Eurovision 2014: Australia Votes

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

Sydney calling! These are the votes from Australia - with the official placings in brackets:

1. Austria 74,434 votes  (1)
2. Sweden 53,562  (3)
3. The Netherlands 33,990  (2)
4. Finland 29,702  (11)
5. Iceland 24,106  (15)
6. Poland 23,928  (14)
7. UK 23,154  (17)
8. Switzerland 18,934  (13)
9. Malta 18,884  (23)
10. Ukraine 18,392  (6)
11. Spain 15,116  (10)
12. Greece 14,936  (20)
13. Hungary 12,034  (5)
14. Norway 11,594  (8)
15. Denmark 10,430  (9)
16. Romania 10,044  (12)
17. Belarus 10,042  (16)
18. France 9,176  (26)
19. Armenia 7,614  (4)
20. Germany 6,316  (18)
21. Slovenia 5,912  (25)
22. Russia 5,824  (7)
23. Montenegro 5,346  (19)
24. Italy 4,968  (21)
25. Azerbaijan 4,724  (22)
26. San Marino 4,698  (24)

Eurovision was even more popular with Australians this year, with just shy of a million viewers tuning in at one point during the final. As usual, the television station transmitting the show permitted people to vote for their favourite song and in line with the official result Austria took first place.

Some surprising differences can be seen between the official standings and how Australia placed the songs, though. Probably, the most notable positive changes are the fortunes of those countries filling positions four to nine, all of which ranked outside the official Top 10.

Not even getting a sniff of the Top 20, let alone the 10, was France. However, in a year when most everybody seemed to vote for the 'beard', Australia also gave much more love to the Moustache of the French, placing it 18th and relegating San Marino into their last position.

Valentina Monetta was not the only loser. Both Russia (22) and Armenia (19) fared much worse Down Under, fuelling yet more speculation about political voting in the northern hemisphere.

That aside, one of my personal favourites this year also went running in the wrong direction too, as Hungary could only manage 13th as opposed to its much better official showing of 5th.

What do you think of the Australian vote?

Image by David Iliff (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Eurovision 2013: Australian Votes Revealed

Following the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest in Australia, viewers down under were able to cast votes for their favourites. It has been revealed that Australians agreed with the winner, but that there were surprises with some of the other rankings. Here's the full points tally:

1.  Denmark – 36,556 
2.  Greece – 30,908 
3.  Romania – 28,896 
4.  Norway – 26,880 
5.  Ireland – 19,738 
6.  Azerbaijan – 17,732 
7.  Malta – 14,856 
8.  Finland – 11,312 
9.  Iceland – 11,002 
10.  Italy – 9,768 
11.  Sweden – 9,674 
12.  Ukraine – 8,964 
13.  France – 7,922 
14.  Hungary – 6,410 
15.  Netherlands – 6,366 
16.  Russia – 6,366 
17.  Moldova – 5,866 
18.  Germany – 4,986 
19.  Belarus – 4,358 
20.  Belgium – 3,590 
21.  United Kingdom – 3,032 
22.  Georgia – 2,766 
23.  Lithuania – 2,592 
24.  Estonia – 2,414 
25.  Armenia – 2,226 
26.  Spain – 1,768

Emmelie de Forest performs Only Teardrops

Some of the voting is not unexpected due to the various diaspora present in Australia. Note the Greek vote, for instance. Possibly more surprising is the third place result for Romania, while Ireland bucked the European trend finishing fifth. 

However, once again, congratulations go to Denmark and Emmelie de Forest on her victory not only across Europe, but also with our Australian friends.

Image: By Albin Olsson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons