Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final

Host country: Italy (RAI)
Venue: PalaOlimpico, Turin, Italy
Hosts: Laura Pausini, Alessandro Cattelan, Mika
Date: Saturday 14 May 2022

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Saturday 14 May 2022. Any use of “Tuesday” means Tuesday 10 May 2022, whereas any reference to “Thursday” means Thursday 12 May 2022. Any use of “this year” means 2022, whereas “last year” means 2021 and “next year” means 2023. All times in this post are in BST.

To make this report easier to read, I've split it into sections. Click the applicable link below to jump to the section you want to read:
The Opening
The Songs
Televoting and Interval Act
Jury Results
Televoting Results
Jury and Televoting Comparison
Reprise
And Finally

The Opening

After the usual Eurovision ident, accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Grand Final began with Rockin' 1000 performing John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”. This featured a group of over 1,000 musicians. Their performance in Piazza San Carlo was actually pre-recorded, but part way through, there was a seamless transition to the audience performing the rest of the song in PalaOlimpico. This was the perfect way to begin the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final in the light of the situation in Ukraine at the time. Next, there was a seamless transition to the second opening act, during which co-presenter Laura Pausini performed a medley of "Benvenuto", "Io canto", "La solitudine", "Le cose che vivi" and "Scatola [it]". After that, there was a flag procession, during which all 25 artists walked on stage, one by one, in the order they were to perform. Unlike 2019 and 2021, the artists carried actual flags this year. As each artist entered, the applicable country name appeared on screen, and the country’s flag colours appeared in an arch on the background screen. There were two breaks in the procession. Firstly, between the appearance of the artists from Spain and the Netherlands. Secondly, between the appearance of the artists from Sweden and Australia. Both of those breaks were filled with a dance routine. After the parade ended (20:13), the hosts Alessandro Cattelan, Laura Pausini and Mika entered the stage to give their opening speeches.

The Songs

At 20:16 BST it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film, which began with the country name appearing in a circle at the centre of the screen, followed by a drone named "Leo" flying over a location in Italy. Towards the end of the film the applicable artist appeared through chroma keying. The transition from postcard film to song was the country’s flag colours appearing in a circle, which disappeared to reveal the country's name, artist, song title and other details at the bottom centre of the screen, with half circles and patterned areas at the top of the screen. Furthermore, BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK had Graham Norton's commentary over the postcard films. I've mentioned some of Graham's comments at various points hereafter; if you saw the Contest outside the UK, you won't have heard his comments.

Song 1: Czech Republic - We Are Domi “Lights Off” (22nd place, 38 points)

#CZE The last song of the Second Semi-Final became the first song to be performed in the Grand Final. This was one of my “Prefer not to qualify” songs on Thursday evening, but it qualified. I preferred the Semi-Final and Grand Final live performance to the preview video. It’s ironic that this is titled “Lights Off” when the Eurovision performance featured extensive use of light beams after each chorus, and flashing dotty lights and various images on the background screens at other times, but those light beams and images gave this entry the enhancement it deserved. Altogether, a lively song, with a powerful beat, to start the Grand Final. This finished 19th with 33 points in the jury vote, 22nd with just 5 points in the public vote and 22nd with 38 points overall.

Song 2: Romania - WRS “Llámame” (18th place, 65 points)

#ROU I had my doubts about this qualifying from the Second Semi-Final, but amazingly it did qualify. It’s another lively song, with a really catchy chorus, and memorable instrumental section after each chorus. The song is somewhat Spanish sounding, which is hardly surprising considering that, according to Google Translate, the song’s title “Llámame” is Spanish for “Call me”. I liked the way the words of the chorus appeared on the background screen and stage floor during the Contest. The dancers and orange lighting provided additional enhancement to the song. This finished 21st with 12 points in the jury vote, which I thought was a bit low. Thankfully a more deserving 13th with 53 points in the public vote. As a result, this ended up 18th with 65 points overall.

Song 3: Portugal - MARO “Saudade, Saudade” (9th place, 207 points)

#POR A beautiful, relaxing ballad from Portugal. This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but this was also among the songs I thought was least likely to qualify that evening. Amazingly, it qualified. The members of the group sang this very well in the Grand Final, and the blue lighting; this enhanced the song. Surprisingly for Portugal, this was performed in a mixture of English and Portuguese, rather than just Portuguese. According to Eurovision World, the title means “Longing, longing”. Altogether, one of the better ballads in the Grand Final. There was a wide difference of opinion between the juries and public, because this finished 5th with 171 points in the jury vote, but only 15th with 36 points in the televoting. Consequently, this finished with 9th with 207 points overall.

Song 4: Finland - The Rasmus “Jezebel” (21st place, 38 points)

#FIN I watched Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022.Final live, online from the UK, on 26 February 2022. Finland went for a rock song again this year. I'm not generally a rock fan, but “Jezebel” is a toned-down form of rock compared to Blind Channel’s “Dark Side” last year; therefore, unusual for me, I particularly wanted "Jezebel" to qualify (and voted for it) on Thursday evening. I’m mystified as to why the lead singer wore a yellow raincoat, and held a yellow balloon in the early part of the song. Unsurprisingly this song included bursts of strobe lighting, as well as static extensive use of yellow lighting. The performance also included one member on the drumkit, and two members with electric guitars, though presumably they were just miming their instruments. Altogether, a lively, catchy song, and well performed. This finished just 22nd with 12 points in the jury vote, which was hardly surprising. However, I thought this would do very well in the televoting, but this ended up a disappointing 16th with 26 points in the public vote. Consequently, this finished 21st with 38 points overall. I expected this to finish in the top ten of the public vote, and I think this deserved a top ten overall placing.

Song 5: Switzerland - Marius Bear “Boys Do Cry” (17th place, 78 points)

#SUI A ballad about the necessity of expressing one’s emotions. After a slow start, this has quite a memorable chorus. During the chorus, emotions are compared to human and natural disasters through the lines “And sometimes aeroplanes fall down from the sky”, “And mountains they crumble”, and “And rivers, they run dry”. The predominantly dark stage, with the spotlight and a few other sparkling lights, was just what a song of this nature needed. Interestingly, Marius sang the second instance of the chorus in a different style to the first, which added some variety to the song. Altogether a good ballad, but this is clearly a song where one needed to read its background information and analyse its lyrics beforehand to fully appreciate it. Furthermore, Marius has a beautiful voice and he sang well. My concern during the Grand Final performance was that this could, possibly, suffer the same fate as "Bigger Than Us" in 2019. As it happened, “Boys Do Cry” finished 12th with 78 points in the jury vote, which was quite impressive. However, it finished last with 0 points in the public vote. I’m not convinced this was bad enough to deserve last place with no points in the public vote; maybe some viewers weren’t aware of what the song is about. Anyway, the combined result of 17th place with 78 points was about right for this song.

Before the next song, Mika told a few jokes.

