Topic: *UPDATED* My Eurovision Winners

[Martial]

However I must tell that with years passing by I feel that I'm becoming more and more conservative in my taste with hardly any changes especially on the top of the lists. So those of you who know my taste won't be surprised even a bit with my "new" list.

1956: Italy (Amami se vuoi)
1957: Netherlands
1958: Sweden
1959: Netherlands
1960: France
1961: Italy
1962: Yugoslavia
1963: Denmark
1964: Italy
1965: Portugal
1966: Spain
1967: United Kingdom
1968: France
1969: France
1970: Ireland
1971: Monaco
1972: Luxembourg
1973: Luxembourg
1974: Sweden
1975: Germany
1976: Greece
1977: France
1978: Sweden
1979: France
1980: Germany
1981: Switzerland
1982: Cyprus
1983: Luxembourg
1984: Italy
1985: Spain
1986: Switzerland
1987: Italy
1988: Israel
1989: Sweden
1990: Iceland
1991: Israel
1992: Italy
1993: Ireland
1994: Hungary
1995: Croatia
1996: Sweden
1997: Italy
1998: Croatia
1999: Bosnia-Herzegovina
2000: Denmark
2001: France
2002: France
2003: Turkey
2004: Serbia-Montenegro
2005: Croatia
2006: Greece
2007: Slovenia
2008: Portugal
2009: France
2010: Spain
2011: France

And now let me look at your list. I will also comment using 2011. You couldnt and did out of 55 winners, so I will discuss 2011 as well and therefore reveal right away that Dino has my 2011 crown. I'm assuming he's your runner-up, just like Amaury is in my top 3.

So 15 winners in common, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1992, 2002 and 2009

Your winners are also in my top 5 20 more times split up as follow:
Your winners are 6 times my 2nd : 1959, 1973, 1979, 1993, 1999, 2008
Your winners are 6 times my 3rd : 1958, 1974, 1989, 2004, 2005, 2011
Your winners are 8 times my 4th : 1962, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1994, 2001, 2003
Your winners are 0 times my 5th : -
We have in 99 and 2008 a perfect switch, your winner being my 2nd and vice versa. 73 or 2011 are very close to that as well.

Your winners are 10 times in my top 10 but not in my top 5: 1965, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1984, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2006
plus 2 notable mention to Italy 97 and Spain 2010 who are my 11th on my list

that's a total of 47 songs already, leaving only 9 outside my top 11: 1956 Italy, 1964 Italy, 1980 Germany, 1982 Cyprus, 1985 Spain, 1988 Israel, 1991 Israel, 1998 Croatia, 2007 Slovenia, with four that I actually like.

Most I don't hate, for instance I see and understand perfectly Italy 1964, Spain 1985, Israel 1988 and Slovenia 2007. Italy 1964 is not a classic to me, Gigliola doesn't sing that well and her songs are the what's wrong with Italian ballads to me. I don't hate it, but never enjoyed it. I see why it won it's just not effective on me. Spain 1985 is a great idea with a good singer vocally, but the live was really off putting. Israel is one of its better entries in the 80s but still hard for me to swallow. Slovenia 2007 is 13th which is a good result in the 00s many-countries year. Good song, just not in my top 10.

Italy 1956, Germany 1980, Cyprus 1982, Israel 1991 and Croatia 1998 are big fans favorite so I cant really talk about them, but to be fair they dont appeal to me at all. Croatia 98 most of all is a very dull bad balkan ballad, Israel 91 is the typical one-syllable word shout and danced around for 3 mines in an all-color cast ensemble that I hate. Cyprus 82 is dull without being horrific. I try to love Germany 1980 and sometimes I think I will and then it's not working but to be fair 1980 well, too many average songs I really could have t higher. It leaves me with the only one I hate: all from the beginning, Italy 1956 is my last in its year, it's annoying and I probably never listened to the end.

I find interesting the conservative idea. By the look of it, France is no less than 4 times your winner in the last decade and many of your winners come from big regular countries. No new comers or very few made your list. That's also an interesting "conservative" twist I think every long-term esc fan has experienced. My list has changed, but I was young and new to Eurovision when we met. I am pretty solid with my choices for now, except, ironically, for 82 and 97.


ps: you have 78 and i have 81 but somehow, i could count as one for Bjorn Skifs!

