Ok in no particular order
The Common Linnets - Calm After The Storm (Netherlands, 2014)
I was in the Netherlands staying with my friend that year, and made a pact that if they ever won, we'd go. The rest is history. I love the song but it also has a special significance to me. It has a little piece of my heart.
Keiino – Spirit In The Sky (Norway, 2019)
I could play this on repeat for an hour and not get bored of it. It's cheese but not too cheesy. It's fun and it's just a fab song. It's my Eurovisionesque song of choice.
Måneskin - Zitte E Buoni (Italy, 2021)
One of best all time winners. Took me a long time to warm to it, but it's standing the test of time for me and aging like fine wine. It's just breathtakingly good. I can't explain why. It just is.
Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes (Sweden, 2015)
Visually a masterpiece. I love the song as it's so upbeat and positive. And well, I'm very rarely this shallow, but Måns. Sorry. Not Sorry. (I pretty much only have about three famous crushes)
Then my fifth and final choice is the one I'm struggling with.
It's between:
Daði Freyr – Think About Things (Iceland, 2020)
Gjon’s Tears – Tout L’Univers (Switzerland, 2021)
Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha (Finland, 2023)
Verka Serduchka – Dancing Lasha Tumbai (Ukraine, 2007)
Daði sums up a special, Eurovision feeling and vibe in a way no one else quite does and then there's the whole story of him not being able to play in 2020 and then again in 2021. But the song isn't one of my faves and if it comes up on my playlist I'll skip it if I'm not quite in the mood.
Gjon's Tears is just an absolutely amazing song. The vocals are something else. It's one of the few I could listen to on repeat.
Käärija, again is something special. It's just so out there and distinct. It comes on and the volume goes up. But is it the best song? It's more of an experience for me.
Then there's Verka. It's a classic. You can't help but sing along and Eurovision would have been so much poorer if Verka had never been. It's ultra shit, to the point that it goes past shit and into kitsch. This isn't something you can manufacture or do dishonestly. But yeah it's so shit it's good. Can that be a best song?
So I'll probably go for Gjon's Tears as my fifth choice because it's a song contest and because vocally it's amazing, I don't tire of it and it's actually very very good. It's a never skip song. He just could work on his attire but I won't hold that against him! It's not as 'Eurovisiony' as the others but I also think that probably why I can't quite vote for the other three too because they rely just that little bit too much on a gimmick factor. I can't bring myself to go for another cheese factor when I've got so few choices.
If I had to chuck in two more to make it 10 I'd probably go with
Alexander Rybak - Fairytale (Norway, 2009)
Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano (Serbia, 2022)
Fairytale because Alexander Rybak just changed everything.
And Konstrakta because the performance was just incredible. I want to hate it but can't. I watched it with a group of friends and everyone said similar. You wanted to sing along and clap even though it was so out there and bizarre. It really broke the language and culture barrier in a way I don't think anything else has quite done for me. Just brilliant.