Eurovision 2020 - My Top 41 (with comments) [UPDATED]

The year that never was. I used to REALLY not be a fan of this year's songs, but a lot of them have grown on me and I now think that this is a pretty solid year overall (although 2021 is still a HUGE upgrade). Most of these songs would have undoubtedly been brought up by live performances. Still waiting for Georgia to win ESC won day so we can finally get a live performance of Take Me as I Am.
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SONGS:
Albania: Arilena Ara - Fall from the Sky
Armenia: Athena Manoukian - Chains on You
Australia: Montaigne - Don't Break Me
Austria: Vincent Bueno - Alive
Azerbaijan: Efendi - Cleopatra
Belarus: VAL - Da Vidna
Belgium: Hooverphonic - Release Me
Bulgaria: VICTORIA - Tears Getting Sober
Croatia: Damir Kedžo - Divlji Vjetre
Cyprus: Sandro - Running
Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Kemama
Denmark: Ben & Tan - YES
Estonia: Uku Suviste - What Love Is
Finland: Aksel - Looking Back
France: Tom Leeb - Mon Alliée (The Best In Me)
Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - Take Me as I Am
Germany: Ben Dolic - Violent Thing
Greece: Stefania - SUPERG!RL
Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið - Think About Things
Ireland: Lesley Roy - Story of My Life
Israel: Eden Alene - Feker Libi
Italy: Diodato - Fai Rumore
Latvia: Samanta Tīna - Still Breathing
Lithuania: The Roop - On Fire
Malta: Destiny - All of My Love
Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - Prison
Netherlands: Jeangu Macrooy - Grow
North Macedonia: Vasil - YOU
Norway: Ulrikke - Attention
Poland: Alicja - Empires
Portugal: Elisa - Medo de Sentir
Romania: ROXEN - Alcohol You
Russia: Little Big - Uno
San Marino: Senhit - Freaky!
Serbia: Hurricane - Hasta La Vista
Slovenia: Ana Soklič - Voda
Spain: Blas Cantó - Universo
Sweden: The Mamas - Move
Switzerland: Gjon's Tears - Répondez-moi
Ukraine: Go_A - Solovey
United Kingdom: James Newman - My Last Breath
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[@JH3Eurovision]

In the comments of my previous 2020 ranking, I made a list of my predicted qualifiers. I've since changed some of my predictions and updated the list with how well I thought each qualifier would do in the Grand Final, so here it is! Let me know how well you think I did :P *(REMEMBER: THESE ARE PREDICTIONS, NOT WANTS)* SF1: Azerbaijan Belgium Israel Lithuania Malta Norway Romania Russia Sweden Ukraine SF2: Albania Armenia Bulgaria Denmark Finland Georgia Greece Iceland Serbia Switzerland Grand Final: France: Most obvious last place ever. Germany: Top 15. Italy: Top 5. Netherlands: Top 10. Spain: Bottom 5. United Kingdom: Top 20. OVERALL (countries listed alphabetically within categories): Top 5: Bulgaria Iceland Italy Russia Switzerland 6-10: Lithuania Malta Netherlands Norway Ukraine 11-15: Albania Germany Greece Romania Sweden 16-21: Armenia Denmark Georgia Israel Serbia United Kingdom Bottom 5: Azerbaijan Cyprus Finland France Spain

[@northcub]

SWEDEN NQ??

[@JH3Eurovision]

@@northcub I FORGOT SWEDEN AAAAAAA I knew something wasn't right with my list EDIT: There I fixed it.

[@pn2360]

VERY VERY unpopular opinion but 2020 was one of the best years of all time. for me at least anyway, there were just SO MANY songs that fit exactly into my taste buds, even ones that 99.9% of the population don't like (finland were my 13th, belarus 14th, portugal 17th etc etc) - my top 24 or so is full of songs i absolutely love to bits. a few predictions: 1. not everyone agrees that iceland would have won. i do though, there's so much potential with both jury and public that isn't there with the others 2. shock nq of the year would 100% have been armenia - the nf performance was a car crash and i don't see how that would have changed in rotterdam 3. bottom 2 of france in last and uk second last, i see spain getting a few points here and there 4. sf1 qualifiers: sweden, lithuania, russia, belgium, malta, azerbaijan, norway, israel, romania, ukraine 5. sf2 qualifiers: greece, serbia, poland, iceland, switzerland, denmark, albania, finland, georgia, bulgaria 6. jury winner bulgaria, 2nd switzerland 3rd iceland 7. televote winner russia, 2nd lithuania, 3rd iceland 8. top 5 in order: iceland, lithuania, bulgaria, switzerland, italy (no russia - sure they win the televote and comfortably, but surely the juries will have them around 20th or something, leaving them to do a keiino and rescue something)

[@ClodsireBeans]

I think would've qualified pretty easily with tele.