[Martial]

SUMMARY (to be updated after Niko's second half of the list)

1956: Italy (2), Germany, Luxembourg
1957: Netherlands (2), Denmark (2)
1958: Switzlerand (3), Sweden (1)
1959: Netherlands (2), Denmark (1), Switzerland (1)
1960: France (3), Norway (1)
1961: Italy (2), Norway (1), United-Kingdom (1)
1962: France (1), Sweden (1), Yugoslavia (1), Germany (1)
1963: Denmark (3), Sweden (1)
1964: Italy (2), Austria (1), Germany (1)
1965: Luxembourg (2), Austria (1), Portugal (1)
1666: Spain (2), Norway (1), Luxembourg (1)
1967: United-Kingdom (2), Luxembourg (1), Sweden (1)
1968: France (4)
1969: France (4)
1970: Ireland (2), Monaco (1), Germany (1)
1971: Monaco (2), Austria (1), Netherlands (1)
1972: Austria (2), Luxembourg (1), Portugal (1)
1973: Luxembourg (2), Yugoslavia (2)
1974: Sweden (1), Finland (1), Israel (1), Italy (1)
1975: Germany (2), France (1), Turkey (1)
1976: Greece (3), United-Kingdom (1)
1977: France (2), Israel (1), Netherlands (1)
1978: United-Kingdom (2), Sweden (1), Belgium (1)
1979: Finland (1), France (1), Israel (1), Austria (1)

[rapsodia]

Thank you very much for the in depth response Morgan. Naturally there are lots of points I'd like to elaborate but since I'm quite tired now at almost five in the morning I'll try to cover as much ground as possible in a hurry.

It's true that France has taken over the "most victories" title with a recent sudden attack in 2009 and 2011, but with the very reason you mentioned (Italy being absent for 13 full years) Italy is still my favorite ESC country by average points just ahead of France. While Sweden is less consistent compared to these two I can also take it among the best ESC countries and I also agree with your view on Serbia. However I cannot agree on Finland or Bosnia-Herzegovina. I find first few Bosnian entries (up until 1999) very amateurish and mostly forgettable. However things get better and better for them in the new millenium. As for Finland they have never been among my favorite countries in any decade. There's not one single Finnish victory in my lists, even though I love some of their entries (most of all the delightful "La dolce vita") I think the ones I dislike would outnumber the others. Even though they are disappointingly commercial in the last decade as a whole Greece is aomg my favorites and I also have a soft spot for Portugal, but when they are low in my lists they are seriously low.

Your explanations for most of the songs I bashed are quite convincing with the huge exception of Bosnia Herzegovina 1997. I must have watched that contest at least a dozen times by now the most recent being in last May. However I never noticed, not even once those circus freaks you mentioned and now I have to go back and see the performance once again but I truly don't understand at all how that pathetic little song with that miserably poor performance can stay on anyone's mind. I can agree with the rest you mentioned (though I think 1997 was not a weak year for memorability) but Bosnian entry is just opposite of memorable to me in terms of performance and much worse in terms of musical quality. By the way the resemblance between Katrina and Alma had struck me before but in a totaly opposite way. While Katrina both looked and sounded like an established, professional performer (although I'd agree that her song was a huge cliché, it was magnificantly put together and worked very well on the stage on every possible aspect) Alma was your local housewife on a karaoke night with a sad little excuse for a song to sing. By the way your televoting argument is also strongly debatable since the pilot countries of that first televote all had a serious Bosnian diaspora. So if you think that putting "Fantasiaa" over "Si la vie est cadeau" means kidding yourself (which I disagree by the way even if I also prefer the latter over former) than you should go back and listen to "Fiumi di parole" and "Love Shine a Light" a bunch of times more, because here the delusion is much bigger. 

As you already know me very well I know that you don't need this explanation but in case any other forum member is reading these I feel obligated to make myself clear on a certain point: I don't mean to degrade your personal preferance of a certain song over some others, but merely try to point out that an objective ranking of songs can never be possible so your preferance of Finland '83 over Luxembourg '83 wouldn't be any more delusional than your preferance of "Goodbye" over about 20 songs of the same year. If you like it better then you like it better and that's all. In any way you (or any single one of us) can ever decide which is objectively better. I personally think that the only way we could ever hope to grasp a part of that elusive "objectivity" is having as much as "subjectivities" possible in front of you and that's partly the reason why I'm so curious about other people's (and mostly devoted fans') full rankings.