Song 6: France - Alvan & Ahez “Fulenn” (24th place, 17 points)

#FRA The first direct qualifier was France. I watched Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez! live, online from the UK, on 5 March 2022. This is an unusual song for France. To me it sounds somewhat Eastern style; more the sort of song you'd expect from Turkey or Azerbaijan rather than France. Still, that's what the French wanted this year. The song was performed in Breton, and according to Wiwibloggs, the title “Fulenn” translates as “Sparkle” but can also mean “pretty girl”. The live performance at Eurovision included green lighting and green stage floor patterns, which I particularly liked. The flame effects further enhanced the song. All in all, a lively song, and well staged. France was brave and adventurous sending a Breton language song of this style to Eurovision. Sadly, this clearly didn’t impress the juries because this finished 24th with 9 points in the jury vote. Thankfully this song placed a little higher, 19th place, albeit with a slightly lower score (8 points), in the public vote. Even so, this finished with 24th with 17 points overall. I think “Fulenn” deserved considerably better than that; 11th to 15th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate for this song.

Song 7: Norway - Subwoolfer “Give That Wolf A Banana” (10th place, 182 points)

#NOR This was one of my "Prefer not to qualify" songs on Tuesday, but I thought it was likely to qualify, and it did. It's a lively song, with a punchy beat. It frequently mentions bananas, so it’s hardly surprising this made extensive use of yellow lighting, and images of bananas on the background screen at times. In addition, there were white light beams during the bridge. For some mysterious reasons, the group felt the need to have some of the lyrics on screen at certain points in the song. Close to the end, there were smoke / dry ice jets, and a few fireworks. The performance was further enhanced by the members’ well-choreographed routine of arm movements in time to the beat. All in all, this is what I’d describe as a novelty, fun song. This finished 17th with 36 points in the jury vote, which was hardly surprising for a song of this style. However, as one would expect, this fared considerably better in the public vote; 7th with 146 points in the public vote, which I feel was more than this deserved. Even this song’s combined result of10th with 182 points was a bit high for my liking; I think this ought to have finished about 12th to 15th.

Song 8: Armenia - Rosa Linn “Snap” (20th place, 61 points)

#ARM A country ballad. I liked the way Rosa was sitting down playing a guitar during the first verse, and stood up at the start of the first chorus. This entry was most notable for its ambitious staging, that being an enclosure to resemble a bedroom. One side of the enclosure was open, and the whole thing rotated slowly, so its interior could be seen by everyone in the audience at some point in the performance. For some reason, the inside of the walls, and the furniture, were covered in sheets of paper. During the second verse, Rosa tore off clumps of paper to reveal “The Last One” and “June 22nd”. After the bridge she removed a circular area of paper, and stood in the giant circle, facing outwards, for the remainder of the performance. The final chorus was enhanced by dry ice effects and orange lights. On the whole, an amazing ballad, with pleasant verses and quite a catchy chorus. Furthermore, Rosa has a beautiful voice, and she sang well. Despite finishing 16th with 40 points in the jury vote and 17th with 21 points in the public vote, this ended up 20th with 61 points overall. This is a clear example of how it’s possible to end up lower in the overall ranking than in either half of the voting when the two sets of points are added together. This song deserved better at Eurovision; I think 8th to 12th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate. Thankfully "Snap" went viral on TikTok in the aftermath of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, Laura and Mika gave a short speech. This was followed by clips of the best moments from the First Semi-Final earlier in the week. Whilst this film was being shown, Graham Norton read some viewers’ messages. Upon return from the break, Alessandro, Laura and Mika spoke for a little longer before introducing the next song.

Song 9: Italy - Mahmood & BLANCO “Brividi” (6th place, 268 points)

#ITA The second Big Five entry of the night was also the host entry, that being Italy. After a hard rock / heavy metal last year, Italy went for a what is (up until the bridge) a ballad this year. During the first verse, Mahmood sang alone, under the spotlight formed by multiple beams coming together. By the start of the first instance of the chorus, he was joined by Blanco. I particularly liked the harmony of Mahmood and Blanco during the choruses. The second verse was sung by Blanco, but I’m mystified as to why he performed this part of the song atop a piano. During the first and second instances of the chorus, and the second verse, the light beams were spread out, rather than focused into a spot, but they were appropriate for a song of this style. However, I'm not sure the lively bridge, which included some rap from Blanco, and rapid movement of the light beams, was appropriate here; I thought that sounded and looked out of place in what was predominantly a beautiful ballad with subtle lighting. The closing section returned to being ballad style. All in all, a bit unusual really; almost two songs in one. This finished 7th with 158 points in the jury vote, 8th with 110 points in the public vote and 6th with 268 points overall, which is an amazing achievement for a host entry in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final compared to recent years.

Song 10: Spain - Chanel “SloMo” (3rd place, 459 points)

#ESP From one Big Five entry to another, Spain went for a lively, summer disco style song this year. Chanel has a beautiful voice, and she sang live well, even whilst dancing or being lifted. The well-choreographed dance routine performed by Chanel and her backing group fitted well with the song. I liked the way the lighting changed colour during the song; however, I question the need for the strobe lighting in the first two instances of the chorus. The falling fireworks near the end, and the rising bursts of fireworks at the end provided additional enhancement. Altogether an amazing performance from Spain. This finished 3rd with 231 points in the jury vote, 3rd with 228 points in the public vote and 3rd with 459 points overall, which was well-deserved. Furthermore, this was the most consistent case of placing between the juries, public and overall.

Song 11: Netherlands - S10 “De Diepte” (11th place, 171 points)

#NED The Netherlands went for a ballad this year, and furthermore was sung in Dutch during the Contest. The song’s title means “The Depth” in English. This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final, and one of the songs I thought was likely to qualify that evening. I particularly like the pre-chorus and chorus of this song, and I also like the verses. Stien has a beautiful voice, and she sang well at Eurovision. The lighting effects for the Eurovision performance included narrow light beams around a square for the first verse, and wider light beams arranged in a semi-circle behind for the choruses. That type of lighting was just what a ballad of this style called for. In all truth and honesty, I think this was the best ballad so far in the Grand Final. My only concern was that this could at a disadvantage being performed between the lively entries from Spain and Ukraine. As it happened, “De Diepte” finished a well-deserved 8th place with 129 points in the jury vote. Sadly, this was somewhat under-rated by the public, 14th place with 42 points in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 11th with 171 points overall. I think this deserved to finish in the top ten of the public vote and overall.

Song 12: Ukraine - Kalush Orchestra “Stefania” (Winner, 631 points)

#UKR In the run-up to the Contest, and on the day of the Grand Final, this song was the bookies’ favourite to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The song “Stefania” combines Ukrainian folk with rap, and according to the Eurovision Song Contest website, it is a tribute to the band member Oleh Psiuk’s mother. As far as the song itself goes, I like the use of the long flute / whistle, and the folk part is bearable to me, but I question the need the rap here. Nonetheless, Kalush Orchestra were being adventurous combining Ukrainian folk with rap in this manner. The one thing I liked the most about the Eurovision performance of this entry was the patterns on the background screen and stage floor, and the lighting effects, all of which enhanced this song. There was quite a range of lighting colours here, including orange, red, yellow and blue. Altogether an amazing performance, even though I personally wasn’t keen on the rap. Although this was strongly tipped to win, by the end of the performance, I didn’t think it would be a walkover for Ukraine, as they had tough competition. Anyway, this won the public vote by a landslide, with a record breaking televote score of 439 points. Even the juries felt it was good enough for 4th place with 192 points, and I thought the juries might be put off by rap. Taking the two together, this ended up with a landslide overall victory of 631 points.