[@daviddodger]

Chains on You is top 5 material and I will die on this hill Also Estonia 13th let's go

[@elaychscrazyworld4173]

It’s my strong conviction too, that it would get one of Armenia’s best results once staging was taken into account. It was unique, had clear appeal to the general public once it was got, and Athena had the personality that was needed.

[@joelatkin1214]

Sadly might be my favourite Eurovision year

[@silkentertainment6749]

yes fair placement for universo 🙏🙏🙏

[@sandydennylives1392]

No one knew at the time how unique and great this year would be, with the rubbish that followed; it was the same after '12 and '17, long waits in the doldrem's afterwards, years with only 1-3 good songs that are forgotten now. Pretty fair selection; Swiss and Italy in my top three

[@ThinkAboutVic]

think about things is my favourite (non-turkish since i have a bias there) entry of all time. its so good i named my online accounts after it!

[@JH3Eurovision]

How did I not notice the reference in your username lol

[@elaychscrazyworld4173]

Despite finding out about Dadi from a petition I didn’t entirely agree with (though that led to Hatari, so it wasn’t all bad…), the act, his voice and the lyrics were amazing, and it was my second fave, behind Armenia

[@JH3Eurovision]

@@elaychscrazyworld4173 What was the petition?

[@elaychscrazyworld4173]

@@JH3Eurovision the one where Icelandic acts said Israel shouldn’t host because of the weekly intransigence of Israeli forces in Gaza in that period. The petition in May 2018, after a particularly violent incident (which horrified me even with my own Israel roots) just days after Netta’s win, got over 18000 signatures, and sending Hatari meant it got press coverage. (Ps I don’t really want to talk too much about this incident - also Hatari were, along with Dadi, one of my faves of their year, as I actually like seeing people go to a place when airing their grievances towards it, and it exposed a lot of hypocrisy, which is also a problem that I have with my ancestral country as well)

[@LeLoup63]

Once again, i'm really late, but here's my ranking from France : 41. Estonia 🇪🇪 (What Love Is) 40. France 🇨🇵 (You Are The Best In Me) 39. Portugal 🇵🇹 (Medo De Sentir) 38. Austria 🇦🇹 (Alive) 37. Georgia 🇬🇪 (Take Me As I Am) 36. Bulgaria 🇧🇬 (Tears Getting Sober) 35. Armenia 🇦🇲 (Chains On You) 34. Serbia 🇷🇸 (Hasta La Vista) 33. Slovenia 🇸🇮 (Voda) 32. Belgium 🇧🇪 (Release Me) 31. Croatia 🇭🇷 (Divlji Vjetre) 30. Greece 🇬🇷 (Superg!rl) 29. San Marino 🇸🇲 (Freaky!) 28. Netherlands 🇳🇱 (Grow) 27. Moldova 🇲🇩 (Prison) 26. Cyprus 🇨🇾 (Running) 25. Czechia 🇨🇿 (Kemama) 24. Ireland 🇮🇪 (Story Of My Life) 23. Spain 🇪🇦 (Universo) 22. Finland 🇫🇮 (Looking Back) 21. United Kingdom 🇬🇧 (My Last Breath) 20. Australia 🇦🇺 (Don't Break Me) 19. Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 (Cleopatra) 18. Israel 🇮🇱 (Feker Libi) 17. Italy 🇮🇹 (Fai Rumore) 16. Albania 🇦🇱 (Fall From The Sky) 15. Ukraine 🇺🇦 (Solovey) 14. Latvia 🇱🇻 (Still Breathing) 13. North Macedonia 🇲🇰 (You) 12. Denmark 🇩🇰 (Yes) 11. Germany 🇩🇪 (Violent Thing) 10. Russia 🇷🇺 (Uno) 9. Iceland 🇮🇸 (Think About Things) 8. Switzerland 🇨🇭 (Répondez-Moi) 7. Norway 🇳🇴 (Attention) 6. Poland 🇵🇱 (Empires) 5. Lithuania 🇱🇹 (On Fire) 4. Belarus 🇧🇾 (Da Vidna) 3. Romania 🇷🇴 (Alcohol You) 2. Sweden 🇸🇪 (Move) 1. Malta 🇲🇹 (All Of My Love)

[@elaychscrazyworld4173]

Whilst I acknowledge that it wasn’t to everyone’s taste, I have been always a clear fan of Chains On You, particularly the vocal part in the pre-chorus, and the “I start it/ I make it” part post-verse. Those 2 parts, as well as the production, are parts I attach to very strongly, and they also make Athena a nigh-on crush of mine. It provided a major emotional crutch for me throughout 2020, a year which transformed me (and ended with my first full on job), and it led to me doing a drawing of her that her endorsement of made me a drawer (and I have done other drawings of her she has endorsed.) There are lots of songs which bring emotional reactions. Aside from Athena, Dadi, Destiny, The Roop, Ben Dolic, Hurricane, Benny Cristo and Eden always make me want to dance, and Finland and Portugal grew on me as they are very emotional and putting them either side of Armenia is a brilliant arc. Netherlands and Bulgaria also induce these emotions but I think Albania and Norway are overrated and Latvia and Georgia so bad it’s funny imho (though those 2 could have qualified). And My Last Breath was a decent grower and I think he would have sung it a lot better than the follow up.