Having said that I'm waiting for all kind of your excel sheets and I Promise to send you mine as soon as possible.

I'd have liked to say a few words about 1982 race and that infamous Georgian debut but let's save it for some other time.

[Niko]

My winners 1980 - 2011

1980 - Spain - Trigo Limpio - Quédate esta noche
1981 - Luxembourg - Jean-Claude Pascal - C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique
1982 - Cyprus - Anna Vissi - Mono i agapi
1983 - Spain - Remedios Amaya - ¿Quién maneja mi barca?
1984 - Portugal - Maria Guinot - Silêncio e tanta gente
1985 - Finland - Sonja Lumme - Eläköön elämä
1986 - Yugoslavia - Doris Dragović - Željo moja
1987 - Italy - Umberto Tozzi & Raf - Gente di mare
1988 - Israel - Yardena Arazi - Ben adam
1989 - Austria - Thomas Forstner - Nur ein Lied
1990 - Turkey - Kayahan - Gözlerinin hapsindeyim
1991 - Israel - Duo Datz - Kan
1992 - Italy - Mia Martini - Rapsodia
1993 - Belgium - Barbara Dex -  Iemand als jij
1994 - The Netherlands - Willeke Alberti - Waar is de zon
1995 - Denmark - Aud Wilken - Fra Mols til Skagen
1996 - Sweden - One More Time - Den vilda
1997 - Ireland - Marc Roberts - Mysterious Woman
1998 - Malta - Chiara - The One That I Love
1999 - Slovenia - Darja Švajger - For a Thousand Years
2000 - Latvia - BrainStorm - My Star
2001 - France - Natasha St. Pier - Je n'ai que mon âme
2002 - France - Sandrine François - Il faut du temps
2003 - Norway - Norway - Jostein Hasselgård - I'm Not Afraid To Move On
2004 - United Kingdom - James Fox - Hold On To Your Love
2005 - Serbia & Montenegro - No Name - Zauvijek moja
2006 - France - Virginie Pouchain - Il était temps
2007 - Malta - Olivia Lewis - Vertigo
2008 - San Marino - Miodio - Complice
2009 - France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire
2010 - Israel - Harel Ska'at - Milim
2011 - France - Amaury Vassili - Sognu

[Niko]

My winners (full list)

1956 - Italy - Tonina Torrielli - Amami se vuoi
1957 - Denmark - Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler - Skibet skel selje i nat
1958 - Switzerland - Lys Assia - Giorgio
1959 - Denmark - Birthe Wilke - Uh, jeg ville ønske, jeg var dig
1960 - France - Jacqueline Boyer - Tom Pillibi
1961 - Norway - Nora Brockstedt - Sommer i Palma
1962 - Germany - Conny Froboess - Zwei kleine Italiener
1963 - Sweden - Monica Zetterlund - En gång i Stockholm
1964 - Italy - Gigliola Cinquetti - Non ho l'etá
1965 - Luxembourg - France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son
1966 - Norway - Åse Kleveland - Intet er nytt under solen
1967 - Austria - Peter Horten - Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt?
1968 - France - Isabelle Aubret - La source
1969 - France - Frida Boccara - Un jour, un enfant
1970 - Ireland - Dana - All Kinds of Everything
1971 - The Netherlands - Saskia & Serge - Tijd
1972 - Portugal - Carlos Mendes - A festa da vida
1973 - Yugoslavia - Zdravko Čolić - Gori vatra
1974 - Finland - Carita Holmström - Keep Me Warm
1975 - France - Nicole Rieu - Et bonjour à toi l'artiste
1976 - Greece - Greece - Mariza Koch - Panagia mou
1977 - The Netherlands - Heddy Lester - De mallemolen
1978 - United Kingdom - Co-Co - The bad old days
1979 - Austria - Christina Simon - Heute in Jerusalem
1980 - Spain - Trigo Limpio - Quédate esta noche
1981 - Luxembourg - Jean-Claude Pascal - C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique
1982 - Cyprus - Anna Vissi - Mono i agapi
1983 - Spain - Remedios Amaya - ¿Quién maneja mi barca?
1984 - Portugal - Maria Guinot - Silêncio e tanta gente
1985 - Finland - Sonja Lumme - Eläköön elämä
1986 - Yugoslavia - Doris Dragović - Željo moja
1987 - Italy - Umberto Tozzi & Raf - Gente di mare
1988 - Israel - Yardena Arazi - Ben adam
1989 - Austria - Thomas Forstner - Nur ein Lied
1990 - Turkey - Kayahan - Gözlerinin hapsindeyim
1991 - Israel - Duo Datz - Kan
1992 - Italy - Mia Martini - Rapsodia
1993 - Belgium - Barbara Dex -  Iemand als jij
1994 - The Netherlands - Willeke Alberti - Waar is de zon
1995 - Denmark - Aud Wilken - Fra Mols til Skagen
1996 - Sweden - One More Time - Den vilda
1997 - Ireland - Marc Roberts - Mysterious Woman
1998 - Malta - Chiara - The One That I Love
1999 - Slovenia - Darja Švajger - For a Thousand Years
2000 - Latvia - BrainStorm - My Star
2001 - France - Natasha St. Pier - Je n'ai que mon âme
2002 - France - Sandrine François - Il faut du temps
2003 - Norway - Norway - Jostein Hasselgård - I'm Not Afraid To Move On
2004 - United Kingdom - James Fox - Hold On To Your Love
2005 - Serbia & Montenegro - No Name - Zauvijek moja
2006 - France - Virginie Pouchain - Il était temps
2007 - Malta - Olivia Lewis - Vertigo
2008 - San Marino - Miodio - Complice
2009 - France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire
2010 - Israel - Harel Ska'at - Milim
2011 - France - Amaury Vassili - Sognu