Before the next song, Alessandro and Mika gave a short speech.

Song 13: Germany - Malik Harris “Rockstars” (25th place, 6 points)

#GER The fourth Big Five entry of the night, Germany. I watched the German national final “Germany 12 Points” live, online from the UK, on 4 March 2022, without having previewed any of the six competing songs beforehand. Based on my initial impressions of “Rockstars” from the German national final and the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final, the chorus is OK, but I don't like the rap in this entry. On the night of the 2022 Grand Final, I liked the switching of the light beams near the end, but I didn’t think the burst of strobe lighting was necessary for this style of song. I’m mystified as to the significance of the grand piano, drumkit and electric guitar on staged when they weren’t being played or mimed, and I also question the need for the rugs on the stage. Since the Grand Final, I have seen some background information on Wiwibloggs, and analysed the song’s lyrics, including the rap part. Watching the Grand Final performance in retrospect, I’ve noticed Malik showed his emotions during the rap part, especially the lines “Can we press pause?”, “Or do a restart” and “And be who we are?”. In hindsight, my conclusion is that one really needed to read the background information and analyse the lyrics beforehand to fully appreciate “Rockstars”. With this in mind, “Rockstars” could have been seen as a possible jury friendly song in the light of its content, or perhaps not if juries are deterred by rap. Anyway, this finished last with 0 points in the jury vote. Although this finished 20th with 6 points in the public vote, Germany still ended up last with 6 points overall.

Song 14: Lithuania - Monika Liu “Sentimentai” (14th place, 128 points)

#LTU Lithuania went for a beautiful ballad this year, and furthermore, it was performed in Lithuanian during the Contest. This was on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list, and among the songs I thought were highly unlikely to qualify, in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. Amazingly, Lithuania qualified, and ended up in a run of ballads in the second half of the Grand Final. I think Monika sang better in the Grand Final than in Tuesday's semi-final. She certainly looked the part, with her sparkly dress, and the sparkly lighting on the background screens enhanced the performance. At certain points in the song, there was a mirror image of Monika, and she appeared to touch her reflection. Although this mirror effect looked amazing, were the audience able to see it in the venue, or was it only visible to viewers at home? Overall, this was definitely one of the better ballads that had been on so far in the Grand Final. One might have expected this to be a jury friendly song, but this ended up just 18th with 35 points in the jury vote. Thankfully, and somewhat surprisingly, this did better in the public vote; 11th with 93 points. Lithuania’s combined result of 14th place with 128 points was about right for this song.

Song 15: Azerbaijan - Nadir Rustamli “Fade To Black” (16th place, 106 points)

#AZE Azerbaijan went for a ballad this year. This song was on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. I had my doubts about this qualifying that evening, but I'm glad it reached the final. Nadir has a good voice, and sang well again this evening, including whilst lying on one of the steps for part of the song. I’m mystified as to the need for the steps though. There were, in fact, two sets of steps for the Eurovision performance; they were together for most of the song, but rotated apart during the bridge, until their bottom steps touched riser to riser at the end. The lighting was varied; white light beams early on, blue lighting during the second verse, more white lighting, and then red lighting. Flashing white lights were used during the most powerful part of the song near the end. Altogether a varied ballad, with some parts sung quite softly, and some parts were sung in a more powerful manner. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and public here, because “Fade To Black” finished 10th with 103 points in the jury vote, but 23rd with just 3 points in the public vote. As a result, this ended up 16th with 106 points overall. I think this ballad was a contender for 12th to 16th in both halves of the voting and overall; it wasn’t good enough for top ten in either half.

Song 16: Belgium - Jérémie Makiese “Miss You” (19th place, 64 points)

#BEL Belgium went for what I'd call a soul type ballad this year. This entry was on my “Prefer not to qualify” list, and one which I saw as a questionable qualifier, in the Second Semi-Final, but somehow “Miss You” made it to the Grand Final. It's not bad, but it's not a particularly memorable song. I think there’s too much exaggeration of the word “No” (which, during the performance, sounded more like “Now”) in the chorus. As far as the Eurovision performances go, I liked the blue and white light beams during the first half of the song; they were just what a song of this style needed, but it seems odd as to why they changed to orange / red lighting during the second chorus. However, I question the need for the four dancers, who performed alongside Jérémie from the start of the second chorus. This finished 13th with 59 points in the jury vote, which I felt this was more than this deserved. Thankfully this finished what I consider to be a more appropriate 21st place, with 5 points, in the public vote. Overall, this ended up 19th with 64 points. I think this was a contender for below 20th in both halves of the voting, and overall.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, Laura and Mika showed the official CD album and official DVD (which at the time must have been an empty case). This was followed by clips of the best moments from the Second Semi-Final. Whilst this film was being shown, Graham Norton read some more viewers’ messages. Upon return from the break, Alessandro, Laura and Mika spoke for a little longer before introducing the next song.

Song 17: Greece - Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord “Die Together” (8th place, 215 points)

#GRE Greece went for a ballad this year. The song itself has a rather dull first verse but I like the first instance of the chorus. The trouble is, it takes until the second instance of the chorus to really get going, and the highlight of the song is near the end. My concern is, when “Die Together” was performed live at Eurovision, some viewers may have gone to make a coffee during the first verse, and missed out on the best part near the end. Anyway, Amanda has a nice voice and she sang live well during the Grand Final. The blue lighting effects enhanced the live performance of song, but I’m mystified as to the significance of the chairs, many of them on an angle, dotted around the Eurovision stage. There was a difference of opinion between the juries and the public here, because this finished 6th with 158 points in the jury vote, but 12th with 57 points in the televote. Nonetheless, this ended up a well-deserved 8th place with 215 points overall.

Song 18: Iceland - Systur “Með Hækkandi Sól” (23rd place, 20 points)

#ISL I watched Söngvakeppnin 2022 Final online from the UK, one day late. Sigga, Beta and Elín won, and they took part under the name Systur at Eurovision 2022. “Með Hækkandi Sól” is a country ballad, which I feel sounds magical. According to Wiwibloggs, the title roughly translates as “with the sun getting higher each day”. This was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but thought it would be unlikely to qualify. Amazingly it qualified. Sigga, Beta and Elín have nice voices, they sang well in the Grand Final, and the song was appropriately enhanced by orange lighting. This finished 23rd with 10 points in the jury vote, and 18th with 10 points in the public vote. It’s extraordinary that a song can finish with equal points in both halves of the voting, yet finish five places apart. Anyway, this ended up 23rd with 20 points overall. I feel this masterpiece was under-rated by both the juries and public; I think this should have finished much higher in both halves of the voting and overall.

