Spain: 3 million votes cast in 3 weeks

Three weeks after the voting term opened in Spain, a total of 3 million votes have been cast to choose the 50 acts that will qualify for the next stage of the Spanish 2009 Eurovision selection Eurovisión 2009: El Retorno. The most remarkable fact so far is the fierce battle for the first place between the two favourites Soraya and Melody, who switch 1st and 2nd position every now and then.

Ten days before the deadline in Spain passes, 3 million votes have been already received by RTVE. Although the 5 top-ranked acts in each category will go through the next phase, which are the televised galas, certainly the limelight is on the overall top-5 and, even more, on the two most popular candidates according to their number of votes, Melody and Soraya. There is a tight difference between the two singers, with only some hundreds of votes separating them.

The leaderboard in each category as of the publication time of this article is as follows:

Pop-rock:

1. Soraya – 87,650
2. Carlos Barroso – 49,558
3. Roel – 47,936
4. Noelia Cano – 46,812
5. Mei Ming – 46,705

Romantic song:

1. Vicente Casal – 47,088
2. Virginia – 45,501
3. Julia Bermejo – 36,483
4. Rafa Saez – 27,500
5. La Red de San Luis – 25,177

Metal

1. Leather Boys – 17,508
2. Remembrances – 16,977
3. No life after love – 16,707
4. Bloodsuckers – 15,659
5. Midnight – 13,717

Electronic:

1. Electronikboy – 30,891
2. Oskee – 25,689
3. Solydo – 23,593
4. Izan – 22,638
5. Just Luis – 20,219

Latin:

1. Melody y Los Vivancos – 87,904
2. Santa Fe – 75,116
3. Jorge González – 40,481
4. Salva Ortega – 29,102
5. Dulce – 27,811

Hip-hop/Rap

1. Mario Vaquero Garcés – 3,652
2. Jammy and Shark – 2,446
3. Ron – 2,113
4. Patrix y los Raperos – 1,474
5. Depresión Post-Parto – 865

Indie:

1. La La Love You – 51,283
2. Calipop – 24,405
3. Carolina del Sur – 23,686
4. Biquini – 23,328
5. Yulia Valentayn – 23,235

Flamenco:

1. Rafael Sánchez Gálvez – 9,799
2. Iko de la Illa – 6,152
3. Fran Arenas – 5,511
4. Mari Callas – 4,586
5. Sin Tanto – 2,840

* Coral, displayed on 4th place, withdrew from the competition

R&B:

1. Mirela – 42,122
2. Jaime Rojo Contreras – 14,260
3. Omi Di – 13,655
4. Gio – 13,507
5. Nacha – 13,199

Otros:

1. Carlos Ferrer Eai – 17,025
2. Jc Cholbi – 16,444
3. Gran Baobab – 16,307
4. David Caballero – 16,269
5. Isi – 16,042

In parallel, the voting to choose the 5th member of the expert jury is led by Juan José García Hernández 'Luka', of partner webiste eurovision-spain.com, with 8,365 votes.