Maybe there are some surprises, so feel free to comment! 

[Martial]

it's a love or hate with your list Niko, i love many songs, but when I don't like your winner, I really don't! Belgium 93 is my last, I really don't like it, but then you love a few songs I feel I am the only one to love sometimes, like Spain 83! Great list all in all, very you. I wonder what Can will think about it, he's going to give you the full analysis

[Niko]

Thank you Morgan!  I knew that you don't like Belgium 93, so that is not a surprise. You of course know that Spain 1983 is my BEST EVER!
I really wait for seeing and reading Can's whole analysis, because I already read his words after the first part of my winners. This will be so exciting! 

[ijm123]

I've had a quick read through all analysis' from Can & Morgan and will reply in full tonight.

I don't have an excel file of my rankings...but I do have them all written down so it wouldn't take too long to transfer it all over to excel .

Nice to see Niko's complete list too.  I knew I had an ally in you as far as Iemand als jij is concerned (it's my #2 of 93)....but was also pleased to see someone else liked Mysterious Woman

As Morgan predicted France 68, France 69, Italy 92 and France 02 are common winners of all 4 of us ....and to be perfectly honest in 3 of those cases I cannot accept any other winner.  The exception is 69...which although Un jour, un enfant is my all time #2 I can accept if someone has Netherlands or Portugal as their winner in 69.  68, 92 and 02 though are all 1 song years IMO.

[Martial]