Song 19: Moldova - Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers “Trenulețul” (7th place, 253 points)

#MDA Zdob şi Zdub previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and 2011, and qualified to the final on both occasions. They were back this year, and once again they made it to the final. Their offering this year was a lively song with country elements, and use of an accordion (it wouldn’t be Eurovision without an accordion). I particularly like the catchy chorus in this song. The patterns on the wall enhanced the song. I noticed the instrumental filler near the end, presumably that was a substitute for the pause near the end of the preview video. If nothing else, a fun entry. This had the largest difference of opinion between the juries and public in terms of place, and second largest difference in terms of points, in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final. It’s hardly surprising this finished 20th with just 14 points in the jury vote, as this is not the sort of song professional juries would tend to vote for. On the other hand, viewers at home evidently enjoyed “Trenulețul” as this finished 2nd with 239 points in the public vote. I think this was over-rated by the public; a few other finalist songs deserved to place higher than Moldova in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 7th with 253 points overall; even this was, in my opinion, higher than this song deserved.

Song 20: Sweden - Cornelia Jakobs “Hold Me Closer” (4th place, 438 points)

#SWE I watched Melodifestivalen 2022 Final live, online from the UK, on 12 March 2022. Sweden was among the countries I most wanted to qualify, and the country I thought was almost certain to qualify, in the Second Semi-Final. Just like at Melodifestivalen, Cornelia began on the stage floor. Everything else from the Melodifestivalen performance was present in the Eurovision performance, including the characteristic microphone and the big circle with green and red light shining through. Cornelia has a great voice, and sang well in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final. Altogether, an outstanding performance. This finished a well-deserved 2nd place with 258 points in the jury vote. Despite faring less well in the public vote, 6th with 180 points, this still managed to finish a well-deserved 4th with 438 points overall.

Before the next song, Mika gave a short speech.

Song 21: Australia - Sheldon Riley “Not The Same” (15th place, 125 points)

#AUS A ballad, which going by the lyrics, has an important message to get across. Sheldon has a beautiful voice, and he sang well in the Grand Final. I’m mystified as to the significance of the steps though, and I question the need to include strobe / flashing lights in a ballad. The trouble is, how many viewers read the background information about Sheldon, and the song's lyrics, on the Eurovision Song Contest website? In the light of what the song is about, and the message that Sheldon was trying to get across in the song, this finished a well-deserved 9th place with 123 points in the jury vote. However, this finished 24th with just 2 points in the public vote, which I feel was an insult. Consequently, this ended up 15th with 125 points overall. A song with a message like this deserved to be top ten in the public vote, and overall.

An extended time filler was required at this point. Firstly, a trailer was shown, previewing what was coming up later in the show. Next, Laura sang part of '”Nel blu dipinto di blu” by Domenico Modugno.

Song 22: United Kingdom - Sam Ryder “SPACE MAN” (2nd place, 466 points)

#UK The fifth and final Big Five entry of the night was the United Kingdom's entry “SPACE MAN”. The song itself is powerful; it would make a good James Bond film opening song. The chorus of "SPACE MAN" reminds me of the chorus of the opening song to the James Bond movie "Skyfall". The Eurovision performance began with Sam under the spotlight. During the first chorus, the frame was illuminated. I’m mystified as to the significance of the frame; presumably it was intended to resemble a space ship of some sort. The second instance of the chorus, and the bridge, featured use of white and blue light beams. About two thirds of the way through, the frame opened up, and its lights changed to yellow-orange. The light beams, around the stage, also changed to orange as this happened. The highlight was the guitar section just before the final chorus. Altogether, an outstanding song, with out of this world staging, and Sam gave an excellent performance. This was clearly reflected in the results; amazingly this won the jury vote with 283 points. Even the public gave this a respectable result; 5th place with 183 points. Overall, this finished a well-deserved 2nd place with 466 points.

Another time filler was required at this point. Alessandro spoke to Zdob şi Zdub (Moldova). Next, Mika spoke to MARO (Portugal), followed by a few other artists. Finally Mika said “This is Holland, this is Poland”.

Song 23: Poland - Ochman “River” (12th place, 151 points)

#POL This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final. “River” is a beautiful song, The verses are somewhat gentle, but the chorus and bridge are quite powerful. Furthermore, Krystian Ochman has a beautiful voice, and he sang very well in the Grand Final. As far as the Eurovision performance is concerned, I liked the use of the blue lighting for much of the song, but I question the need for so much strobe lighting usage about two thirds of the way through, because this is a power ballad, not a hard rock song. I also question the need for the dancers, but during the last two instances of the chorus their movements, in time to the music, looked effective. The performance also included falling raindrops and on-screen lighting effects at times, but presumably they could only be seen by viewers at home, and not the audience in PalaOlimpico. During the Grand Final performance, I anticipated this could do well. As it happened, this ended up 14th with 46 points in the jury vote, 9th with 105 points in the public vote and 12th with 151 points overall. At least the public put this inside the top ten, but I think this should have also finished top ten in the jury vote and overall.

Song 24: Serbia - Konstrakta “In Corpore Sano” (5th place, 312 points)

#SRB The penultimate song in the line-up already. Serbia went for a rather obscure entry this year. Looking at the lyrics, this is about being healthy. Undeniably that’s important for everyone to remember, but I’m not sure Eurovision is the right place to promote that. Anyway, at least the song was performed mostly in Serbian, with the outro in Latin, at Eurovision; it’s great to hear a song predominantly in a country’s native language. Furthermore, the song has a good beat. Ana Đurić, known professionally as Konstrakta has a good voice and she sang well in the Grand Final. She performed the entire song seated, with a bowl on a small table in front of her; this was a necessity as a notable feature of the performance was washing her hands (and having them dried) at certain points in the song. Another notable feature was Konstrakta and her backing group clapping their hands during the instances of the chorus. The background imagery further enhanced the song; however, I'm mystified as to the inclusion of flowers at one point in the song. What's the connection between flowers and good health? There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and public here; this finished 11th with 87 points in the jury vote, which I feel was reasonable, and 4th with 225 points in the public vote, which I feel was more than this deserved. As a result, this ended up 5th with 312 points overall, which I feel was over-rated.

Song 25: Estonia - Stefan “Hope” (13th place, 141 points)

#EST The final song of the Grand Final already. Estonia went for a wild west style song this year. This was one of the songs I liked the most whilst watching the preview videos, and this among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. I liked the way the Eurovision performance started with Stefan shown in a yellowed monochrome; old film effect, and this transformed to full colour at the start of the first instance of the chorus. Some of the wild west scenes from the preview video were included on the background screen at one point in the song. Altogether, a lively song to close the Grand Final. At the end, Stefan said “Don’t lose your hope for a better tomorrow”. This finished 15th with 43 points in the jury vote, which was disappointing, but hardly surprising for this style of song. Thankfully, this finished 10th, with 98 points, in the public vote, which was reasonable, but I think could have been better. Overall, this finished 13th with 141 points, which I feel was under-rated. I’d have thought this would have finished 6th to 8th with well over 100 points in the public vote, and I think this deserved to finish in the 6th to 10th range overall.

