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 second place acts: 2010 to 2019
They say that history is written by the winners. And for Eurovision that is mostly the case. The victor gets the trophy and reprises their entry, while the whole shebang arrives in the winning country approximately twelve months later.
But that doesn’t mean that we forget about everyone else. Often, some would even suggest that the best songs always come second. We couldn’t possibly confirm or deny such a theory. However, we’re more than happy to put it to the test and look back at all of the runners up from 2010 to 2019.
Which second-place act is your favourite? Vote in our poll and then share your thoughts in the comments.
Eurovision 2010: Turkey’s maNga with “We Could Be the Same”
This alternative metal attempt won Turkey its second-best result ever. It was also the country’s best result this decade, albeit it’s been absent since 2013. maNga were one of the top contenders in Oslo and put up a serious fight on the scoreboard. But in the end it was Germany’s Lena who got the win with “Satellite”.
Eurovision 2011: Italy’s Raphael Gualazzi with “Madness of Love”
It’s the runner-up nobody expected. On the night, Italy was 20th in the betting odds. But after missing 14 consecutive contests, Raphael Gualazzi’s bilingual ballad delivered the Italians one of the most spectacular comebacks in history. Not quite a victory, but surely the next best thing.
Eurovision 2012: Russia’s Buranovskiye with “Party For Everybody”
Probably the craziest runner up since “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” in 2007, this iconic performance is one to remember. It might have lost to Sweden’s “Euphoria” by a considerable margin, but it remains a favourite in the Eurovision bubble. The “baking grandmas” even won themselves a mention in “Love Love Peace Peace” — the self-deprecating interval act from 2016.
Eurovision 2013: Azerbaijan’s Farid Mammadov with “Hold Me”
“Hold Me”, Azerbaijan’s only second-place finish in the contest, was notable for its staging. While Denmark was the hot favourite to win, there were plenty of other acts that seemed like strong contenders, including Azerbaijan. However, Denmark was the clear winner and Azerbaijan had to settle for silver.
Eurovision 2014: The Netherlands’ The Common Linnets with “Calm After the Storm”
The Netherlands shook everyone by taking second place in 2014. It was only one year after the nation qualified to the Eurovision final for the first time since 2004. The Common Linnets’ soft folk song won hearts, and for a moment it almost looked like victory was in their sights.
Eurovision 2015: Russia’s Polina Gagarina with “A Million Voices”
In a year in which the televotes and the jury couldn’t agree on anything, Russia profited and almost won. During the voting procedure, Russia held on to a lead until very late in the show, but Sweden took gold eventually. “A Million Voices” by Polina Gagarina remains a personal favourite for many.
Eurovision 2016: Australia’s Dami Im with “Sound of Silence”
In only its second year competing, Australia sashayed straight into the top two. Dami Im’s “Sound of Silence” won the jury vote and was seemingly on the way to a landslide victory, but eventually finished second, a tiny margin behind Ukraine’s “1944”.
Eurovision 2017: Bulgaria’s Kristian Kostov with “Beautiful Mess”
The top of the 2017 scoreboard was a beautiful mess of different genres. The winner from Portugal won the jury vote and the public, with Bulgaria’s Kristian Kostov finishing second in both. Kostov not only got the highest score ever for a non-winner, he also got the second-highest score of all time. Furthermore, just one year after Poli Genova secured Bulgaria’s top score in the contest, Kristian smashed it and then some.
Eurovision 2018: Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira with “Fuego”
In the days leading up to Eurovision 2018, fans became more and more convinced that Cyprus would win it. But in the end, as Eurovision 2019 host Assi Azar would say, they didn’t. Despite that, the song still became a staple choice for fan favourite all-time tops and achieved widespread success across Europe. We even saw it performed by Måns Zelmerlöw on the Tel Aviv stage.
Eurovision 2019: Italy’s Mahmood with “Soldi”
Mahmood’s win in the Sanremo Festival 2019 came as a surprise to many. But then, in the months leading up to Eurovision, the unique Italian R&B song grew on Eurofans. After Tel Aviv, “Soldi” charted in 24 countries in Europe.
Who is your favourite Eurovision runner-up of the 2010s?
Poll closed.
Eleni was undeniably the best!
2017 was the year when the runner-up was way better than the winner.
Kristian is the best artist! Beautiful mess is amazing song!
These are all really good, except for 2012.
Manga (2010) was my favourite runner up for a while, but Polina (2015) was so wonderful and Dami (2016) was even more so. Then Kris finished 2nd in 2017, so that’s why I can’t choose a favourite – they are all so good.