SUMMARY

1956: Italy (2), Germany, Luxembourg
1957: Netherlands (2), Denmark (2)
1958: Switzlerland (3), Sweden (1)
1959: Netherlands (2), Denmark (1), Switzerland (1)
1960: France (3), Norway (1)
1961: Italy (2), Norway (1), United-Kingdom (1)
1962: France (1), Sweden (1), Yugoslavia (1), Germany (1)
1963: Denmark (3), Sweden (1)
1964: Italy (2), Austria (1), Germany (1)
1965: Luxembourg (2), Austria (1), Portugal (1)
1666: Spain (2), Norway (1), Luxembourg (1)
1967: United-Kingdom (2), Luxembourg (1), Sweden (1)
1968: France (4)
1969: France (4)
1970: Ireland (2), Monaco (1), Germany (1)
1971: Monaco (2), Austria (1), Netherlands (1)
1972: Austria (2), Luxembourg (1), Portugal (1)
1973: Luxembourg (2), Yugoslavia (2)
1974: Sweden (1), Finland (1), Israel (1), Italy (1)
1975: Germany (2), France (1), Turkey (1)
1976: Greece (3), United-Kingdom (1)
1977: France (2), Israel (1), Netherlands (1)
1978: United-Kingdom (2), Sweden (1), Belgium (1)
1979: Finland (1), France (1), Israel (1), Austria (1)
1980: Germany (2) Spain (1), Ireland (1)
1981: Sweden (1), Germany (1), Switzerland (1), Luxembourg (1)
1982: Cyprus (2) United-Kingdom (1), Denmark (1)
1983: Luxembourg (2), Spain (1), Finland (1)
1984: Portugal (3), Italy (1)
1985: Finland (2), Germany (1), Spain (1)
1986: Switzerland (2), Germany (1), Yugoslavia (1)
1987: Italy (3), Iceland (1)
1988: Israel (2), Turkey (1), Denmark (1)
1989: Finland (1), Spain (1), Sweden (1), Turkey (1)
1990: France (1), Iceland (1), Turkey (1), Yugoslavia (1)
1991: Israel (2), France (1), Finland (1)
1992: Italy (4)
1993: Ireland (2), Belgium (1), Bosnia & Herzegovina (1)
1994: Hungary (2), Ireland (1), Netherlands (1)
1995: Norway (1), Spain (1), Croatia (1), Denmark (1)
1996: Sweden (2), Ireland (1), Noway (1)
1997: Cyprus (1), Italy (1), Ireland (1), Bosnia & Herzegovina (1)
1998: Croatia (1), Slovakia (1), Malta (1), United-Kingdom (1)
1999: Bosnia-Herzegovina (1), Sweden (1), Slovenia (1), Cyprus (1)
2000: Latvia (2), Russia (1), Denmark (1)
2001: France (3), Russia (1)
2002: France (4)
2003: Turkey (1), Belgium (1), Norway (1), Portugal (1)
2004: Serbia (1), Turkey (1), Ukraine (1), Unied-Kingdom (1)
2005: Montenegro (2), Croatia (1), Romania (1)
2006: Bosnia-Herzegovina (1), Greece (1), Germany (1), France (1)
2007: Hungary (1), Slovenia (1), Georgia (1), Malta (1)
2008: Portugal (2), Serbia (1), San Marino (1)
2009: France (3), Iceland (1)
2010: Israel (1), Estonia (1), Romania (1), Spain (1)
2011: France (2), Slovenia (1), Bosnia & Herzegovina (1)

[Niko]

Thank you Ian - and yes, Iemand als jij is a lovely cute song whatever Morgan says 

I know that you don't like all my winner songs, but it doesn't matter, because tastes are so personal. 

I would like to bring for further discussion 2 special songs among my winners, Turkey 1990 and France 2006. Both of them were really underrated in ESC. Turkey 1990 is the only song in 1990, which gives me a happy smile and it is also very genuine. France 2006 on the other hand was too good for ESC listeners and watchers. The song is simple, pure and really touching + that Virginie has a really beautiful voice. Both of these 2 songs are real pearls to me. 

[rapsodia]

My winners (full list)

