Jury result (Final)

If only the juries had voted on Saturday without the televoters we would still have ended up with the same winner. And the same runner-up. The Brits and French would have moved up a few steps, as would the Danish (eh..why?) but Sweden would still be in the bottom.

Jury result

1. Norway (312 points)
2. Iceland (260 points)
3. United Kingdom (223 points)
4. France (164 points)
5. Estonia (124 points)
6. Denmark (120 points)
7. Turkey (114 points)
8. Azerbaijan (112 points)
9. Israel (107 points)
10. Greece (93 points)
11. Moldova (93 points)
12. Bosnia & Herzegovina (90 points)
13. Malta (87 points)
14. Germany (73 points)
15. Armenia (71 points)
16. Ukraine (68 points)
17. Russia (67 points)
18. Portugal (64 points)
19. Croatia (58 points)
20. Lithuania (31 points)
21. Romania (31 points)
22. Sweden (27 points)
23. Albania (26 points)
24. Finland (12 points)
25. Spain (9 points)

Thanks to Diarmuid for this information and the Belgian jury votes (see comment on "Swedish jury and more").

Semi 1 + 2 result

Semi 1
1. Iceland
2. Turkey
3. Bosnia
4. Sweden
5. Armenia
6. Malta
7. Israel
8. Portugal
9. Romania
10. FYR Macedonia
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11. Montenegro
12. Finland
13. Belarus
14. Switzerland
15. Andorra
16. Bulgaria
17. Belgium
18. Czech Republic


Semi 2
1. Norway
2. Azerbaijan
3. Estonia
4. Greece
5. Moldova
6. Ukraine
7. Albania
8. Denmark
9. Lithuania
10. Serbia
----------------
11. Ireland
12. Poland
13. Croatia
14. Cyprus
15. Hungary
16. Slovenia
17. The Netherlands
18. Slovakia
19. Latvia

- Finland and Croatia made it to the final thanks to the jury.
- Macedonia and Serbia would have been through otherwise.
- Poor Macedonia being kicked out by the jury for the second year running in favour for a Nordic country.
- Czech Republic came last with nil points in semi 1. Latvia got 7p but was still last in semi 2.
- Fan-favourite Switzerland weren't even close. Shame!
- I feel sorry for Ireland as it was a close call for them.

ESC 2009 Final Result

1. Norway
2. Iceland
3. Azerbaijan
4. Turkey
5. UK
6. Estonia
7. Greece
8. France
9. Bosnia-Herzegovina
10. Armenia
11. Russia
12. Ukraine
13. Denmark
14. Moldova
15. Portugal
16. Israel
17. Albania
18. Croatia
19. Romania
20. Germany
21. Sweden
22. Malta
23. Lithuania
24. Spain
25. Finland

Congratulations to Norway! Although it wasn't my personal favourite (heck, it wasn't even in my top 10) I am very happy for Norway and I will immensly enjoy Oslo for a week in the middle of May next year. YES, I am returning to euroland in 2010 for sure!

I predicted 9/10 countries that came top 10 (only missed Estonia) but as I suspected the order was a bit different. Only had 3 countries on the exact right number (Nor, Aze, Gre).

More on the songs and the result later.

The voting almost killed me

Winner of Melodifestivalen 2009 is Malena Ernman with "La voix". Congratulations to her and composer Fredrik Kempe. But it was a close race with my big favourite Caroline af Ugglas who came second, only 11 points behind. And more interesting - less than 4.000 televotes differed between the two women. It has never been that tight in the top ever before. Also, never before have the jury and the people had such different taste. I was well disappointed when Måns was in the lead and questioned what the members of the jury actually listened to. Fine, the voting sequence was TOO exciting for words and pretty darn good television but why, why, why would the juries vote for a song so similar to what we sent last year that fell flat in Eurovision? Aren't they supposed to have guide lines on how to think? (Fresh sound etc.)

It was amazing to be in the audience inside Globen to witness the whole shebang. Alcazar was clearly the favourite among the schlagerfans there but EMD had heaps of fans of their own in the seats too. I was sitting on the right side of the stage, just above the greenroom. Great seats and fun to follow the performers after they had been on stage. Caroline was dancing with hands and legs like crazy just like during the dress rehearsal to the other songs and became totally wild when "Tingeling" was performed. All singers stood up and danced to that. I haven't seen the broadcast yet but the camera must have caught them. I want to go out partying with that Owl-woman at some point during my lifetime. Such energy and devotion. Petra Mede and Malena Ernman could tag along too. Now, that would be a night to remember!

The final result looked pretty much like what I predicted yesterday. Except that Malena got far less love from the jury than I thought and Måns got more. I had been extremely disappointed if Måns or EMD would have gone to Moscow. Malena wasn't my first choice but I am pleased with the result and I think she will land Sweden a top 10 placing in Eurovision for sure. The Moscow line up is not the strongest of years so perhaps she'll do even better. Måns and EMD would have disappeard in the middle. I am not bitter about Caroline's second place as I never dared to believe all the hype. It was just too good to be true and I know that Caroline is more than overwhelmed with the result. Although now that I know how close it really was I can't help but think the "what if"-game.

Here is the result!