And how can any of these compete with “Fuego” (2018), which became iconic?
Just to finish it off, “Soldi” (2019) I think became the biggest selling ESC hit to date?
So this is what a parallel universe looks like. 35.38% of the votes now and counting. And I thought Mahmood’s fans were fanatical.
Mahmood’s fans are not fanatical and few of them follow Wiwi or other Eurovision stuffs. Italians, in general, don’t follow Eurovision.
And I don’t vote in Wiwibloggs polls because it is clear someone doesn’t play fairly, there are blocks of autogenerated votes (the same happened for the votes for the best ogae contest video and so on; if you notice it, mahmood never wins this kind of polls, because his fans play correctly)
Shh, quiet to not hear the Chinese fans of Kristian Kostov, as they are millions. So far, only real votes from Bulgaria and Europe. Russia and Kazakhstan are big countries as well.
not my fault if we are voting like crazy but other’s fandom don’t as much as they can
Kristian Kostov left a lasting mark and lifted the level of Eurovision song contest with his Beautiful Mess and so far no one has been able to jump over it.
Absolutely
Beautiful mess remains the greatest masterpiece known to Eurovision contest so far.
Kristian Kostov of course. Undoubtedly Beautiful Mess won this race in 2017, although the trophy did not go where it should be.
Kris!Amazing ARTIST!
I love the fact that Kostov was 5th or something and within some hours he is slaying everyone being 1st. But he diserves it 100% for sure, its such an amazing song/performance/artist
Kristian Kostov ?
#teamKris
Kristian Kostov ?
#teamKris
Where do all those votes for Kristian all of sudden come from? Until a few hours ago it was all about Dami first/second, Eleni first/second, Mahmood third and the CL fourth. And now suddenly Kristian is slaying the poll.
They all popped up within a few minutes, some kind of auto generated block vote.
The same happened with the poll for the best video Ogae contest, where the video from Serbia received a lot of votes in a few time, while Mahmood’s beautiful video (Barrio) no. Let’s see the views of the video of Serbia and of Italy on youtube (1,6 million in 10 months against 45 millions in 4 months).
Someone doesn’t play fairly here.
kristian kostov stole and owns my heart!
eternally grateful i got the chance to know him through esc???
ok f*ck the emojis
Kristian Kostov for sure
Such a beautiful song from a young talented artist. Just wow. It definitely diserved to win
Kristian Kostov
Beautiful Mess
#TeamKris
#TeamKrisForever and #Beautiful mess! Of course Bulgaria 2017????????
For me Mahmood
2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019 were AMAZING!
2014 and 2016 were good.
2013 was okay but overrated.
2011 and 2012 were both awful.
For me, Polina Gagarina, by far… She really gave it her all on stage, and turned an ordinary “love love peace peace” song into something magical and emotional, which was heightened by a beautiful stage show. Unlike anyone else on this list, she received jeers and booing, but irrespective of this, she was just so classy, warm, and positive… One of the best performers to have ever graced the Eurovision stage!
Hold Me and Madness of Love my favorites
As a Cypriot i would choose Fuego, but the year when i really felt that runner up was by far better than the winner was 2016 with Australia.
I’m with “Calm After the Storm” and “Soldi” in this one.
Mahmood not only the best runner up, but also the best revelation of this Esc. His talent is shining, and his song Barrio, released at the end of August, three months after Eurovision, has now almost 29 million streams and the video 46 million views
Soldi. Simple, yet impacting performance. Catchy song, especially the clapping in the chorus. Mahmood’s unique voice and stage presence.
1.Italy 2019
2.Russia 2012
3.The Netherlands 2014
4.Australia 2016
5.Turkey 2010
1. “Calm After The Storm”
2. “Soldi”
3. “Fuego”
4. “We Could Be the Same”
5. “Sound of Silence”
6. “A Million Voices”
7. “Party For Everybody”
8. “Beautiful Mess”
9. “Madness of Love”
10. “Hold Me”
I agree with your top 3!
2010, 2014 and 2018.
Queen of Europe Eleni Foureira !!!
01. 2014 THE NETHERLANDS
02. 2011 ITALY
03. 2016 AUSTRALIA
04. 2017 Bulgaria
05. 2015 Russia
06. 2019 Italy
07. 2013 Azerbaijan
08. 2018 Cyprus
09. 2010 Turkey
10. 2012 Russia
Hardest poll since the beggining. I voted 2016-2017-2018 but tbh I love 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2019 too :’)
Most of these are better than the actual winner…
Hahahah no.
