out from the pack in the best way possible. (Sebastian)
23. Tone Sekelius – “Rhythm of My Show” (Melodifestivalen)
Following a powerful debut last year, Tone Sekelius returned to Melodifestivalen in 2023 with “Rhythm of My Show”. This time around, the Swedish star got to show off her pop star diva. Tone sailed through heat one, though ended up last in the grand final. Nevertheless, she’ll no doubt continue to dance to the beat of her own drum … and we’re still looking forward to those tango lessons.
Previous top national final songs: “My Way” (#12 in 2022)
22. Megara – “Arcadia” (Benidorm Fest)
What we said: Now THAT’S a show! I admit I was fearful of how “Arcadia” would translate on stage, but it blew all of my expectations away! This dark number is stark and original, and offers a complete package in a way Spain has never sent before. (Pablo)
21. Brooke – “Checkmate” (Malta Eurovision Song Contest)
After five years away from Malta’s Eurovision selection, Brooke returned this year to play her next move at taking victory. Her performance had projections, LEDs, masked dancers, a lift, as well as her killer vocals to top it off. Ultimately, it was The Busker who achieved “Checkmate” at the MESC grand final and Brooke had to settle for fifth place.
Previous top national final songs: “Heart of Gold” (#22 in 2018), “Unstoppable” (#21 in 2017), “Golden” (#15 in 2016)
Our top national final songs of Eurovision 2023 ranking is determined by independent votes from a panel of wiwibloggers. They are: Oliver A, Simon, Oliver R, Lukas, William, Ruxy, Lucy, Luis, Forrest, Pablo, Antony, Cinan, Freddy, Dayana, Antranig, Youyou, Jonathan, Deban, Mario, Sebastian, Edd, Padraig, Ron and Tom.
Which songs do you think should feature on the list? Are you surprised by our Eurovision 2023 national final top 50 choices? Let us know in the comments.
Nobody likes these songs
Only 3 out of these WIWI picks managed to reach my top 50 overall…
Here is MY 21-30th, based either by the song only (a bad performance doesnt make a song bad), or song combined with performance (a gret performance can indeed make a not great song feel way better). 21: Andreas – «Why Do You Love Me» (ESTONIA) 22: Thomas – «23/23» (SAN MARINO) 23: Maria Celin – «Freya» (NORWAY) 24: Claudia Pascoal – «Nasci Maria» (PORTUGAL) 25: Silja Ros & Kjalar – «Together We Grow» (ICELAND) 26: Luna Causholli – «Jeten ta fal» (ALBANIA) 27: Marcus & Martinus – «Air» (SWEDEN) 28: Bandua – «Bandeiras» (PORTUGAL) 29: Aidan – «Regina» (MALTA) 30: Bedwetters – «Monsters»… Read more »
hope Jann gets justice in this
You even listen Polish songs?
Hoping for Hoida Mut in first!!
All in all, I feel like places 40-31 of this year’s ranking are way better than places 30-21
Also, just recalled. How did Brooke end up being Malta’s fifth place this year when it seemed she was the winner? It’s jarring to realize that
Megara would definitely be in my top 15!
My 30th to 21st: 21. José Otero – Inviernos en Marte– Benidorm Fest 22. Marcus & Martinus – Air– Melodifestivalen 23 Gabrielius Vagelis – Šauksmas – Pabandom Iš Naujo 24. Sissi – Lighthouse– Eesti Laul 25. Gianmaria — Mostro– San Remo 26. Raum – Fake Love– Supernova 27. Alicja Szempli?ska – New Home – Poland 28. Meelik – Tuju – Eesti Laul 29. Alfred – Desde que tu estás – Benidorm Fest 30. Tananai — Tango – San Remo _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _… Read more »
Elsie bay and Meelik! Wow I like your taste Héctor!!
If Meelik – Tuju isn’t in this list I’ll riot.
“Waist” above THE masterpiece, “Kolyskova”. I’m not feeling so well….
