At the end of June, as we all coped with post-Eurovision depression, we headed to the studio and attempted to remember all 42 songs word-for-word by memory while standing in front of a camera. No refreshers. No cheating. Just on-the-spot and spontaneous memories of the songs. As you can see below, it wasn’t always cute.
We asked you to play along and then vote for the songs that you most struggled to remember. After counting a total of 10,514 votes, we can now reveal that Highway‘s “The Real Thing” is the song you least remember.
In case you need a refresher — and it seems you do — Montenegro’s 2016 entry featured four men screaming “The Real Thing” while a dancer seemed to suffer an epileptic fit at the front of the stage. The song, which finished 13th in the first semi-final, included sexually aggressive lyrics that had us discussing notions of sexual consent: “Inside you take me a little closer, inside you ‘cus you got spinning shadows on the walls, I see you, inside me…”
They earned 4.5% of the total vote.
Close behind them on 4.41% was Georgia’s Nika Kohcarov & Young Georgian Lolitaz with “Midnight Gold”. Despite some flashy, psychedelic staging, our readers still can’t remember the song itself (“…and grabbed a cigarette out of your bag.”). Albania’s Eneda Tarifa, Romania’s Ovidiu Anton and Slovenia’s ManuElla round out the Top 5.
The least forgettable song — aka, the one you remember most — appears to be Poli Genova‘s “If Love Was A Crime”. The Bulgarian entry earned just 0.64% of the vote, suggesting you still know how to spell and chant O, day mi lyubovta!
The other winners in our poll are Belgium’s Laura Tesoro, France’s Amir, Russia’s Sergey Lazarev and Austria’s Zoë.
You can see the full results below.
Which Eurovision 2016 songs do you struggle to remember?
- Montenegro: Highway “The Real Thing” 4.5% (473 votes)
- Georgia: Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz “Midnight Gold” 4.41% (464 votes)
- Albania: Eneda Tarifa “Fairytale” 4.16% (437 votes)
- Romania: Ovidiu Anton “Moment Of Silence” [Disqualified] 3.99% (419 votes)
- Slovenia: ManuElla “Blue and Red” 3.52% (370 votes)
- Ukraine: Jamala “1944” 3.43% (361 votes)
- Greece: Argo “Utopian Land” 3.36% (353 votes)
- Poland: Michal Szpak “Color of Your Life” 3.27% (344 votes)
- Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala “Ljubav Je” 3.17% (333 votes)
- Moldova: Lidia Isac “Falling Stars” 2.97% (312 votes)
- Denmark: Lighthouse X “Soldiers Of Love” 2.82% (297 votes)
- FYR Macedonia: Kaliopi “Dona” 2.77% (291 votes)
- Cyprus: Minus One “Alter Ego” 2.65% (279 votes)
- Switzerland: Rykka “The Last Of Our Kind” 2.65% (279 votes)
- United Kingdom: Joe and Jake “You’re Not Alone” 2.49% (262 votes)
- San Marino: Serhat “I Didn’t Know” 2.4% (252 votes)
- Belarus: Ivan “Help You Fly” 2.38% (250 votes)
- Estonia: Jüri Pootsmann “Play” 2.38% (250 votes)
- Hungary: Freddie “Pioneer” 2.35% (247 votes)
- Serbia: Sanja Vucic ZAA “Goodbye (Shelter)” 2.28% (240 votes)
- Finland: Sandhja “Sing It Away” 2.26% (238 votes)
- Ireland: Nicky Byrne “Sunlight” 2.26% (238 votes)
- Czech Republic: Gabriela Guncíková “I Stand” 2.25% (237 votes)
- Armenia: Iveta Mukuchyan “LoveWave” 2.22% (233 votes)
- Lithuania: Donny Montell “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night” 2.21% (232 votes)
- Israel: Hovi Star “Made of Stars” 2.15% (226 votes)
- Germany: Jamie-Lee Kriewitz “Ghost” 1.95% (205 votes)
- Italy: Francesca Michielin “No Degree Of Separation” 1.78% (187 votes)
- Norway: Agnete “Icebreaker” 1.76% (185 votes)
- Azerbaijan: Samra “Miracle” 1.69% (178 votes)
- Australia: Dami Im “Sound of Silence” 1.65% (173 votes)
- Croatia: Nina Kraljic “Lighthouse” 1.62% (170 votes)
- Malta: Ira Losco “Walk On Water” 1.62% (170 votes)
- Sweden: Frans “If I Were Sorry” 1.54% (162 votes)
- Latvia: Justs “Heartbeat” 1.52% (160 votes)
- Iceland: Greta Salóme “Hear Them Calling” 1.45% (152 votes)
