The tenth esctoday.com TOP TEN list starts today with the places 5 and 4 being announced. As revealed on Saturday, this week's topic are the TOP TEN least successful countries.

The ranking will feature countries that have taken part more than five times. It will be based on the average relative placing (i.e. the place in the contest compared to the number of participants) a country has achieved since its debut until today. Rules are:

• Semi final results and final results are counted separately.
• The qualifiying rounds of 1993 and 1996 will not be considered.
• In the case of a tie, the country that won more often gets the higher place in the ranking.

An example:

The countries x took part in the contest three times and finished 4th out of 12, 4th out of 16 and 10th out of 20. The average relative placing for x is 36/100, which equals a 9th place among 25 contestants. All average placings will be given compared to 25 countries competing as this is the current number of finalists every year.

So here we start…

No. 5 – Belarus

Belarus' average relative placing since the country's debut in 2004 equals a 16.2nd place among 25 contestants.

Belarus took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2004. The first time that the country qualified for the final was in 2007 and that year, Koldun would eventually finish sixth in the final with his song Work your magic. In 2010, Belarus qualified for the final again but only went on to finish second last in the final with 3+2 and Butterflies.

All other Belarusian particpations ended after the semi final. The worst result in a semi final to date was achieved in 2006, when Polina Smolova came 22nd and hence second last with Mum getting only ten points in total.

22nd place in the semi final – Polina Smolova with Mum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgNscfbaTE0

No. 4 – Portugal

Portugal's average relative placing since the country's debut in 1964 equals a 16.4th place among 25 contestants.

Portugal's debut in the Eurovision Song Contest took place in 1964. Portugal has never won since and the highest placing in a final was Lucia Moniz' sixth place in 1996 with O meu coração não tem cor. Generally, the 1990s were Portugal's most successful decade with four top ten placings in six years between 1991 and 1996. The country's second most successful entries were A festa da vida by Carlos Mendes in 1972 and Um grande, grande amor by José Cid in 1980, which both finished seventh.

Although many fan favourites come from Portugal, 37 out of their 44 participations ended outside the top ten. The first last place was already achieved on the debut (with nul points) and another two last places followed in 1974 and 1997. Between 2004 and 2007, the country was elminted in the semi finals four years in a row. Since then, all Portuguese entries did qualify for the final but none of them scored very well in the voting in the final.

No points in 1997 – Célia Lawson with Antes do adeus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl7LIKG9Nds

Tomorrow, we will introduce no. 3 and 2 on the list.