I will post my season ranking on their top 10 article and Kolyskova will then get the respect it deserves.
do we really think that these songs are better than the likes of Cenere and Superroi? This is farce really, if you’re not having the bop (the cheapest the better) you’re off the list…
Akuvi’s and Tone’s offerings are poor choices for this ranking but otherwise, I’m mostly ok with what you’ve got in this batch! Rosa Chemical’s song, although I really dislike it, is actually quite interesting and I can see how it could have its fans. My top 30-21: 30: Filip Balos – Novi Plan Dugi San (Serbia) 29: Angellina – Lanac (Serbia – I would probably even move this up a bit now, it’s awesome) 28: Trong – Dare To Be Different (Germany) 27: Savo Perovic – Presidente (Serbia) 26: Yogi – Love At First Sight (Croatia) 25: Jann – Gladiator… Read more »
There’s a lot we have in common in this section. Two of these entries are actually in my top 10, and the third one in my top 20, so seeing them here is just fantastic. Filip is my 31st, so despite of being on my previous list, we’re actually only one spot away. Pam was also featured on my top list. Two more missed my top 50 only by a little. Trong had a great live, but his song is just fine to me, and I have a few ahead in the German selection. Yogi is the one I never… Read more »
PS. Lanac and Presidente not qualifying to the GF of PZE is just baffling. I still remember well how shocking it felt last year when Vrati mi failed to qualify. One would say that among such a big number of qualifiers, the obvious ones will make it, but exceptions still happen.
And German selection – I do like Trong, but I like most of them on a similar level. The interval there is, as I suspected it might be, very small. Anica is still my standout, but several entries were solid, Trong included.
Wait both of them didn’t qualify??? How am I getting to know this only now? I’ve been so oblivious…
I’m sorry. Tone is a great person, but how the hell that crappy song made it higher than Supereroi, Cenere and Made in Italy? *Shaking my head*
Alongside Laurell’s, two of the worst Melodifestivalen offerings this year.
At Wiwi, it does sometimes feel that Bad Sweden > Good from anywhere else.
I do feel sorry for Wiwi, over the years they have done such an exceptional job of business development, that the organization is effectively a part of the establishment now and this therefore makes it very difficult to be objective, which is fine because I take Wiwi’s list in the spirit of a marketing tool rather than a true representation of a fan’s genuine assessments.
The article does plainly say that it is not an objective list, but the personal favourites of a select few. This is just their taste, not mine, or yours. Not necessarily a reason to be cynical, I hope.
Perhaps I was a bit cynical. I think there could be a bit of truth that even if there was an amazing song buried deep somewhere in Moldova or Malta, but that artist is not that popular nor has realistic fame potential, it would be considered a wasted vote to vote for them in this poll. But that’s not a slight on any Wiwibloggers, I think it’s just a reality of the situation and the goal to increase readership, which is absolutely fine.
Possibly. Subconcious bias, some songs are listened to just once, and others examined more closely, is another possibility.
Subconscious
I really liked it. I thought it was better than 5 or 6 songs in the final.
For me, Arcadia is way too low. Should have win in Spain, and I put it as my second favourite NF song this year.
These charts are surprisingly predicatble – mostly coming from Sweden and the popsier the better. Quite little representation across different national finals.
zero diversity really. if you are female singing the fast song you’ll get to the list . Otherwise you won’t.
My Top 30: 30 – Benjamin: Hoida mut (Finland) – In a sea of 80s-inspired bops, this still managed to be fresh and slick. The performance could have been polished more, but if it was in any other NF that probably wouldn’t even be noticeable. It’s so groovy! 29 – You Can’t Win Charlie Brown: Contraste Mudo (Portugal) – A song I liked at first, but needed to grow on me. It’s a rare gem that requires you absolute attention. Thus, it can be easy to overlook, but once I paid attention, this grew on me so much! 28 –… Read more »
You’ve got three of my top ten here and two more that were achingly close. I liked the video for “Ca m’ennunie pas” better than the NF staging, but the vibe was similar, so I guess it was just Cherine being Cherine (shrug)
Yeah, the video still has this bubbly vibe she’s going for, but it felt a bit more polished. NF staging felt like it was made for a school play. Still like the song so much. What three do you have in your top 10? Or should I be surprised when the time comes?