1. Malena Ernman - La voix 182p
2. Caroline af Ugglas - Snälla snälla 171p
3. EMD - Baby goodbye 145p
4. Måns Zelmerlöw - Hope & Glory 144p
5. Alcazar - Stay the night 139p
6. Sarah Dawn Finer - Moving on 87p
7. HEAT - 1000 miles 82p
8. Agnes - Love love love 40p
9. Emilia - You're my world 28p
10. Sofia - Alla 12p
11. Molly Sandén - Så vill stjärnorna 2p

The Swedish televotes:
1. Malena Ernman 322.657
2. Caroline af Ugglas 318.952
3. EMD 231.098
4. Alcazar 199.014
5. Måns Zelmerlöw 182.651
6. HEAT 178.283
7. Sarah Dawn Finer 146.300
8. Molly Sandén 51.467
9. Agnes 49.819
10. Emilia 48.844
11. Sofia 19.885
A total of 1.748.970 televotes were registered.

The jury voted:
1. Måns 96
2. Sarah 75
3. Alcazar 67
4. HEAT 58
5. Caroline 51
6. EMD 49
7. Agnes 40
8. Malena 38
9. Emilia 28
10. Sofia 12
11. Molly 2

I'm off to a MF-dinner now with friends but when I come back I will sit down and watch Melodifestivalen on TV and then probably come up with more things I want to say about the show.

Bits and pieces

Some random comments and thoughts from last night...

- 7 songs in the top 10 came from semi 1 (the supposedly weaker of the semi finals)

- 4 songs in the top 10 were sung in another language than English

- Ukraine and Russia got points from all except 5 countries

- Russia got seven 12 pointers but Armenia who came 4th got one more 12 pointer than the winner. Runner up Ukraine only got one single 12 pointer.

- In the final Sweden voted: 1p Greece, 2p Armenia, 3p Latvia, 4p France, 5p Denmark, 6p Serbia, 7p Finland, 8p Iceland, 10p Bosnia-H, 12p Norway

- The UK was rescued from an embarrassing nil points by Ireland and San Marino (!)

- Bulgaria gave 12 points to Germany only because one of the girls is Bulgarian

- Poor San Marino came last in semi 1 with only 5 points. I liked their song!

- Estonia was saved from the last place which they deserved by Finland who rewarded them 7 points. Shame on you Finns!

- Finland got two sets of 12 pointers in the semi from Estonia and Andorra (!)

- The best ballad of the year came last in semi 2 - Hungary. Shame on you Europe!

- In the semi Sweden voted: 1p Georgia, 2p FYR Macedonia, 3p Ukraine, 4p Croatia, 5p Portugal, 6p Turkey, 7p Albania, 8p Latvia, 10p Iceland, 12p Denmark

- Slovenia just missed out on the final coming 11th in semi 1

- FYR Macedonia would have been in the final instead of Sweden if the jury hadn't been picked to choose one entry. Bulgaria also got more points from the viewers than Sweden did.

Winners and Losers

The show looked fantastic on TV last night and I didn't feel bitter at all not being present in Belgrade. Honest. It brought me back to my childhood and how much I longed for Eurovision every year and how exciting it was to see the numbers for the first time. I haven't seen ESC home on a sofa since 1999 when I was still in school.

I'm pleased to say that I predicted 7-8 of the songs that finally made it to the top 10. Hurrah for me! But I am not happy at all with the winner. The song in itself is ok but Dima Bilan was too much this time around and I can easily pick 10 songs that are better suited as a winner. On the other hand I say congratulations to Russia as they have tried really hard to win this contest ever since they started participating. Just a shame that it wasn't with one of their stronger entries. I've been to Moscow and it is an amazing city and I'm sure they will make a splendid show next year. It's itching in my fingers to work with the contest next year again and re-visit Moscow. Their schwerma is worth the trip alone! :)

Then Sweden. What happened? Charlotte Perrelli made a flawless performance and is not to blame for the result. Neither is "the Eastern bloc" that the Swedes will try to say. Why? Because "the Western bloc" didn't vote either. Not even our Nordic neighbours gave high points. Only 12 points from Malta, much thanks to the Schlagerboys' participation in a Maltese tv-show where they begged everyone to vote Sweden. Go Schlagerboys! Thank you.

The only explanation I have for the 18th place is that Ani Lorak nicked the "pop song with strong female singer in silver dress with a dance routine"-votes and that the rest of the voters simply didn't like the old Scandischlagersound anymore and thought it sounded dated. Anyone with other explanations?

The popularity of Charlotte Perrelli in Sweden won't fade because of this though. Of that I am fairly sure. Everybody loves her here and rightly so.

The result, 2008

This is the way it ended yesterday.

Nota Bene: Since 2003, no placings are shared at the Eurovision, all ties are automatically separated. Same amount of points does not mean same placing.

1. Russia, 272 points.
2. Ukraine, 230
3. Greece, 218
4. Armenia, 199
5. Norway, 182
6. Serbia, 160
7. Turkey, 138
8. Azerbaijan, 132
9. Israel, 124
10. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 110
11. Georgia, 83
12. Latvia, 83
13. Portugal, 69
14. Iceland, 64
15. Denmark, 60
16. Spain, 55
17. Albania, 55
18. Sweden, 47
19. France, 47
20. Romania, 45
21. Croatia, 44
22. Finland, 35
23. Germany, 14
24. Poland, 14
25. United Kingdom, 14

If you compare to my prediction yesterday, you will find I didn't get it quite right. (Grumble) At least I picked the last place correctly...