1956 - Italy - Tonina Torrielli - Amami se vuoi
1957 - Denmark - Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler - Skibet skel selje i nat
1958 - Switzerland - Lys Assia - Giorgio
1959 - Denmark - Birthe Wilke - Uh, jeg ville ønske, jeg var dig
1960 - France - Jacqueline Boyer - Tom Pillibi
1961 - Norway - Nora Brockstedt - Sommer i Palma
1962 - Germany - Conny Froboess - Zwei kleine Italiener
1963 - Sweden - Monica Zetterlund - En gång i Stockholm
1964 - Italy - Gigliola Cinquetti - Non ho l'etá
1965 - Luxembourg - France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son
1966 - Norway - Åse Kleveland - Intet er nytt under solen
1967 - Austria - Peter Horten - Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt?
1968 - France - Isabelle Aubret - La source
1969 - France - Frida Boccara - Un jour, un enfant
1970 - Ireland - Dana - All Kinds of Everything
1971 - The Netherlands - Saskia & Serge - Tijd
1972 - Portugal - Carlos Mendes - A festa da vida
1973 - Yugoslavia - Zdravko Čolić - Gori vatra
1974 - Finland - Carita Holmström - Keep Me Warm
1975 - France - Nicole Rieu - Et bonjour à toi l'artiste
1976 - Greece - Greece - Mariza Koch - Panagia mou
1977 - The Netherlands - Heddy Lester - De mallemolen
1978 - United Kingdom - Co-Co - The bad old days
1979 - Austria - Christina Simon - Heute in Jerusalem
1980 - Spain - Trigo Limpio - Quédate esta noche
1981 - Luxembourg - Jean-Claude Pascal - C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique
1982 - Cyprus - Anna Vissi - Mono i agapi
1983 - Spain - Remedios Amaya - ¿Quién maneja mi barca?
1984 - Portugal - Maria Guinot - Silêncio e tanta gente
1985 - Finland - Sonja Lumme - Eläköön elämä
1986 - Yugoslavia - Doris Dragović - Željo moja
1987 - Italy - Umberto Tozzi & Raf - Gente di mare
1988 - Israel - Yardena Arazi - Ben adam
1989 - Austria - Thomas Forstner - Nur ein Lied
1990 - Turkey - Kayahan - Gözlerinin hapsindeyim
1991 - Israel - Duo Datz - Kan
1992 - Italy - Mia Martini - Rapsodia
1993 - Belgium - Barbara Dex -  Iemand als jij
1994 - The Netherlands - Willeke Alberti - Waar is de zon
1995 - Denmark - Aud Wilken - Fra Mols til Skagen
1996 - Sweden - One More Time - Den vilda
1997 - Ireland - Marc Roberts - Mysterious Woman
1998 - Malta - Chiara - The One That I Love
1999 - Slovenia - Darja Švajger - For a Thousand Years
2000 - Latvia - BrainStorm - My Star
2001 - France - Natasha St. Pier - Je n'ai que mon âme
2002 - France - Sandrine François - Il faut du temps
2003 - Norway - Norway - Jostein Hasselgård - I'm Not Afraid To Move On
2004 - United Kingdom - James Fox - Hold On To Your Love
2005 - Serbia & Montenegro - No Name - Zauvijek moja
2006 - France - Virginie Pouchain - Il était temps
2007 - Malta - Olivia Lewis - Vertigo
2008 - San Marino - Miodio - Complice
2009 - France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire
2010 - Israel - Harel Ska'at - Milim
2011 - France - Amaury Vassili - Sognu

Maybe there are some surprises, so feel free to comment! 

We have a record of 17 winners in common Niko! They're from 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2011.

5 of your winners are my runners-up (1957, 1966, 1984, 1985 and 1986 ) and 4 of them are my second runners-up (1958, 1971, 1973 and 1995)

A total of 32 winners of yours are in my top five of their years (1961, 1978 and 1983 being my #4, 1965, 1998 and 2000 my #5)

Among the remaining 24 songs 10 are in my top ten of their respective years: 1959, 1962, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1997, 1999, 2003 & 2011. (Although as I've stated before not exactly a love affair with France 1975.) Apart from these I can notify Turkey 1990 (a really unusual choice by the way), Belgium 1993 (I'm a bit closer to you and Ian on this one than Morgan), Netherlands 1994, UK 2004, Serbia & Montenegro 2005 and San Marino 2008 as the songs I do like but not enough for a top ten position in their years.

This means that 8 of your winners I don't really like. Mostly I find them dull, boring and/or lifeless rather than horrible, terrible or awful. Such is the case for Sweden 1963, Austria 1967 (another very unusual choice), Luxembourg 1981 and France 2006. Portugal 1972 is a song I used to strongly dislike but grew to appreciate a little bit in time (apart from lyrics). With Austria 1989 I can understand the attraction but I just don't feel it. This one leaves me completely cold. Malta 2007 is a complicated matter. While I find the song slightly above average the whole performance looks and feels incredibly tacky to me that I usually rank it lower than I would with the studio version only. There is only one song in this list that I particularly dislike. Netherlands 1977 is just plain bad to my ears, even though it was performed quite adequately.

Again with Morgan and Ian among your winners highest rated ones by me are my eternal Top Two: Mia and Frida of course.

Here are the lowest rated five:

Netherlands 1977: 46
Sweden 1963: 49
Austria 1967: 50
Malta 2007: 57
Portugal 1972: 59

And again Niko if you have your full rankings of the years I'd be more than glad to have them.

[ijm123]

OK - my analysis of Can's list.  As you said we have 13 in common but there's many more that are high in my rankings.  There are also a few that I don't get at all but more of them later.