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Televoting and Interval Act

As soon as Stefan finished performing, shots of the audience were shown. Shortly afterwards, Alessandro, Laura and Mika appeared together in the Green Room to announce the start of the televoting. Unfortunately, their words were drowned out by Graham Norton who outlined the voting procedure for UK viewers. At 22:16, Alessandro, Laura and Mika all said "Europe and Australia, start voting now". The voting lines opened, and a recap of the songs followed with the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. When the UK's song extract appeared, a caption at the bottom of the screen stated "UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY" and "Your vote won't count and you may still be charged." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the voting stem with 22 at the end? Knowing that the lines would almost certainly be extremely busy during this recap, I deliberately delayed voting until later. When I eventually tried voting (quite late into the televoting session), I successfully voted for: Sweden, Estonia, Netherlands, Poland, Iceland, Finland. Voting for six songs might seem extravagant, but they were my top six on My Eurovision Scoreboard during the Grand Final. Whilst the voting lines were open, there was a series of acts, and intermediate fillers, as outlined below.

Interval Act 1: Måneskin

Måneskin, who won for Italy last year, performed their new single “Supermodel”. When they finished, Alessandro spoke to them for a few minutes. Afterwards, they performed part of their song “If I Can Dream”.

Once Måneskin finished performing, Mika spoke briefly in the Green Room. Next, there was a second recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, UK viewers heard Graham Norton reading out viewers' messages. After that, Alessandro’s head appeared before a space style background, and gave a short speech about sharing comments. Near the end of his speech, it was revealed that he was wearing a green suit against a green background.

Interval Act 2: Gigliola Cinquetti - “Non ho l'età”

The second “proper” interval act was Gigliola Cinquetti performing “Non ho l'età”, in full. This was the song which scored Italy’s first ever Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1964. The stage made extensive use of blue light, and the audience could be heard joining in with this performance.

Interlude

The next part was what I personally see as a selection of fillers, as follows:
• “Eurovision Confidential”: a series of clips of various songs, with commentary.
• Alessandro spoke to some artists in the Green Room.
• Clips showing past artists’ reaction when results announced, with commentary.

Interval Act 3: Magical Mika

Mika performed a medley of "Love Today", "Grace Kelly", his new single "Yo Yo" and "Happy Ending". During the performance, there were various groups of dancers, and fireworks or smoke effects for some of the song clips. A giant heart was above the stage during "Happy Ending".

This was followed by the third (and final) recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, UK viewers heard Graham Norton reading out viewers' messages.

At the end of this recap, there was one minute of voting time remaining. Alessandro and Mika were on stage speaking to fill in time. They counted down the final ten seconds aloud. The time was 22:58 when the voting lines closed.

Message From Space

Immediately after the voting lines closed, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti appeared in a pre-recorded message from the International Space Station. Presumably this was intended as a filler whilst the voting table was put on stage.

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Jury Results

At last, it was time to start the presentation of the voting results. The voting system first used in 2016 was used again this year. That meant the jury results from each country yielded one set of 1 to 12 points, and each country's televoting results generated a completely separate set of 1 to 12 points. Alessandro and Mika appeared and gave a short speech. Martin Österdahl stated that the jury results had been checked and verified, and they were good to go. The points from the jury voting were about to be presented in the traditional way first. Alessandro announced the start of the jury voting. Graham Norton said, to UK viewers, “Good luck Sam Ryder, it is 1,092 days since the United Kingdom last received a point at the Eurovision Song Contest. Will our drought end tonight?” Graham Norton also pointed out, to UK viewers, that the jury results were based on the Friday evening dress rehearsal.

All 40 countries, including the 15 non-qualifiers, voted in the Grand Final. The voting order was Netherlands, San Marino, North Macedonia, Malta, Ukraine, Albania, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Israel, Poland, Greece, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Iceland, Cyprus, Latvia, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Armenia, Montenegro, Romania, Ireland, Slovenia, Georgia, Croatia, Lithuania, Austria, Finland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Czech Republic, Italy.

The points announced by each country's spokesperson, e.g., Netherlands, were from that country's jury voting only. Just like in 2016 to 2021, the 1 to 10-point scores were displayed on screen when the spokesperson appeared, added to the scoreboard as a block and the spokesperson only announced the 12-point score.

The Netherlands, which announced its jury points first, gave 12 points to Greece. Although San Marino gave 10 jury points to Greece and 12 jury points to Spain, Greece remained in the lead and Spain moved to second place. After North Macedonia had announced its points, Spain was in the lead and Greece was in second place. Spain was still in the lead, and the United Kingdom was in second place, after Malta had announced its points. Although Ukraine was the first country to give 12 points to the United Kingdom, Spain was still in the lead, and the United Kingdom was still in second place, after Ukraine had finishing announcing its points. After Albania had announced its jury points, the United Kingdom was in the lead, and Spain was in second place. From this point onwards, the United Kingdom stayed in the lead (ignoring temporary fluctuations within individual countries’ rounds) until the end. Meanwhile, there was a “cat and mouse” situation between Spain and Sweden for second place until Iceland (19th to call) had announced its jury points. After Iceland had announced its points, Sweden remained in second place until the end.

After Ukraine (fifth to call) announced its jury points, only six countries (Romania, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Iceland) were on 0. Albania, which was sixth to announce its jury points, was the first country to give no points to any countries still on 0. Estonia, which was seventh to call, gave 2 points to Lithuania and 5 points to Finland. This left just four countries (Romania, France, Germany, Iceland) still on 0. Azerbaijan, whose jury results were announced eighth in the voting sequence, gave 1 point to France. This left just three countries (Romania, Germany, Iceland) still on 0. Portugal, which was ninth to call, gave 6 points to Iceland. This left just two countries (Romania and Germany) still on 0. Finally, Germany, which was the tenth country to announce its jury points, gave 1 point to Romania. Germany was now the only country still on 0 points. Since Germany were still on 0 after all 40 countries had announced their jury points, Romania was the last country to get off the mark in the jury vote.

A break occurred between Denmark and France. At this point the top three were: 1st United Kingdom 178, 2nd Sweden 159, 3rd Spain 133. At the other end of the scoreboard, Germany was still last with 0 points. During this break, Alessandro spoke to Sam Ryder from the United Kingdom.

After the break, the points difference between the United Kingdom and Sweden continued to fluctuate up and down, but the United Kingdom stayed in the lead and Sweden stayed in second place. The United Kingdom became uncatchable on jury points alone after Czech Republic (39th to call) announced its jury points.