Benjamin, YCWCB and Edmundo, with Cherine and Colapesce just on the outside. I’ve already posted my list of 50 unranked in two chunks, but I figure I’ll do my top ten properly when the day comes.
It wouldn’t be a proper Colin list without Victor Crone making his completely undeserved appearance at an exaggeratedly high position. What is it with you and his songs?
The simplest explanation is, because I just vibe with them. I think it’s ultimately the same for everyone.
Oh no, I hope, this didn’t come out the wrong way, it wasn’t supposed to be a slander – well, not against you, in any case, perhaps a little bit against Victor Crone. 😉
What I really wanted to say is: He should start worrying the day he misses the mark with you, because then he will have lost his one true fan.
No worries, I didn’t take it as a slander at all. We just have different opinion on his songs. I can live with that. 🙂 Actually, I was fairly sure I’d like his song because he is consistent in his style. Many Melfest acts this year made a big shift in their style, and in a lot of cases, I preferred their old style better. Maybe I just needed to adapt?
Take this as a bonus – I agree with the majority that Loreen deserved to win Melfest, and Victor is at 24th as my runner-up. Meaning, there won’t be another Melfest entry featured in my NF Top 20. While there were some solid entries in there, and I am okay with people having it on their tops, I am sure that Wiwi’s top 20 will be filled with them, and that not everyone will be thrilled to see that.
Won’t go as hard on you as Tibor does but Victor Crone might really just be a “you” thing at this point. Dude really needs to release some albums as he’s definitely got at least one customer! Ulrikke’s probably the biggest question mark amongst your other picks. She’s great but the song is a bit of a tryhard mess. Benjamin’s live performance probably should get him out of your top thirty, but, even then, he’s borderline to make the top 50 due to the song quality so can’t really question him being in there. The rest of the songs are… Read more »
Your love for Contraste Mudo actually did help! As did Tibor’s and Sabrina’s. At first, I’ve put them around the middle of my list, but the right people pointing them out as standouts made me pay more attention to them. It’s a really, really lovely song. 🙂 Victor’s song doesn’t seem to be that popular around here, but he is a former finalist of both ESC and Melfest, so I don’t think that he’s in any way an underdog, generally speaking. I have listened to more of his songs, though, and I liked the few I heard. Might be ”me”… Read more »
Spoiler alert: I haven’t even made a list for Sunday (I suppose the final post comes then, right?), but “Constraste Mudo” will be there. 🙂
If only we were the Portuguese televote. ;;
Brook is my #1 shame Malta for not choosing this one
On the wiwi list this time: my personal #1, two others I have ranked, a few others that would have been close, and then a couple of Melfest/MGP songs that didn’t do anything for me.
Still surprised to see all these songs with a better rank than “Cenere” and “Supereroi”.
21. Elysa – Bad Philosophy (Estonia) – objectively speaking, the cliches and questionable lyrical content should be so heavy so as to spoil any enjoyment of this song, but it is undeniably a great pop song so I can forgive all its indiscretions 22. Andrea D Folchor Orchestra – Perinita Mea (Romania) – welcome to the party and pass me a drink! 23. The Happy Mess – O Impossivel (Portugal) – this track is so light and happy-go-lucky, it is impossible to not believe that the world is a wonderful place whilst it is playing. 24. Moa – Lose This… Read more »
My lower jaw will never really attach itself again to my cranium, and it’s all your fault. It already dropped a little at number 21 and completely fell off at number 30.
I am actually more thrown aback by his 22nd, but that’s my attitude towards many of the Balkan wedding songs speaking. 😉 I am happy to see Jann getting attention from many sides.
Another interesting thing is that both you and Kosey have Doris’ Tišina very high on your top. For me, the song was neither good or bad, and I didn’t dwell much on it either way. It must be something to it to be included in two quite different top lists.
Yeah, number 22 also didn’t help … But 30 was the one that really knocked me out. For you, it’s possibly even in your famous “so bad it’s good” category, isn’t it?
