Serbia has won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. After the surprising results of the semi final, a close look on the voting will be interesting:

Quickies

There's a first (and last?) for everything

• For the first time in the history of the contest, Serbia won the contest (obviously)
• Apart from the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, for the first tima a debuting country won the contest
• For the first time, an Ex-Yugoslav country won the contest
• For the first time, Ireland finished last
• For the first time since the language rule was abolished in 1999, a song won that included not a single word in English
• For the first time, Georgia received 12 points

The same procedure as every year

• For the fourth time in a row, F.Y.R. Macedonia qualified in the semi final to finish outside the Top10 in the final
• For the fourth time in a row, Greece finished in the Top10 in the final
• For the third time in a row, no Big4 country reached the Top10 (read more below)
• For the seventh time in a row, a song performed in English finished last (from Ireland)

For the freaks

The winner

Serbia scored an average of 6,56 points per country. Under the current voting system, the highest average of points was achieved by the United Kingdom in 1976 (9,65), they lowest by Greece in 2005 (6,05) which leaves Serbia near the bottom on this hitlist. Marija was 34 points ahead of the runner-up, a value that lies somewhere in the middle. Furthermore, she received points from 36 out of 41 countries, nine times the twelveand twice the ten.

The language (of music) is universal

It is a widely spread rumour that English songs always do better in the contest. This year, the opposite was proved: a song in Serbian won the competition. Furthermore, the multilingual entry from Ukraine finished second and the Bulgarian entry came 5th. On the other hand, we can see that switching to Englishin the last chorus does not bring success: F.Y.R. Macedonia finished 14th and Germany 19th.

Bottom 4 flashback

Again, it should not be the year of the big 4 countries. The highest place was achieved by Germany: they were 19th. The United Kingdom finished second from last along with France (France would be one rank better taking into consideration the tie break rule) with Spain only two places better.

Diaspora voting

After the results of the semi final, the diaspora voting issue raised once again. Let's have a look at the most famous regions when it comes to neighour votes:

Scandinavia

The Scandinavians sticked together: Sweden received 51 points in total, 32 of them from the neighbours including the top marks from Denmark and Norway. On the other hand 'only' 20 of the 52 points Finland achieved were given by the Scandinavians. The Finns themselves also favoured other countries: after the eight points to Sweden, they gave 10 to Hungary and 12 to Serbia.

Former Yugoslavia

For the first time, a fromer Yugoslav country has won. But how have Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and F.Y.R. Macedonia voted? Actually, theother five countries have all given their top mark to Serbia. 46 of the 73 Mecedonian points came from other F.Y.R.s., the same counts for exactly half of the Slovene points (33 of 66). For Bosnia & Herzegovina we can count 37 out of 106. Overall, it has to be pointed out that Serbia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia have received points from every other ex Yugoslav country.

Former USSR

Exactly one third of the competing nations in the final were former USSR countries. Therefore, detailed statistics would be rakish but we can see a clear trend: Russia got 12 points from three countries: Armenia, Belarus and Estonia. Latvia got ten points from Estonia and Lithuania. Georgia got its only top mark from Lithuania. Overall, almost all high marks were given by these countries to each other.

Other friendly neighbours

For the first time, Andorra gave no points to Spain. Previously, Andorra always gave 12 to their neighbours.

Once again, Germany has achieved its top marks from neigbouring countries Switzerland and Austria (seven points each).

France received its – by far- highest rank of the evening from Andorra: eight points.

Women rule the world?

Well, that's a good question. At least they seem to have taken back the lead in the Eurovision Song Contest. While in 2006, the top4 music acts were (almost) entirely male, three female music acts finished in the top positions this year (even if the femininityof Verka from Ukraine might be put under question). Furthermore, the female (co-)composers did pretty well: Elitsa Stoyan finished 5th for Bulgaria and Magdi Rúzsa from Hungary came 9th. On the other Julija from Lithuania only was 21st with her band 4fun. Nevertheless, the three ladies scored at least once 12 points each.