Eurovision Song Contest League Tables 2012

Most Top Ten Places

I've compiled a league table of all countries that have ever participated in the Eurovision Song Contest at some point from 1956 to 2012. The way it works is simple.

If a country wins a particular year (like Sweden did this year), it gets 12 points for that year. Other top ten countries in a particular year receive the following number of points for that year, i.e. 2nd = 10 points, 3rd = 8 points, 4th = 7 points, 5th = 6 points, 6th = 5 points, 7th = 4 points, 8th = 3 points, 9th = 2 points, 10th = 1 point. Any country placed 11th or below receives nul points for that year! N.B. For my analysis, in 1956 Switzerland got 12 points for winning, but the other 6 unplaced countries were flagged as Unplaced, and thus awarded no league table points for that year.

Where multiple countries have tied for a particular total, I have taken their best ever places into consideration. For example, Switzerland and Italy both have 159. Both countries have won twice, but Switzerland has come second three times, whereas Italy has come second twice, hence Switzerland is ranked higher than Italy. Latvia and Romania both have 26 points, but since Latvia has won once, whereas Romania has never won, Latvia is ranked higher than Romania. In the case of countries that have never had at top ten placing (and hence have a total of 0), those that have appeared in a final are ranked on their best final placing below 10th, whereas those that have debuted 2004 onwards and never reached the final are ranked on their best ever semi-final placing.

The above is done for each year a country has participated, and all their scores added up. As you can see, despite the UK's poor performance since 1999, it still tops the league table with 313 points.

Rank	Country	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Total
1	United Kingdom	5	15	3	5	1	2	5	1	1	3	313
2	France	5	4	7	7	2	0	2	5	0	3	243
3	Ireland	7	4	1	3	3	3	2	2	2	4	208
4	Sweden	5	1	5	2	7	1	3	4	2	5	204
5	Germany	2	4	5	3	2	3	2	8	3	2	192
6	Switzerland	2	3	3	5	2	3	0	5	1	2	159
7	Italy	2	2	4	2	4	4	3	2	3	1	159
8	Spain	2	4	1	2	1	4	2	1	4	6	137
9	Luxembourg	5	0	2	5	1	1	1	1	2	2	135
10	Denmark	2	1	3	2	5	2	1	3	2	2	131
11	Israel	3	2	1	2	2	2	3	2	1	0	120
12	The Netherlands	4	0	1	2	2	2	3	1	5	2	119
13	Norway	3	1	1	2	3	1	2	2	3	1	112
14	Belgium	1	2	0	2	2	4	4	3	1	2	107
15	Monaco	1	1	3	3	2	1	1	2	1	1	97
16	Greece	1	0	3	0	2	0	3	4	3	1	79
17	Austria	1	0	0	1	4	2	2	2	3	5	78
18	Turkey	1	1	1	3	0	0	2	0	1	1	62
19	Russia	1	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	61
20	Malta	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	2	2	2	59
21	Yugoslavia	1	0	0	3	0	1	3	2	1	0	58
22	Estonia	1	0	1	1	1	3	0	1	0	0	51
23	Ukraine	1	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	44
24	Finland	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	1	2	3	43
25	Cyprus	0	0	0	0	3	2	1	0	3	0	38
26	Azerbaijan	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	36
27	Iceland	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	34
28	Croatia	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	1	28
29	Latvia	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	26
30	Romania	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	26
31	Serbia	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	25
32	Portugal	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	25
33	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	1	22
34	Armenia	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	18
35	Poland	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	14
36	Serbia & Montenegro	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	14
37	Albania	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	10
38	Hungary	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	9
39	Slovenia	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	9
40	Bulgaria	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6
41	Moldova	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	6
42	Lithuania	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	5
43	Belarus	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	5
44	Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4
45	F.Y.R. Macedonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	Slovakia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
47	Morocco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
48	Montenegro	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
49	Andorra	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
50	San Marino	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
51	Czech Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

The above is deceptive, because the UK has entered in 1957, followed by every year from 1959 to present (55 entries to-date); and in that time clocked up 313 points. Azerbaijan first entered in 2008, but has had a good track record since and amassed 36 points in 5 appearances.

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Average By Grand Final Appearance

By dividing each country's total by the number of times it has appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest grand final, you get a much more accurate representation. Dividing the UK's total of 313 points by its number of final appearances (55) gives an average of 5.69 points per grand final appearance, putting it into 4th place. Dividing Azerbaijan's total of 36 points by 5 (its number of final appearances to-date) gives it a higher average of 7.20 points; i.e. top of the leader board.

N.B. From 1956 to 2003 inclusive there was only one show. There was one semi-final plus a grand final from 2004 to 2007 inclusive, and two semi-finals plus a grand final from 2008 onwards. For the purposes of this post, the term "grand final" includes the single shows from 1956 to 2003 inclusive, and grand finals from 2004 to present.

Where two or more countries tie for a particular average, the same tie-break rule used in the previous table is applied here. In this case, Austria and Romania both have average scores of 1.86 points, but since Austria has won once, whereas Romania has never won the Contest, Austria is ranked higher than Romania. Countries whose totals are zero, and hence whose averages are zero, have been dealt with in the same manner and thus ranked in the same order as in the previous table.