Unsurprisingly Cyprus, which failed to qualify for the Grand Final, gave 12 jury points to Greece. Obviously, it was impossible for Greece to give any points to Cyprus this time; for the record, Greece gave 12 jury points to Azerbaijan. Within the Nordic area, Sweden was the only country to receive jury points from every other Nordic country, and within this group, only Finland and Iceland gave 12 jury points to Sweden. Finland received no jury points from the other Nordic countries. Although Serbia received jury points from each of the other ex-Yugoslav countries, only two of those were 12-point scores (12 points each from Croatia and Montenegro). A more detailed analysis of bloc voting is available here.

Once the spokespersons from all 40 countries had announced their jury voting points, the scoreboard looked like this on screen:

1	United Kingdom	283	14	Poland	46
2	Sweden	258	15	Estonia	43
3	Spain	231	16	Armenia	40
4	Ukraine	192	17	Norway	36
5	Portugal	171	18	Lithuania	35
6	Greece	158	19	Czech Republic	33
7	Italy	158	20	Moldova	14
8	Netherlands	129	21	Romania	12
9	Australia	123	22	Finland	12
10	Azerbaijan	103	23	Iceland	10
11	Serbia	87	24	France	9
12	Switzerland	78	25	Germany	0
13	Belgium	59

At this point Alessandro spoke to Sam Ryder from the United Kingdom, who had won the jury vote.

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Televoting Results

Alessandro, Laura and Mika reappeared to present the results of the public vote. Mika asked Martin Österdahl if the televoting had gone according to plan. He said it had, and the EBU had a valid televoting result, and the procedure would be very, very exciting. Alessandro, Laura and Mika explained how the televoting works. In each of the 40 countries, the public's phone / text / app votes were totalled up, and converted to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points to the top 10 voted-for songs. However instead of going around all the 40 countries and having the spokespersons announce each country's televoting points in the same manner as the jury points, all 40 countries' televoting points were added together behind the scenes to produce one total televoting score for each finalist. Alessandro, Laura and Mika took turns to announce the total amount of televoting points each finalist had received from each of the other 39 countries. Just like in 2019 and 2021, they announced the televoting totals starting with the finalist that had the lowest jury place, which was Germany, and worked their way up the scoreboard until they reached United Kingdom, which had won the jury vote. Graham Norton's comments, which BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK heard, are shown in square brackets.

Alessandro: We’ll start off with the nation that has obtained the least number of points from the national juries, and that is Germany, and Germany gets 6 points from the public vote. [Oh, they got some, excellent. No one tonight is having our fate last year. No-one is going home with nul points]
Laura: We move on to France. La France has received 8 points from the public. [They came second last year.]
Mika: Moving on to Iceland, and the public points going to Iceland are 10 points. [This is Systur.]
Alessandro: We now move on to Finland. Finland has received 26 points. [This could be big. Oh, not that big, but still.]
Laura: Let’s move on now to Romania. Romania, the public has given you 53 points. [Well deserved, that was a very winning performance, and it was in second place in the running order.]
Mika: And we move on, we go to Moldova. Moldova, from the public, you have received 239 points. [Wow, I said it would do well, it came at the end of that long stretch of ballads. It was what the audience wanted. That’s a lot of points gone, right there. Congratulations.]
Alessandro: That’s a lot of points. Amazing jump, well done.
Alessandro: And now, next in line is Czech Republic. Czech Republic, the public has given you 5 points. [Now they performed first, very strong song. Did people remember them? No, they didn’t I’m afraid, very hard.]
Laura: And next up is Lithuania. Lithuania, you have received 93 points from the public. [That was more than I expected.]
Mika: Seventeen countries left. Let’s move on to Norway, and Norway, you have received 146 points. [This again, I think, might be big. Good but not a real game-changer. This is the difference between the juries and the televote.]
Alessandro: We move on to Armenia, and Armenia received 21 points.
Laura: Yes. Moving on to Estonia. Estonia has received 98 points from the public. [Stefan there, the end of his hope.]
Mika: Next up is Poland . Poland, are you ready? Because you have got 105 points. [Not too shabby, it gets him to the left-hand side of the leader board.]
Alessandro: Let’s move on to Belgium. Belgium, the public has given you-5 points. [That’s got to hurt, but he stays where he is.]
Laura: And now we go to Switzerland, you have received, from the public, 0 points. [It’s so harsh. Yeah give him a cheer.]
Mika: Let’s move on to Serbia. [This will be another biggie, I think.] Serbia, the public has given you-225 points. Wait! There is a new leader, Serbia is now in first position. [Wow, putting them in the lead. That is the genius of this voting system, I love it, it’s so exciting. There’ll be a big upset, Serbia won’t win, but they will be top five, probably.]

With just ten countries left to receive their points from the public, the scoreboard looked like this at this point (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Serbia	312	14	Lithuania	128
2	United Kingdom	283	15	Australia	123
3	Sweden	258	16	Azerbaijan	103
4	Moldova	253	17	Switzerland	78
5	Spain	231	18	Romania	65
6	Ukraine	192	19	Belgium	64
7	Norway	182	20	Armenia	61
8	Portugal	171	21	Finland	38
9	Greece	158	22	Czech Republic	38
10	Italy	158	23	Iceland	20
11	Poland	151	24	France	17
12	Estonia	141	25	Germany	6
13	Netherlands	129

N.B. I’ve done a post-Contest analysis in a spreadsheet. At this moment, 1040 televote points had been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were 1280 televote points still to be allocated. It would, in fact, have still been possible for the remaining ten countries to finish at least one point below Serbia’s combined total of 312 points. Obviously, the highest amounts of televote points from the pool would have had to have gone to the next three countries (Azerbaijan, Australia, Netherlands), and the highest countries still to receive their televote totals would have had to have had very low scores. Unsurprisingly, during the live announcement of the televote totals, I had no idea how many points were left for the remaining finalist countries. Anyway, Alessandro, Laura and Mika continued as follows.

Alessandro: Serbia is number one right now. Very good job, so we are getting closer to the final. Ten countries, ten countries are left and their points will decide who the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is.
Laura: Alright, told you, anything can happen in here. And now, are you ready for the final rash? [Yes.] And remember, once again, everything can change, right up to the last vote.

Laura: Next up is Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan-has received 3 points. [I am so shocked by that. Azerbaijan normally do very well, and his performance was so stunning. It’s not his fault, but his performance was in the middle of those ballads.]

N.B. Due to Azerbaijan having received just 3 points from the public, 1043 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were 1277 televote points still to be allocated. There were now too many televote points left for all the remaining nine countries to finish at least one point below Serbia, or even tie with Serbia (but have a lower televote total than Serbia received earlier). In other words, it had just become mathematically impossible for Serbia to hold its lead and win.