Voted for 2014 (have already enough talked about the Top 2 ^^), 2016 (Dami Im’s voice was stunning and the performance magical) and 2017 (fanboy of Kristian here ^^)
Kristian and Eleni are the real winners.
If Eurovision is a SONG CONTEST, then singing is its focal point and NONE comes close to Dami’s , Eurovision 2016, Sound of Silence, which was voted ahead of the winner, by the Judges, BY A MILE !!
Yes a SONG CONTEST and therefore the SONG is it’s focal point and not singing…
Just my opinion, but I think Polina was better than Dami.
They’re at least equally good. Except one was loudly booed by the “fans” and the other hailed a Queen. A shame.
I still think that in 2016 it was the strongest song and the strongest performer who won.
Mahmood, mi amor.
A mi tambien….
Did you enjoy the Spanish performance? It was so nice of them to let the audience to participate.
My favourite, Mahmood with Soldi
2010: I am biased, but it truly deserved its place. 10/10 2011: So underrated by the fandom. It was a breath of fresh air to have jazz. 10/10 2012: While musically it did not have so much to offer, it was cute, it was memorable, it was Eurovision by numbers. 9/10 2013: Again, so underrated, it was a fantastic performance. It had a throwback to 00s quality to it. 10/10 2014: Possibly the best runner up of the decade, a true ESC classic 10/10 2015: Great song, Great singer, but I always felt it was mocking Europe as it was… Read more »
The best staging ever for Fuego? Did you watch Australia 2019? The singer there actually sings also.
I mean, Australia 19 was great too. I can also add Latvia 02, Turkey 03, Ukraine 04, Greece 05, Iceland 09, Azerbaijan 13, Netherlands 14, Sweden 15, Ukraine 16, Portugal 17 into great stagings. But MOST of these songs were great to begin with. Fuego, on the other hand grew during the ESC week, I also think it is unfair to throw shade at Eleni’s vocal performance. The girl sang and danced, like there was no tomorrow.
“Biggest commercial success of the decade?”
I don’t think anyone beats Euphoria this decade. Look up the number of countries it charted in and the certifications it got.
Although it is a bit difficult to compare songs from the beginning of the decade with the ones from now. In the beginning of the decade physical sales and downloads were most important, nowadays it is streaming.
I gave my votes to 2015, 2017 and of course, 2018 😀
Honourable mention goes to Soldi for being such a hit around the world, including Israel (people here don’t quite love Eurovision or its entries, so that’s an achievement for sure)
I love all entries here tough
That’s an easy choice, after visiting Australia 3 times in the following years after that performance in Eurovision. 😉
As for this decade, it’s “Calm After The Storm”.
Going back in time a a little, my other favourite runner-ups include: Switzerland 58, UK 59, UK 65, Sweden 66, Italy 74, France 76, UK 77, Israel 83, UK 88, France 90&91, UK 93, Belgium 03 and Ukraine 07 (which goes without saying).
I like the old school songs in this commentary. Has there ever been a poll on which decade was the best?
Italy 74 is my favourite ever Eurovision song. So beautiful
Runners-up may not be really winners but there are some which are truly gems (in some cases even more deserving than winning songs). Calm After The Storm (my 2014 winner) , imho, is the best runner-up Eurovision has produced. I love how it was sort of low-key before the competition then eventually stunned everyone, nearly winning that year’s edition. Dami Im and her wig-snatching Sound of Silence performance is also noteworthy. It was not that lyrically-impressive but it cannot be denied that it is one of Eurovision’s most amazing vocal exhibitions and was truly world class. Soldi and Fuego are… Read more »
This is tough choice… There was so much quality in terms of runner-ups, especially 2015, 2019, 2014, 2017, 2016, 2018 in this order to me.
Soldi and Calm After the Storm
Are the final 3 polls going to be best overall winner, best jury winner and best eurovision overall?
Soldi, We could be the same and Fuego.
Turkey, both Italians, both Russians and Cyprus for me
Kristian Kostov is the only 2nd place that was ever my #1 overall. So yeah, it is still my favourite.
Polina was my favorite in 2015 so she definitely gets my vote.
Dami was in my top 10 but boy has that song stood the test of time – I would say it arguably sounds better now.
Eleni had it for me over Netta – that song was such a banger on the night.
And of course Mahmood – his song was so fresh.