- Netherlands: Douwe Bob “Slow Down” 1.45% (152 votes)
- Spain: Barei “Say Yay!” 1.33% (140 votes)
- Austria: Zoë “Loin d’ici” 1.28% (135 votes)
- Russia: Sergey Lazarev “You Are The Only One” 1.27% (134 votes)
- France: Amir “J’ai cherché” 1.26% (132 votes)
- Belgium: Laura Tesoro “What’s The Pressure” 0.89% (94 votes)
- Bulgaria: Poli Genova “If Love Was A Crime” 0.64% (68 votes)
Total Votes: 10,514
Which songs do you struggle to remember? Let us know in the comments box below. And in case you missed our earlier editions, you can also review our Eurovision 2015 recap video and poll results, our Eurovision 2014 recap video and poll results, our Eurovision 2013 recap video, and our Eurovision 2012 recap video and poll. Into Junior Eurovision? Go on…
I don’t remember the songs by United Kingdom, Ireland and Estonia. I recall all the others!
@Pollaski
You’ve got a point there.
By the way, that’s why I didn’t vote for any country in this poll.
@Robyn I would certainly hope that all three individuals “fangirling” the hardest were female. I’m not entirely sure how it’d be possible for a dude to fangirl. As far as the poll goes, its completely inconclusive. 10,000 votes, and every single entry falls between 68-473 votes? There’s a good array on the spectrum, but no one really stands out on one side or the other. Futhermore, asking people to vote for a forgotten item requires them to remember it enough to realize that it exists. So if they truly forgot about a song, they wouldn’t even vote for it, because… Read more »
People have different tastes in music we get it, your preferance in music has nothing to do with gender or sexuality. People voted for the songs they could not remember.
I’m surprised no one mentioned Minus One’s “Alter Ego” from Cyprus here. Now THAT was a really good rock song!
Eurovision fans are notoriously bitter and shady, so no surprises here that they (once again) vote for songs based on if they like them or not, not based on if they remember them or not.
I am straight, and I love pop music 🙂 Rock also…esp. older pop music from the 60s / 90s…I grew up eith 80s pop. Many straight men love pop 🙂 And girls who love rock are not lesbians 🙂
@Doorioo
You are right but again, not everyone is the same. I’m sure there are also straight men who like pop music, even if they are in the minority.
Dare I say… Many male esc fans doesn’t have a very “masculine” or “typical male” taste in music. At least not the “gay /glamour fans”. No offence intended! Straight male fans and generally fans who are music lovers outside esc too more often have a so-called “masculine” taste in music…rock, Indie, country etc. eurodAnce, powerballads and schlager isn’t so “macho music taste”. I think I have noticed that difference with many esc fans . Again – no offence
@Zzzzzz
Please, keep your stupid stereotypes to yourself.
So many stereotypes about music taste….I know many women who prefer rock over pop, and men who like pop over rock
No, but women prefer pop and men rock. Thats all and its ok. If men would vote here, the results would be different. And I thought it is 50:50 here
@ZZZZZZZZZZ
Are you implying that women are stupid??? 😮
This year we had 75% of all songs the same – generic pop/dance, mainstream songs. Nobody can make differences between them, it is too much songs with the same sound (Bulgaria, Australia, Germany, Norway, Malta etc). These are the least memorable songs. Montenegro and Georgia were like shining gold between them, different, original, various and they were the most memorable. OMG what for people is voting here? Only women?
@Kermit
As my username suggests, I am a Eurovision fan but this doesn’t mean I hate rock music. There are rock songs I don’t like (Slovakia 2012, Switzerland 2012, etc.) but there are also ones I like (I love Turkey 2010, Georgia 2011, Georgia 2016 and others). 🙂
good…. :)( Far too many ESC-fans seems to have a problem with rock. Too bad. And quite annoying.