Alessandro: OK then, now let’s move on to Australia. Australia, the public has given you 2 points. [What do the public think of this? That’s got to hurt, but it is a good warning sign ladies and gentlemen that nothing is guaranteed here. A great response.]
Laura: Only eight countries left, and next up is the Netherlands, you have received 42 points. Congratulations. {That’s young Stien, she’s only 21, she did a marvellous job, and she is ending up on the left-hand side of the leader board, so no shame in that.]
Mika: The atmosphere here is remarkable, there is so much love and at the same time, there is so much tension. Now let’s move on, and let’s go to Italy. Italy, get ready to receive-110 points. [The song has been a big hit. Not nearly as many as we were expecting. A beautiful song, great performance, but Italy didn’t want to win, so perhaps their dream has come true.]
Alessandro: Amazing job guys.
Mika: This puts them in third place.
Alessandro: Moving on to Greece, who gets 57 points. Give it up for Greece. [Again, I think suffering badly for being in that big batch of ballads in the middle of the contest. The juries noticed her, but hard to remember her in that run of songs.]
Laura: Only five countries left. Let’s move on to Portugal. Portugal, from the public, you are getting-36 points. Amazing artist, amazing song.
[This is Ukraine. Did the viewers respond to Ukraine in the way that people thought they would?]
Mika: We’re now going to move on to Ukraine, and Ukraine, the public has given you 439 points. [Wow! That answers that question, yes, the viewers did respond to Ukraine.]

We now have a new leader with 631 points.
Ukraine, new leader, astonishing.
That was a huge leap forward.
That is more than a leap, that is an enormous jump, putting Ukraine in first place with 631 points.

[That may be unassailable, but whatever happens tonight ladies and gentlemen, Sam Ryder has done a wonderful job.]

With just three countries left to receive their points from the public, the scoreboard looked like this at this point (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Ukraine	631	14	Lithuania	128
2	Serbia	312	15	Australia	125
3	United Kingdom	283	16	Azerbaijan	106
4	Italy	268	17	Switzerland	78
5	Sweden	258	18	Romania	65
6	Moldova	253	19	Belgium	64
7	Spain	231	20	Armenia	61
8	Greece	215	21	Finland	38
9	Portugal	207	22	Czech Republic	38
10	Norway	182	23	Iceland	20
11	Netherlands	171	24	France	17
12	Poland	151	25	Germany	6
13	Estonia	141

Stay where you are guys, because in a minute, we will find out the winners. We are excited.

There were now only four possible winners: Ukraine (who were currently in the lead), or one of the three countries still awaiting their televote points (Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom). Green Room shots of the artists representing Ukraine (top left), United Kingdom (top right), Sweden (bottom left) and Spain (bottom right) were displayed in four windows on screen during the next announcement.

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, I’ve retrospectively discovered that 1729 televote points now had been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were 591 televote points remaining to share among Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points had been allocated so far, or how many were left, whilst watching the televote sequence as I hadn’t been deducting the televote scores from the maximum available as they were announced. In order to pass Ukraine and win, Spain needed 401 points or more, Sweden needed 374 points or more and the United Kingdom needed 349 points or more from the public. Whilst in theory there were enough points still available for one of those three countries to receive such large televote scores, it was highly unlikely one country alone could get the minimum required number of televote points as a large number of 12s and 10s must have already been taken up by Ukraine. Obviously, it wasn’t possible to tell from Ukraine’s televote total alone (439 points), which had just been announced, how many 12s and 10s had gone into that total (or how many were left).

Alessandro: Ukraine leads with 631 points, but we all know things can still change. We now move on to Spain. Spain has received 228 points. Great result, great result, congratulations Spain. [Nowhere near enough. Spain hoping to win it after, I think, 54 years. But a great performance by Chanel.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Ukraine, United Kingdom and Sweden were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Laura: So, Ukraine is in the lead, but bear in mind that two countries still need to receive their points from the public vote. So, the winner can be either the current leader, or one of the two countries that haven’t received their points from the public yet, so Sweden or United Kingdom. [It seems unlikely that anyone can beat Ukraine right now. We (the UK) need over 300 points to win.]

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, 1957 televote points now had been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were still 363 televote points remaining to share between Sweden and the United Kingdom. If one of those had got all 363 televote points (and the other zero), that would have now been insufficient for Sweden to overtake Ukraine, but it would have been enough for the United Kingdom to pass Ukraine and win. It was now mathematically impossible for Sweden to win, but no mention of that was given. Unsurprisingly I didn’t know how many televote points were still available at this point during the live broadcast.

Mika: This is our virtual podium, we are about to discover which country will reach the highest position, and become the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Laura: Sweden, the time has come. Sweden, you get 180 points. [OK, that is shocking. I think everyone expected them to get more.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Ukraine and United Kingdom were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

[We need well over 300 votes, and I’m beginning to think that’s unlikely. Yes Sam, thank you, you’ve done an amazing job, look at you, in the split screen at the end of this thing, we never thought that might happen again.]

Now it’s either Ukraine, or United Kingdom. [Whatever happens, if we (the UK) get zero, we get top five.] Who will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022? From the public, the United Kingdom has received 183 points. [He did so well, there it is, unbelievable ladies and gentlemen, we have come second, we’ve got second place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. This is a red letter day.]

Altogether, announcement of the televoting totals took about 19 minutes. Just before the scoreboard was shown for the final time, the UK's televoting results were displayed at the bottom of the screen, and Graham Norton read each of the ten scores out. Did other countries' broadcasters present their own televoting points in a similar manner?

When the scoreboard was shown for the last time (with the United Kingdom’s televoting total included), it looked like this:

1	Ukraine	631	14	Lithuania	128
2	United Kingdom	466	15	Australia	125
3	Spain	459	16	Azerbaijan	106
4	Sweden	438	17	Switzerland	78
5	Serbia	312	18	Romania	65
6	Italy	268	19	Belgium	64
7	Moldova	253	20	Armenia	61
8	Greece	215	21	Finland	38
9	Portugal	207	22	Czech Republic	38
10	Norway	182	23	Iceland	20
11	Netherlands	171	24	France	17
12	Poland	151	25	Germany	6
13	Estonia	141

Here is a summary of the televote totals, in order of announcement:

Germany	6
France	8
Iceland	10
Finland	26
Romania	53
Moldova	239
Czech Republic	5
Lithuania	93
Norway	146
Armenia	21
Estonia	98
Poland	105
Belgium	5
Switzerland	0
Serbia	225
Azerbaijan	3
Australia	2
Netherlands	42
Italy	110
Greece	57
Portugal	36
Ukraine	439
Spain	228
Sweden	180
United Kingdom	183

Ukraine won the televote with 439 points. Not only is that the first ever televote score in excess of 400 points, and the highest televote score since the introduction of the split points voting system in 2016 (the previous highest was Portugal 376 televote points in 2017), but it is also the first ever score in excess of 400 points, and the highest score for one set of points alone since 1975 (the previous highest was Norway 387 points in 2009, when each country only gave one set of points). For 2022, the maximum possible televote score was 12 televote points from each of the other 39 countries (including the 15 semi-finalists which failed to qualify) = 468 televote points. Hence Ukraine scored 93.80% of the maximum possible televote score for 2022, which is an achievement to be proud of, and one which is unlikely ever to be beaten.