It’s actually amazing how much you know me, Tibor. 🙂 I would never call it actually ”good”, but yeah, it’s kind of a guilty pleasure. A person close to me really likes it, so I’ve heard it quite a lot of times for that reason. Made peace with it being funny, I guess. Still, it would’ve been another last place for Germany, most likely.
Oh dear, I’m sorry, but you seem to take it well. The thing is, for me as a German native speaker, these lyrics don’t come across as funny or even subversive at all, but rather as passive aggressive. But I’m not the target audience for this, anyway, so it might be intentional.
I know most people here were hoping Bandua would get that last FdC wildcard, and that’s a good song too, but deep in my heart I was pulling for The Happy Mess.
Such an interesting ten because, from my perspective, some of your most perplexing choices, surround songs that I 100% believe should be in there! Elysa’s song is just Stig Rasta’s annual attempt to be cool that always misses with me. He’s always a couple of years behind on the trends and this just didn’t work. I’m with Colin in that Perinita Mea is everything I do NOT want to be hearing from any sort of Balkan selection and roll my eyes when such things gain traction. Unser Mit Gutem Text is a call back to an era when it was… Read more »
With the top 30 of my personal favourites, we’re entering the realm of what would easily have made my personal top 10 if it was picked, that’s how strong a year for national finals I think 2023 was. 30 Fiinka, Dovbush: People were saying that this was too similar to last year’s winner as if it was a bad thing. Great blend of hip hop and folk, performed with a lot of sass, my personal winner in Vidbir. 29 Ollie, Venom: A little old school, but with an insanely catchy chorus, I would have preferred this by miles over the… Read more »
A few agreements for us here Tibor, which is always nice. You have also picked one of my absolute favourites in the whole national final season, so very happy to see this getting some love from you as well.
It’s really interesting to see how our tastes overlap at the most unexpected moments, when we usually disagree so much. Nobody but you even mentioned “Tisina” during PzE and now we have it practically at the same place.
“You Said” was my grower of the season. It sounded like an incoherent mess to me the first few times, but once it got on stage I was grooving with it.
Really? That’s interesting. I was immediately hooked, although it has this very unsusual structure without a proper chorus. Sonically, it instantly stood out to me and never quite lost its charm.
Looking at your toplist, we’ll have quite a few matches, by the way, this shouldn’t be the last one.
More interesting picks. Two of them are yet to come on my list. Some of them are included in my honorable mentions.
This is probably your edgiest and most innovative set of ten so far, and I have to admit, I’m almost entirely here for it. Ruta Mur is probably the only one that doesn’t work for me. Otherwise, you’ve done great here. T’inquiete and Enquanto E Tempo are still to come in my list (highly may I add) and I’ve got Ollie and Jann at around this level. 24 Avenija and Robin Juhkental are great entries to get in there and while they didn’t connect with me to the point of thinking they were really “good”, they fully interested me. Dovbush… Read more »
Well, I would agree that Vidbir was perhaps not quite on its usual level this year, but it was still impressive given the circumstances, I’d say.
My only complaint is with You Said, who’s WAY outta my top 50. This is a strong lineup though. (PS if Dovbush hasn’t made it on the list by now it never will because SwEdEn)
Don’t forget Norway. 😉
Finally some appreciation for You Said! I honestly thought I was the only person who liked it. I like the way you described t’inquiète. Avant-garde is actually very well fitting. Enquanto e tempo was flawless (as you noticed) and I was sad about it not qualifying. And of course there’s Jann and Megara, absolute favourites of mine.
That’s so nice of you!
“You said” came third in the Latvian national selection, so I guess it’s safe to assume that we aren’t the only ones who like this song.
Krutb is so underrated. It is in my top 5 of the whole season.
I’m still listening to Arcadia and Brooke and barely paid attention to NF season!
I always wondered how the wiwilist is generated. Does everybody have to give an entire top 50? Or only a top 10 or 20? If it’s the latter, it would make some of these picks and their specific position a little easier to understand.
I dont understand how checkmate is considérés good :/ let alone ahead of songs like “for the show”, “supereroi”, etc
Made in Italy’s the number one for me, the way I replayed it all this time. Such an iconic banger.
Nice to see Waist here!