Every year in Eurovision, at least one new record is set. Sometimes, a country can celebrate its best result yet, or the end of a non-qualification streak. On the other end of the spectrum, citizens can mourn their homeland’s worst result yet, or worse, the start of a non-qualification streak. This year, the theme for the short clips during the interval acts was the Eurovision Book of Records, so in honor of that, let’s look at 2014’s numerous Eurovision achievements by country.
The Good
Highest Placings Yet
- Winner Conchita Wurst brings Austria its second, long-overdue victory and a repeat of Austria’s best result in the contest yet.
- Queen Valentina of San Marino gives her nation its highest placement yet. Sure, it was twenty-fourth, but in San Marino, this is a victory in itself.
- Sergej Cetkovic, from Montenegro, also brought Montenegro its best result: nineteenth. Pretty good for a country with barely any participating neighbors.
- Aram MP3 matched Sirusho’s 2008 record for highest placing Armenian entry, in fourth place.
Broke Out of their Non-Qualifying Streak
- Austria, of course, after not qualifying for two years.
- Switzerland, after not qualifying for two years.
- Poland, after not qualifying since 2008 (and for the first time, with both televoting and jury voting).
- Montenegro, after never qualifying.
- San Marino, after never qualifying.
- Slovenia, after not qualifying for two years.
The Bad
Lowest Placings Yet
- Greece’s twentieth place matched that of their result from 1998.
- Azerbaijan’s twenty-second place shocked the head of the Azeri national selection.
- France placed last for the first time since its debut in 1956.
- Moldova and Georgia finished last in their respective semi-finals.
Continued their Non-Qualifying Streak
- Latvia, for the sixth year in a row, did not qualify. However, they did not come in last place.
- Israel, for the fourth year in a row, did not qualify. This was a shock to fans, who now attribute it to shaky vocals and poor camera angles.
For me, the record was Slovakia, for not participating for two years since 2012, including this year.
Theifo, thank you so much for pointing that out. 🙂
However, we count last places as the worst result possible, regardless of which number placing that is. Therefore, Italy’s 17th place in 1966 (last place) is still considered by us to be their worst placement.
Italy also got out of the top 10 for the first time since their return to the contest in 2011, and also their worst placing to date for that matter.
sshhhhhhh Erin
Here is an interesting ‘food’ for thought: The Netherlands didn’t get any points this year from: Azerbaijan, Malta, Georgia, Moldova, Israel, Ukraine, Albania and Montenegro. If you look at the separate jury and televote standings, you’ll see that the Netherlands wasn’t even ranked at the top 10 spots among the juries themselves. A rather similar pattern occurred in 2010 when Lena won with ‘Satellite’ when the current jury/televote system was still not applied: Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Israel didn’t award any points, while Portugal and Azerbaijan gave it just 1 point. Now…which countries awarded both Germany and the Netherlands… Read more »
Disregard what I said about Loreen’s song as an example.
@Charles: I’ve never heard any David Guetta-like songs that fall under the “pop-rock genre” song like Same Heart. Can you at least provide more accurate examples that are way too similar to Israel’s entry for this year that you speak of? Don’t forget that Loreen’s winning song falls under your example too, which I find your claim too paradoxical. And also, that is why they are called FANS fora reason because of how they like the song and support Mei to advance to the finals, which is why a lot of them were dismayed and expressed their disappointment in sites… Read more »
I digress that Israel had shaky vocals, I thought Mei was brilliant!
Israel must STAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Netherlands qualifying second time in a row after 8 years not being in the final, being second for the first time, highest position since 1975, most points the country ever got at Eurovision…
israel had the best performance in 2nd semi final, thats a fact yes. there was a lot of countries who does not usually qualify in the final this year!!!
The Netherlands getting their best result since 1975 and being 2nd for the first time ever!
A drag queen winning for the first time.
Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Romania qualifying to the final since 2004.
I always find hilarious when fans or so-called fans try to justify why their supposed favourite entry does not qualify … Israel 2014? Haven’t we seen this before? Or do people spend so much time grooving at the club the night before Eurovision to truly understand what went wrong here … and Slovenia last year, Ireland last year, Norway 2012, etc etc … I mean at this stage, one is either a damn piece of stubborn stone or really dummy. People do have to work their ass off harder and more originally if they want to bring uniqueness at the… Read more »
First time in history The Netherlands was runner up!