Introduction

When I review Eurovision 2025, probably a few weeks to a month after the contest ends, I’ll have quite a few changes to my list of winners per year. But instead of going through the changes one by one in my 2025 review, I’ll discuss them now in a fun little side post. Then when I release my review of 2025, I’ll link to this post near the end.

Starting about five months ago, I’ve been putting Eurovision songs (among others) into my Spotify playlist, which I mostly put on while I’m driving, because when I’m on the computer, I prefer deciding on my own what music to put on. Thanks to this playlist, there are some Eurovision songs I’ve started to love more and more (e.g. “Disco Tango” from 1979, “No No Never” from 2006, “Með hækkandi sól” from 2022), and others that I gradually became tired of (e.g. “SloMo” from 2022, “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” from 2024). You’ll find more examples from both categories throughout this post. There’s also a few that I have always loved and will never stop loving the fuck out of (e.g. “La dolce vita” from 1989, “Alcohol Is Free” from 2013, “Europapa” from 2024).

My previous list of winners per year can be found near the end of my 2024 review, Ctrl-F “Who’s my favorite?”. I’ll discuss each of the winners I retconned, then present the updated list.

All my retconned winners

First off is 1960. At first I had set “Voi Voi” from Norway as my winner, and apparently narrowed it down from four candidates, none of which were my later winner. But then when Erica reviewed 1960 and chose Monaco as her winner, I gave the song another chance. It grew on me more and more, and in my project of 8-bit covering one song from each Eurovision year, I knew exactly what song to do for 1960. So now my winner of the year is confidently Monaco, Ce soir-là. You can check out my cover of it here. Kriszna in her 1960 review chose it as her winner too and gave a really good analysis of the song.

My 1961 winner has a similar story. Initially I had chosen the actual winner of the year, “Nous les amoureux” from Luxembourg, probably influenced by the fascinating story behind the lyrics. But when thinking of which song from the year to 8-bit cover, I realized the best choice was also musically the best song of the year: United Kingdom, Are You Sure? Yes, the lyrics are kind of douchey by today’s standards, but the vocal harmonies make up for it, and the composition is as simple as it is effective. I think my 8-bit cover of it came out really well.

1968 is a year whose winner I had considered retconning for a long time. Previously I had chosen “Kun kello käy” from Finland, a song that’s quirky and intriguing in the right way, against a rival competitor from another young female singer. That rival is Germany, Ein Hoch der Liebe, which is now my clear winner of the year, mostly because Wencke Myhre absolutely knocked it out of the park with her performance. It’s another song I 8-bit covered, but I don’t think it’s quite my best work. If you want a cover that I really nailed, check out my arrangement of “Poupée de cire, poupée de son”.

When I reviewed 1973, I was in a desperate conundrum between “Eres tú” from Spain and “It’s Just a Game” from Norway, the latter of which I chose as my winner. But now my winner is a more obvious choice: the actual winner, Luxembourg, Tu te reconnaîtras. Once again, Anne Marie-David absolutely nailed her performance on stage, and the song at times sends me to the verge of tears. Spoiler alert: that’s the song I plan to cover for 1973. But I need to finish my 1972 cover first.

Now we jump ahead twenty years to 1993, where I once again owe it to Erica for swaying my tastes. I still absolutely love the winner “In Your Eyes” (which she ranked last place), but she gradually converted me into having the same winner as her: Norway, Alle mine tankar. The orchestrated version is nice enough, but it was the amazing four-minute studio version that truly made me fall in love with this song. It’s another song that often makes me want to cry. I absolutely love that even if you can’t speak Norwegian, you can still tell that this song is an improvised love letter to the singer’s crush.