On the whole the list actually makes sense but there are a few anomalies that I can't quite grasp.  I seems looking at the list that you, like me, have a soft spot for ballads (particularly those sung in French).  However the one big difference is your preference for the Italian ballad - which in my case, apart from the masterpiece that is Rapsodia, usually leave me cold.  Which leaves me wondering why a song such as Det blir alltid värre framåt natten can be your top in 1978?

Onto the ones I don't get.

Italy 1956 - I'm with Morgan on this one for me it's a dreadful song....not that there were any particularly great songs in 1956 but this really was a sign of the boredom to come from Italy IMO
UK 1967 - this one is a bit different for a couple of reasons.  Admittedly the song had "winner" written all through it - and Sandie herself once said she knew she would win before she'd even sung a note - BUT it's just one of those songs that irritate me somewhat.  Admittedly it doesn't irritate me as much as our entries in the 2 years that followed but it still irritates me.
Sweden 1978 - I really cannot understand how this one can be anyone's favourite song of the year.  It was such a lame ending to the contest - not that it was a great edition anyway but there was so many better songs than it IMO.
Italy 1984 - yuk yuk yuk.  I'm not a fan of Italian entries as a whole...but this is amongst the worst IMO - alongside Domenico's 3 painful to listen to entries.
Bosnia & Herzegovina 1999 - I would love to know what it is that I'm missing in this song.  My dead last of 1999. 
Serbia & Montenegro 2004 - whilst it's a nice song I just don't see it as the masterpiece that many do.
Slovenia 2007 - Pop & Opera should NEVER EVER EVER be mixed. 

Now to defend the ones you mentioned in your review of my winners

UK 1961 - it's not often I actually defend my countries entries but in this case it was by far and away the most contemporary song in the edition.  I've always been a fan of the Everly Brothers and their vocal harmony style so it's no real surprise that I love the song and the harmonies within it.
Belgium 1978 - I'm a sucker for this style of song...nothing more nothing less to it than that
Portugal 2003 - I have been writing notes on the live performances on the night since 1995 (and I still have them all stored somewhere) and when I look at my on-the-night review of 2003 this song comes nowhere - my clear favourite on the night was Romania.  However over the years I've really fallen in love with this song....well all of it apart from the first 20 seconds or so which are too deep IMO
Austria 1972 - Just simply an incredible song with wonderful lyrics, great orchestration and the all round package just worked perfectly.  Having said that it's absolutely no surprise that Vicky won that night
Cyprus 1999 - I said to Morgan that the only reason that it remains my number one of 99 is because of the studio version which for me is simply brilliant....which is somewhat confusing to me because it's really not the sort of song I'd go for usually.  Especially considering the strong ballads that were in the year (Estonia, Slovenia, Belgium).  Whilst the performance was disappointing I wouldn't say it was bad unless you watch the contest as a whole because she was overshadowed by Selma before her and Charlotte after her.
Cyprus 1997 - 1997 is one of 2 years with a number one that changes regularly (the other is 1986 where I fluctuate between Germany and Switzerland dependant on my mood).  In 97 I can never decide between Cyprus and Turkey.  Both are wonderful ethnic entries with great performances.
Which leaves Slovakia 1998 - until you pointed it out I hadn't noticed the vocal similarities between Katarina & Kate Bush (who incidentally I'm listening to as I type this ) but that may explain why I love Modlitba so much.  It remains in my all time top 10 and it's a song I'll always love.

[Martial]

ps: you have 78 and i have 81 but somehow, i could count as one for Bjorn Skifs!

i just realized that's also true for Dino Merlin

[Niko]

We have a record of 17 winners in common Niko! They're from 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2011.

5 of your winners are my runners-up (1957, 1966, 1984, 1985 and 1986 ) and 4 of them are my second runners-up (1958, 1971, 1973 and 1995)

A total of 32 winners of yours are in my top five of their years (1961, 1978 and 1983 being my #4, 1965, 1998 and 2000 my #5)

Among the remaining 24 songs 10 are in my top ten of their respective years: 1959, 1962, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1997, 1999, 2003 & 2011. (Although as I've stated before not exactly a love affair with France 1975.) Apart from these I can notify Turkey 1990 (a really unusual choice by the way), Belgium 1993 (I'm a bit closer to you and Ian on this one than Morgan), Netherlands 1994, UK 2004, Serbia & Montenegro 2005 and San Marino 2008 as the songs I do like but not enough for a top ten position in their years.