Rank	Country	Total	Years in Final	Average
1	Azerbaijan	36	5	7.20
2	Serbia & Montenegro	14	2	7.00
3	Bulgaria	6	1	6.00
4	United Kingdom	313	55	5.69
5	Serbia	25	5	5.00
6	Ireland	208	43	4.84
7	Monaco	97	21	4.62
8	France	243	55	4.42
9	Ukraine	44	10	4.40
10	Estonia	51	12	4.25
11	Italy	159	38	4.18
12	Sweden	204	51	4.00
13	Israel	120	31	3.87
14	Russia	61	16	3.81
15	Luxembourg	135	37	3.65
16	Armenia	18	5	3.60
17	Germany	192	56	3.43
18	Switzerland	159	47	3.38
19	Denmark	131	39	3.36
20	Latvia	26	8	3.25
21	Malta	59	21	2.81
22	The Netherlands	119	45	2.64
23	Spain	137	52	2.63
24	Belarus	5	2	2.50
25	Greece	79	33	2.39
26	Norway	112	49	2.29
27	Belgium	107	47	2.28
28	Yugoslavia	58	27	2.15
29	Turkey	62	33	1.88
30	Austria	78	42	1.86
31	Romania	26	14	1.86
32	Croatia	28	16	1.75
33	Albania	10	6	1.67
34	Iceland	34	22	1.55
35	Cyprus	38	25	1.52
36	Poland	14	10	1.40
37	Bosnia & Herzegovina	22	18	1.22
38	Hungary	9	8	1.13
39	Finland	43	42	1.02
40	Georgia	4	4	1.00
41	Moldova	6	7	0.86
42	Slovenia	9	11	0.82
43	Portugal	25	40	0.63
44	Lithuania	5	9	0.56
45	F.Y.R. Macedonia	0	8	0.00
46	Slovakia	0	3	0.00
47	Morocco	0	1	0.00
48	Montenegro	0	0	0.00
49	Andorra	0	0	0.00
50	San Marino	0	0	0.00
51	Czech Republic	0	0	0.00

This is still deceptive, because it ignores years from 2004 onwards in which a country entered the Eurovision Song Contest but failed to reach the final. Bulgaria has had 8 entries from 2005 to 2012, but has only reached the final once so far. Under the above scheme of things, its total of 6 points is divided by 1, giving it an average of 6.00 points per grand final appearance (3rd on the leader board). The Netherlands has had 45 appearances in the final, the last being 2004. Dividing its total of 119 points by 45 gives an average of 2.64 points per grand final appearance.

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Average By Years Entered

To get an even more accurate representation, let's include the years from 2004 onwards in which a country entered the Eurovision Song Contest but failed to reach the final. Obviously a country that fails to reach the final scores no league table points for that year, just like finalists that finish below 10th. Dividing the UK's total of 313 points by its number of entries (55) gives an average of 5.69 points per year entered, now putting it into 3rd place. Dividing Azerbaijan's total of 36 points by 5 (its number of entries to-date) gives it a higher average of 7.20; i.e. top of the leader board.

Once again, the same tie-breaker rule applies where two or more countries tie for a particular average. In this table, Israel and Germany tie on 3.43 points per year entered, but Israel has won three times, whereas Germany has won twice; therefore Israel is ranked higher than Germany. Countries whose totals are zero, and hence whose averages are zero, have been dealt with in the same manner and thus ranked in the same order as in the previous two tables.

Rank	Country	Total	Years Entered	Average
1	Azerbaijan	36	5	7.20
2	Serbia & Montenegro	14	2	7.00
3	United Kingdom	313	55	5.69
4	Serbia	25	5	5.00
5	Ireland	208	46	4.52
6	France	243	55	4.42
7	Ukraine	44	10	4.40
8	Italy	159	38	4.18
9	Monaco	97	24	4.04
10	Sweden	204	52	3.92
11	Russia	61	16	3.81
12	Luxembourg	135	37	3.65
13	Israel	120	35	3.43
14	Germany	192	56	3.43
15	Denmark	131	41	3.20
16	Switzerland	159	53	3.00
17	Armenia	18	6	3.00
18	Estonia	51	18	2.83
19	Spain	137	52	2.63
20	Greece	79	33	2.39
21	Malta	59	25	2.36
22	The Netherlands	119	53	2.25
23	Norway	112	51	2.20
24	Yugoslavia	58	27	2.15
25	Latvia	26	13	2.00
26	Belgium	107	54	1.98
27	Romania	26	14	1.86
28	Turkey	62	34	1.82
29	Austria	78	45	1.73
30	Croatia	28	20	1.40
31	Iceland	34	25	1.36
32	Cyprus	38	30	1.27
33	Bosnia & Herzegovina	22	18	1.22
34	Albania	10	9	1.11
35	Finland	43	46	0.93
36	Hungary	9	10	0.90
37	Poland	14	16	0.88
38	Georgia	4	5	0.80
39	Bulgaria	6	8	0.75
40	Moldova	6	8	0.75
41	Belarus	5	9	0.56
42	Portugal	25	46	0.54
43	Slovenia	9	18	0.50
44	Lithuania	5	13	0.38
45	F.Y.R. Macedonia	0	11	0.00
46	Slovakia	0	7	0.00
47	Morocco	0	1	0.00
48	Montenegro	0	4	0.00
49	Andorra	0	6	0.00
50	San Marino	0	3	0.00
51	Czech Republic	0	3	0.00

Now all Bulgaria's 8 entries from 2005 to 2012 are being taken into consideration, dividing its total of 6 points by 8 gives an average of just 0.75 points per year entered, pushing it way down the leader board. Since 2005 The Netherlands has entered but failed to qualify, giving it a total of 53 entries to-date. Dividing its total of 119 points by 53 gives an average of 2.25 points per year entered.

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