The eleventh esctoday.com TOP TEN list continues today with the places 5 and 4 being announced. As revealed on Saturday, this week's topic are the TOP TEN most successful countries.
The ranking will feature countries that have taken part more than five times, i.e. in more than 10% of the editions of the contest held so far. 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 compared to its participations 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 – France
France's average relative placing since the first contest with open voting in 1957 equals a 10.32nd place among 25 contestants.
France was one of the countries to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956 and they have only missed two editions since. It took until 1966 that the country finished outside the top five for the first time. The first longer series of lower results took place between 1971 and 1973, those three years when a special voting system was used that only featured two jury members from each country. Remarkably, in those three years all winning songs were performed in French and two of them by singers from France. Since the widespread introduction of televoting in 1998, France's results have declined dramatically with ten out of 13 entries not reaching the top ten. France was never last but finished second last on no less than five occassions: In 1973, 1998, 2000, 2005 ad 2007.
Most times between 1957 and 1997, France was very successful. Five times the country won: In 1958 with André Claveau and Dors mon amour, in 1960 with Jacqueline Boyer and Tom Pillibi, in 1962 with Isabelle Aubret and Un premier amour, in 1969 with Frida Boccara and Un jour, un enfant and in 1977 with Marie Myriam and L'oiseau et l'enfant. France also came close very often finishing second four times, third seven times, fourth seven times and fith twice. A remarkable streak of luck took place in the from 1989 onwards with eight entries reachting the top eight in nine years.
Last victory so far – Marie Myriam with L'oiseau et l'enfant in 1977:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3prvZf7UQ
No. 4 – Ireland
Ireland's average relative placing since the country's debut in 1956 equals a 10.08th place among 25 contestants.
Ireland took part in the contest the first time in 1965 and just like France, they had to use for the voting system used between 1971 and 1973 for their first longer series of placings outside the first half of the scoreboard. It took until 2007 that Ireland came last for the first time and only rarely they were close to the very bottom. In 2005, 2008 and 2009 Ireland was eliminated in the semi final and generally, the country has been less successful since the widespread introdcution of televoting in 1998 reaching the top ten only three times in those years.
Ireland is the country that won the contest the most times. The first winner was Dana with All kinds of everything in 1970. She was followed by Johnny Logan in 1980 and 1987 winning with the songs What's another year and Hold me now respectively. Between 1992 and 1994, Ireland won the contest three years in a row thanks to Linda Martin and Why me?, Niamh Kavanagh and In your eyes as well as Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan with Rock n' roll kids. The last winning song to date was The voice in 1996, performed by Eimear Quinn. Ireland also finished second four times, third once, fourth three times and fifth three times.
Winners with 226 points – Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan perform Rock 'n' roll kids in 1994:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ZVKhL92bc
Tomorrow, we will introduce no. 3 and 2 on the list.