This means that 8 of your winners I don't really like. Mostly I find them dull, boring and/or lifeless rather than horrible, terrible or awful. Such is the case for Sweden 1963, Austria 1967 (another very unusual choice), Luxembourg 1981 and France 2006. Portugal 1972 is a song I used to strongly dislike but grew to appreciate a little bit in time (apart from lyrics). With Austria 1989 I can understand the attraction but I just don't feel it. This one leaves me completely cold. Malta 2007 is a complicated matter. While I find the song slightly above average the whole performance looks and feels incredibly tacky to me that I usually rank it lower than I would with the studio version only. There is only one song in this list that I particularly dislike. Netherlands 1977 is just plain bad to my ears, even though it was performed quite adequately.

Again with Morgan and Ian among your winners highest rated ones by me are my eternal Top Two: Mia and Frida of course.

Here are the lowest rated five:

Netherlands 1977: 46
Sweden 1963: 49
Austria 1967: 50
Malta 2007: 57
Portugal 1972: 59

And again Niko if you have your full rankings of the years I'd be more than glad to have them.

17, that's really many and it can only mean that you have a very good taste! 

About Austria 1989 I must say that it was the biggest problem. To the very last moemnt I was poundering between 2 songs out of which Austria 1989 finally won. But, that was how I felt yesterday. If I had given my winners' list today, there would have been another winner for ESC 1989, a song which I love very much as well. I mean Turkey (Pan - Bana bana  ). If i could, I would love to change my winner for Turkey in 1989. May I Morgan? 

I will check your list during this weekend more profoundly, Can, and I will tell my comments on it after that.  But please tell me, why do you think Turkey 1990 and Austria 1967 are unusual choises? 

[ijm123]

SUMMARY

1960: France (3), Norway (1)

I'm the odd one out...but France is my number 2

1976: Greece (3), United-Kingdom (1)

Again I'm the odd one out...and Greece is my number 2

1987: Italy (3), Iceland (1)

Again I'm the odd one out...however this time Gente di mare is nowhere near my top

2009: France (3), Iceland (1)

Yet again I'm the odd one out....and for the 3rd time my number 2 is the majority here

[Martial]

and three times for a scandinavian song above a mediterranean one

done niko

[rapsodia]

But please tell me, why do you think Turkey 1990 and Austria 1967 are unusual choises? 

Simply because I don't think I'd ever seen before anyone put these two at the top of their respective years. These two are usually moderately liked or just plain disliked, they don't usually generate stronger emotions such as love and hate. Obviously you are the exception in both cases. As I stated before I find Austria just anonymous. As for Kayahan, that's another story. When it comes to your own country's entries some other variables come into the play. Kayahan is a prominent figure in Turkish commercial music for a full three decade now and for a Turk it's quite difficult to form an unbiased opinion on his songs especially after he turned out to be a huge jerk in the past few years. Still I don't think "Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim" is among his best works but it surely has its own charms.

[rapsodia]

1958: Switzlerland (3), Sweden (1)
1984: Portugal (3), Italy (1)

And I'm the odd one out on these two.
1984 is particularly ironic since I've been defending this Portuguese entry against all people for years. I truly love it and it's my all time #54 but I just can't put it over "I treni di Tozeur" which is my all time #8 and a bona fide masterpiece to my ears.

As for 1958, even though I find "Giorgio" hilarious (and slightly annoying sometimes), it can never be higher than my two loves from the year the beautiful "Nel blu dipinto di blu" and especially the exquisite "Lilla stjärne".

[Martial]

2001: France (3), Russia (1)

and im the odd one only once, Natasha is a mainstream pop singer that I don't like much and the song imo has lots of charm but is by far not the best of our "french ballads" ; in a rather low year and for eurovision standards i think this deserved top 5, but Russia, Estonia and Bosnia are more of my taste (Russia and Bosnia for songs, Estonia for performance).

also I agree with Rapsodia, i'm surprised Italy 58 is not named once, "Volare" is very good and my number 2 of the year and should be more in competition to "Giorgio" which is incredibly performed