[@JH3Eurovision]

More than fair, I think we all have our Eurovision crushes even if we don't want to admit it :P

[@elaychscrazyworld4173]

@@JH3Eurovision the ESC provides so many acts that you want to be with, and want to be like! Whilst Athena is far from the only ESC act to have this generosity (I have had members of Austria, Ireland, Croatia and Slovenia, and the acts of San Marino, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Australia, Germany, Czech and Romania endorse my work this year, and Slovenia, Denmark, Latvia, Armenia, Belgium, Portugal, Iceland, Switzerland and Montenegro last year), her looks, personality and musical depth, particularly through the spectrum of Chains On You, have made me very clearly a strong fan of her and along with Natasha Bedingfield, Little Mix, and the odd curve model, in my bank of crushes who can also provide inspiration inside as well as out.

[@joybunny20]

4:42 Vasil was underrated in 2020

[@Jmspaiceland]

My ESC 2020 top 🇨🇴 💙 41 🇩🇪 40 🇪🇪 39 🇫🇷 38 🇭🇷 37 🇵🇱 36 🇨🇭 35 🇬🇷 34 🇬🇪 33 🇫🇮 32 🇷🇴 31 🇧🇬 30 🇦🇲 29 🇱🇻 28 🇨🇿 27 🇨🇾 26 🇳🇱 25 🇸🇮 24 🇲🇩 23 🇦🇿 22 🇬🇧 21 🇷🇸 20 🇦🇺 19 🇮🇱 18 🇸🇲 17 🇦🇱 16 🇪🇸 15 🇳🇴 14 🇲🇰 13 🇱🇹 12 🇺🇦 11 🇮🇪 10 🇧🇾 9 🇷🇺 8 🇵🇹 7 🇦🇹 6 🇲🇹 5 🇧🇪 4 🇸🇪 3 🇩🇰 2 🇮🇹 1 🇮🇸

[@Purple-dawn.]

Hey nice we have the same top 3! (although I swapped Georgia and Iceland) 0:05 I would put this higher- I agree about its complete failure as a ballad, but the song grants me a lot of listening pleasure. 0:47 Musically for me I find it interesting and mysterious. 1:29 Disagreed, it’s terrible. It sounds like something Sweden would send, and I mean that in a very bad way. 1:38 I’m glad to see you point this out! I swear I audibly said “pay attention to your girlfriend mf” 2:12 No sorry, the last thirty seconds can’t save it for me. The music stop is one of the worst ones I’ve ever heard, especially because it happens the exact same way TWICE. 2:19 The Unicorn of the year, a song I hate at first listen. It’s just very annoying to me and I don’t have much of a good reason. 3:29 I disagree, I think Voda is much better than Amen. It does kind of kill itself at the end when it tries to go dubstep, but musically it’s more memorable and impactful. 4:54 I disagree on the lyrics. They are a tad weird, but unlike other entries (see Georgia 2023), I can tell what she’s trying to express or at least have a vague idea. That’s really all that’s important to me, and that’s why it’s barely grazing the top 5. 5:06 Not sure why everyone else hates it but I don’t like it because it feels like their 2021 entry, That One Overly Safe Entry. I’m probably dead wrong though. 6:13 Yay another person who loves the Hooverphonic entries! But personally I like their 2021 entry way more.

[@JH3Eurovision]

My problem with Poland's lyrics is that they're clearly trying to be Deep and Profound when in actuality they just make no sense lol. At least songs like Georgia 2023 don't claim to be trying to spread some grand message. To me this year's obligatory overly safe entry is Austria, not Estonia. Austria is one of those songs that you hear on the radio and go "huh that's nice" and then never think about it again.

[@Purple-dawn.]

@@JH3Eurovision Alright, I just reread Empires’ lyrics and I admit I’m actually more confused now. My opinion on the lyrics is like Breathe- a lot of weird stuff, but not bad enough to throw it down too far. Also, it definitely does make more sense for Alive to be the safe entry now that I think about it. Ultimately though, What Love Is to me is still largely uninteresting and forgettable.

[@commentor3485]

2020 felt like a weaker year. I still dont understand why they couldn't hold a virtual version of it at the time. All the songs were already chosen. 2020 is what i call a lost year for more than just ESC.