I am open for all music
@Kermit
…and I’m not one.
The only thing which is worse than pop haters, are rock haters!
Pop haters everywhere! 😀
I agree with everything Kermit says! Some ESC-fans have too much of “inner ESC bublle thinking”…which they can’t get out off…either the lack of understanding great songs as Montenegro or Georgia. Or the silly “male ESC-fan=Gay” stereotype….it’s so prejudiced and stupid. ESC is for everyone! And that’s why it’s popular. not for any target group….some fans are acting so arrogant. I can’t understand how people can say Ukraine was not memorable…it won the contest. And people remember it. I can undertsna dthat poeple dinæt like the political side of it. i didn’t either, and it got lots of critism for… Read more »
Georgia is fair for the taste of common European listeners (the non-fans). But they are still saved by the almighty Swedish people who were in charged of enhancing the song.
I could agree if the least memorable (in lyrics, not in performance) was Georgia but Highway was pretty simple to remember. Prolly people got it as the weakest according to esc music bubble. Not much surprised about 1944 result as it has got a lot of haters who block it in their mind for principes or ‘political statement’ reasons while signing petition to rise even more political halo around it 😀
People probably voted Ukraine because they hated that they won. 6th place is way too high!
If people really think Montenegro and Georgia are the least memorable songs – it only proves they should listen more to them! They can’t have listened enough. Those are two of the most memorable songs this year! Two of the very best ones! Worthy music. Maybe this poll doesn’t say anything about what’s bad music. or good music. But it gives an indication of what people listen too. and in some cases it shows how different taste is, compared with the actual quality of the songs. Let 100 rock journalists listen to the songs this year…I am sure Georgia and… Read more »
People relax, you misunderstand this voting! This is not abou which song is worst. But the one which is most hard to renember. Two different things! I can understand how Albania is hard to remember. can’t remember it really myself. Totally Non descriot Georgia and montengero have execellent songs of course. But might not be easy to remember. But I agree some esc fans ha e a stupid and negative opinion about rock music. Austria is awful. But not unmemorable. Even if you hate it, it gets stucked. Noone said Georgia or Montenegro were bad. And they are of course… Read more »
When I went to the popquiz after ESC….guess which song people raved the most about? Georgia! Says it all. I think they are far better than verdicting a song like this, than the voters here. It’s a quality song. But some people don’t get it.
original, rocky and great I meant to write 🙂
Some people only accept songs tht are ESC-cliches….boring divsa ballads or ballads schlagers…too much pink ESC-bubble thinking
I notice these results have got lots of bad reactions. Useless poll! At least when such great and daring songs end up as best!
For me, Czech Rep and Croatia + Macedonia / Austria are theleast memorable. Just cliche sonngs.
Hey? Whats wrong woth people?!Georgia and Montengro are two of the best songs this year! Original, errock and people!
How is Fairytale not memorable? And that’s why I love youuuuuu oooo ooo
I think Uk is by far the least memorable, even the chorus I struggle to remember.
Whaaaat? Montenegro and Georgia had two of the most memorable songs this year IMO, along with Armenia and Ukraine.
@Zzzzzz
I used to be a hater of Georgia’s song but now I almost love it! So happy it qualified 🙂
Funny how 4 of the top 10 songs in the Least Memorable category managed to qualify and do well (even win) in ESC. Showing that they were not really that popular. Pretty much sums up the contest at the moment.
Still listening to France, Bulgaria, Sweden, Latvia and Armenia though.
The song was hella forgettable but that staging is still embossed in my brain to this very day
People who actually struggle to remember jamala must have a really dense Memory.
Lol women voting. For men they were two bests songs :DDD Especially Georgia was the best and 20th position is still the biggest shock.
By the way, UK should be last, “You’re Not Alone” was the only song this year which I could remember with just one listen (even though I’m not a big fan of it).
@Calum Macleod
That would have been fairer.
I managed to figure out that if the other voting system had been used, it would have come last in its semi with just 8 points.