The ninth esctoday.com TOP TEN list starts today with the places 10, 9 and 8 being announced. As announced on Saturday, this week's topic are the TOP TEN fallen favourites.

The list features acts and songs that have been considered favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest according to bookmakers, media and predictions. Fan favourites (e.g. as detemined in OGAE votings) will not be onsidered. The ranking is based on the placing an entry achieved in the contest compared to the number of contestants competing. (In the years since 2004, if an entry reached the final, the number of contestants in the final is considered but if an entry was elminated in the semi final, the total number of contestants is considered. This is due to the fact that betting odds and predictions are usually updated after the semi final results are in.)

So here we start…

No. 10 – Harel Skaat with Milim (israel 2010)

In the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, Israel was represented by Harel Skaat, who is considered one of the most popular singers in the country. The singer was chosen internally and once his name was announced, Israel was given high chances of winning in Oslo by the bookmakers. Shortly after the song Milim was chosen in the national final, Israel went on top of the betting odds by William Hill ahead of Azerbaijan, Denmark and Norway. In the weeks before the contest, Israel was overtaken by Germany and Azerbaijan but was still seen in a top position, especially after the semi final qualification, when the country was drawn into 24th place in the final.

Harel Skaat and Milim could not keep up with the expectations. They qualified from the semi final only thanks to the juries, who pushed them into the top ten. In the final, Israel finished 14th among the 25 participants. The entry was much more popular among the juries, who saw it in fifth place while the televoters voted it into 19th place. Israel scored 71 points in the final and the countries that gave Israel the highest votes were Finland and the Netherlands, both giving ten points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUF4e86690

No. 9 – Maxi und Chris Garden with Lied für einen Freund (Germany 1988)

Germany was the most successful country in the Eurovision Song Contest between 1980 and 1987 finishing first once, second four times and fifth once. In 1988, the country was once again one of the top favourites with the song Lied für einen Freund, written by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, the winning team of 1982. The performers were mother and daughter team Maxi & Chris Garden, who had already competed in the German national final the year before and scored a minor hit with their entry Frieden für die Teddybären.

In Dublin, the entry did not achieve the expected success. Maxi & Chris Garden finished 14th, which was the lowest placing for a German entry since 1976. Lied für einen Freund got 48 points in total and the highest marks were eight points from Iceland and Yugoslavia, which happened to be the countries that were first and last to vote. Remarkably, none of the German speaking countries that competed gave the song any points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BWV_KByY1Y

No. 8 – Nicki French with Don't play that song again (United Kingdom 2000)

In 1999, the United Kingdom had finished outside the top ten for the first time since 1987, but in 2000 things were supposed to go much better according to the bookmakers. Before the contest, there were three clear favourites: Estonia, the United Kingdom and (with a distance) the Netherlands. All three songs could be classified classic Europop and they happened to be drawn into a row at the beginning of the show in second, third and fourth place. Nicki French's status as a favourite was partly due to the fact that she had already had a world hit with her cover version of Bonnie Tyler's Total eclipse of the heart in the 1990s.

Out of the three favourites, the UK had the worst result finishing 16th among the 24 finalists. The entry got 28 points in total with highest marks being six points from both Malta and Turkey. At this time, it was the lowest placing for a UK entry ever, but in the next ten years, no less than seven entries managed to reach an equal or a lower position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Jql9UuL9c

Tomorrow, we will introduce no. 7 and 6 on the list.