1996 is an interesting one, because it’s a winner I never really expected to change. I have quite a lot of entries from that year on my Spotify playlist, including what I had initially chosen as my winner, “Den vilda” from Sweden. But through the playlist, I’ve realized that “Den vilda”, while an absolutely lovely composition, is a little too episodic to make for good casual listening. It’s a song that’s best experienced if you actively want to watch it. On the other hand, today I decided that my winner is the song with the most staying power: Norway, I evighet. As with “Alle mine tankar”, it has a longer studio version that’s better than the orchestrated version. This is the song where four-time contestant Elisabeth Andreassen shows us what she’s made of. She won Eurovision with a happy schlagery duet, but I think she’s at her best when singing atmospheric ballads. This song is a rare ballad that I don’t just tolerate, but actually love.

Now 1997 is a simpler story. I had changed it from Turkey to France, but now I’m changing it back to Turkey, Dinle. It just feels like the right choice, can’t say much else!

I guess I’m susceptible to others influencing my tastes, because 2001 is another winner I changed due to Erica’s review. Previously my winner was “Never Ever Let You Go” from Denmark. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hano is a song I completely forgot existed until I read her review, and she converted me into a fan of it. It’s mysterious-sounding and has just the right lick of ethnicity, that’s how I’ll put it.

For 2008, I’ve decided to retcon my winner away from Portugal and instead complete the quintet of Željko ballads with Serbia, Oro. It’s an ethno-ballad that has so much more staying power than Portugal’s ethno-ballad, as you’d expect from the Ž-man. In retrospect, I think I overrated Portugal because I was surprised they had sent an actually good song for once, whereas I’d always come to expect quality songs from Serbia.

When I first chose my winner of 2010, it was a tough choice between the runner-up from Turkey and the robbed non-qualifier from Finland. I initially chose “We Could Be the Same” from Turkey, but now I’ve changed it to Finland, Työlki ellää because it’s such a “me” song.

And finally we reach 2020. Initially I was quite confident in my choice of “Uno” from Russia. It’s still an awesome song, but I’ve since learned Little Big can do better than that; my personal favorite song of theirs is “Hypnodancer”, which I turn almost to max volume whenever it comes up. A different entry from 2020 is now my favorite by far: North Macedonia, You. It’s one of those songs where it’s hard to describe what makes it so great, it’s just a complete and utter blast to listen to. Why on earth did Vasil decide that singing a boring ballad in 2021 was a better idea?

Who are my new favorites?

And so, here is my retconned list of winners:

• Belgium, 2 (1976, 2003)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 (2001, 2006)
• Denmark, 2 (1963, 2000)
• Estonia, 1 (2009)
• Finland, 4 (1983, 1989, 2010, 2023)
• France, 3 (1977, 1990, 1991)
• Germany, 5 (1956, 1968, 1979, 1982, 1999)
• Greece, 1 (2013)
• Hungary, 2 (2005, 2019)
• Iceland, 1 (1992)
• Ireland, 3 (1970, 1980, 1994)
• Israel, 1 (1987)
• Italy, 1 (1958)
• Latvia, 1 (2002)
• Lithuania, 1 (2022)
• Luxembourg, 4 (1965, 1972, 1973, 1988)
• Monaco, 1 (1960)
• Montenegro, 1 (2015)
• Netherlands, 9 (1957, 1959, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1998, 2014, 2024)
• North Macedonia, 1 (2020)
• Norway, 5 (1966, 1985, 1993, 1995, 1996)
• Portugal, 3 (1971, 1984, 2017)
• Serbia, 4 (2004, 2008, 2011, 2012)
• Sweden, 2 (1974, 2018)
• Switzerland, 2 (1986, 2021)
• Turkey, 2 (1978, 1997)
• Ukraine, 2 (2007, 2016)
• United Kingdom, 3 (1961, 1962, 1981)
• (21 winners)

Russia no longer has a spot on this list of winners, but Monaco and North Macedonia now do. I added one actual winner to my list and removed two actual winners, so now the count of winners I agree with is down to 21. There are probably some early years where I could’ve also changed my winner, but I can’t be assed to reevaluate them unless I am to re-review every year. Which I probably will do at some point, let’s be real.

Anyway, I saved my future self some trouble for my 2025 review!