However, things are less impressive when you analyse Ukraine’s overall winning score of 631 points. With a possible maximum of 12 jury points from each of the other 39 countries (including the 15 semi-finalists which failed to qualify), i.e., 468, plus 12 televot points from each of the other 39 countries, i.e., 468, the maximum achievable score was 936 points. Thus, Ukraine won with 67.41% of the maximum possible score for 2022. The record for the winner with the highest percentage of the maximum possible score since 1975 still rests with United Kingdom - Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me"; 80.4% in 1976.

An in-depth analysis of the jury voting and televoting is available here.

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Jury and Televoting Comparison

A sortable table, with all the jury, televoting and final points and placings, is shown below.

#	Finalist	Jury Total	Jury Count	Jury Place	Televote Total	Televote Count	Televote Place	Combined Total	Combined Place	Tele-Jury Pts Diff	Tele-Jury Place Diff
12	Ukraine	192	26	4	439	39	1	631	1	247	3
22	United Kingdom	283	35	1	183	34	5	466	2	-100	-4
10	Spain	231	34	3	228	38	3	459	3	-3	0
20	Sweden	258	33	2	180	33	6	438	4	-78	-4
24	Serbia	87	15	11	225	34	4	312	5	138	7
9	Italy	158	26	7	110	23	8	268	6	-48	-1
19	Moldova	14	4	20	239	35	2	253	7	225	18
17	Greece	158	26	6	57	9	12	215	8	-101	-6
3	Portugal	171	29	5	36	9	15	207	9	-135	-10
7	Norway	36	10	17	146	32	7	182	10	110	10
11	Netherlands	129	25	8	42	12	14	171	11	-87	-6
23	Poland	46	9	14	105	22	9	151	12	59	5
25	Estonia	43	8	15	98	19	10	141	13	55	5
14	Lithuania	35	10	18	93	21	11	128	14	58	7
21	Australia	123	23	9	2	1	24	125	15	-121	-15
15	Azerbaijan	103	19	10	3	1	23	106	16	-100	-13
5	Switzerland	78	21	12	0	0	25	78	17	-78	-13
2	Romania	12	3	21	53	12	13	65	18	41	8
16	Belgium	59	13	13	5	2	21	64	19	-54	-8
8	Armenia	40	10	16	21	4	17	61	20	-19	-1
4	Finland	12	3	22	26	8	16	38	21	14	6
1	Czech Republic	33	11	19	5	1	22	38	22	-28	-3
18	Iceland	10	4	23	10	2	18	20	23	0	5
6	France	9	3	24	8	6	19	17	24	-1	5
13	Germany	0	0	25	6	3	20	6	25	6	5

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Trophy Presentation

As soon as Ukraine was confirmed as the winner, Kalush Orchestra proceeded from the Green Room to the stage to receive the winner's trophy, which was presented by Alessandro. Once Kalush Orchestra had received their trophy, the lead singer took the opportunity to give a short speech. In addition, there was a burst of fireworks around the stage. Alessandro, Laura and Mika appeared together on stage for the last time to give their closing speeches.

Reprise

Finally, Kalush Orchestra, performed their winning song “Stefania” again. During the later stages of their performance, closing credits appeared at the left-hand side of the screen. UK viewers also saw the BBC's own additional credits at the bottom of the screen. Towards the end of the performance, confetti fell onto the stage. Finally, the Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude "Marche en rondeau" marked the end of the show.

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And Finally

Altogether another great Contest. Well done to the Italian broadcaster RAI for producing the two semi-finals and Grand Final. Most of the songs in the Grand Final were OK or very good. There were just a few of my “Prefer not to qualify” countries which went through against my wishes on both semi-final evenings (Ukraine and Norway on Tuesday, Belgium and Czech Republic on Thursday). I would have preferred Croatia, plus either Slovenia, Bulgaria or Denmark to have qualified instead of Ukraine and Norway on Tuesday evening, and Malta and Cyprus to have qualified in place of Belgium and Czech Republic on Thursday evening. Nonetheless I appreciate many people have different musical tastes to me. At the end of the day, I cannot possibly expect to have all the songs I personally like the most qualify for the final and have all the ones I dislike eliminated in the semi-finals. This year it was obvious that Ukraine’s “Stefania” would qualify for the final, and even I would have been shocked if it hadn’t qualified.

Congratulations to Kalush Orchestra for winning with a combined total of 631 points (192 from juries and 439 from the public). That was hardly surprising; Ukraine has been the favourite to win for a good while. When Ukraine was about to receive its public vote total, I expected at least 300 points, possibly 350 points, but it ended up being 439 points, which is the highest public vote score since the introduction of the two sets of points per country voting system in 2016, and in fact also the highest ever score for one set of points in the history of Eurovision. This is Ukraine's third victory to-date. Ukraine: Winners 2004, 2016, 2022. 6 years' gap between wins (2016 - 2022). Although the song "Stefania" is not my taste in music, there must be plenty of people who enjoy that particular style. Immediately after the Grand Final, it was revealed that Ukraine received televote points from every other country, including 12 points from 28 countries and 10 points from 8 countries.

Congratulations also to the UK's Sam Ryder, whose entry “Space Man” won the jury vote with 283 points. That alone is an achievement to be proud of. Even the public gave him a respectable result; 5th place with 183 points. Overall, he finished a well-deserved 2nd place with 466 points, which is an amazing achievement. That is the UK's 16th time of finishing second in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. Furthermore, the UK achieved its best jury score and placing, best televote score and placing and best overall score and placing since the introduction of the two-part voting system in 2016, and its highest ever absolute finishing score in the history of the Contest (however due to the way the current voting system works, 466 points is only 49.79% of the maximum possible score for 2022). Looking ahead, where does the UK go from here, in the hope of winning the Eurovision Song Contest outright next year, or sometime thereafter? The UK will need to make the effort to choose songs which will achieve high scores and placings in future years, and not let itself fall back to bottom or near bottom of the scoreboard with below par songs. Eurovision fans saw how France finished second with Barbara Pravi’s “Voilà” last year, and second last with Alvan & Ahez “Fulenn” this year.

Commiserations to - Malik Harris, whose entry “Rockstars” for Germany finished last overall with just 6 points (all of which were from the public). I think one really needed to read the background information and analyse the lyrics beforehand to fully appreciate “Rockstars”. That said, I think whichever of the six songs that participated in the German national final “Germany 12 Points” this year, I think Germany would have finished last, or near last, in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final 2022. Although it is disappointing for any country to finish last in the Grand Final, it should be borne in mind that, this year, 15 countries failed to reach the final. At the end of the day, the important thing is not to win, but to participate.

Ukraine’s win creates a problem with hosting the Eurovision Song Contest next year, due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Other countries have expressed interest in hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the event that Ukraine cannot host the Contest, including Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Can the broadcaster of whichever country ends up hosting do as well or better as RAI did this year? Time will tell. Mark my words, next year's Contest will tell another story as far as the results are concerned, especially if the EBU retains the method of separate jury and televoting points from each country.

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