In this year’s Grand Final, all 37 participating countries were able to vote, even if they didn’t qualify in the semi-finals. The final results combined votes from both juries and the public, including an additional televote from countries not participating in the contest, known as the “Rest of the World.” Essentially, this means that everyone around the globe could vote, and these votes were incorporated into the overall televoting results.

Overall, the Top 10 results would have been almost similar regardless of whether only the jury or only the televoting method was used. With just jury voting, Israel and Greece would not have made the Top 10, whereas Germany and Armenia would have been included. Conversely, with only televoting, Sweden and Portugal would not have been in the Top 10, while Greece and Lithuania would have been included. Additionally, the Netherlands was disqualified from the Grand Final, leaving 25 finalists.

Switzerland is the lucky winner of this year’s ESC in Malmö. With a total of 591 points (jury: 365 points / televoting: 226), it emerged as the clear winner. Nemo’s song “The Code” received the famous 12 points from the juries 22 times, while Ukraine was the only country to give 12 points from the televoters. This indicates that the winning Swiss entry is more of a “jury song.” If there had been only televoting, as in the past, Switzerland would have placed 5th, and Croatia would have been the winner.

Croatia secured a remarkable second place for the first time in its history, accumulating a total of 547 points (jury: 210 points / televoting: 337 points). The victory was narrowly missed. If only televoting results were considered, Croatia would have placed third, behind France.

The song “Teresa & Maria” from Ukraine secured third place with 453 points (jury: 146 points / televoting: 307 points), clearly indicating its popularity among TV viewers. If only televoting had been considered, Ukraine would still have placed third, while exclusive jury voting would have placed it sixth.

It’s also peculiar to observe that some countries received significantly different scores from televoters and juries. For instance, Israel garnered only 52 points from the juries (placing 12th) but received 323 points from televoters (placing 2nd), resulting in an impressive 5th place overall. Israel’s case is unique due to political issues and the unusual situation in Malmö, which we have discussed previously.

The host country, Sweden, received only 49 points from televoters (placing 11th), while the juries awarded it 125 points (placing 8th), culminating in a final ranking of 9th place.

Portugal received 139 points from the juries (7th place) but only 13 points from televoters (20th place). Similarly, Germany earned 93 points from the juries (10th place) but just 18 points from the televoters, resulting in a final ranking of 12th place.

Luxembourg’s comeback was primarily appreciated by the juries, receiving 83 points, while the televoters awarded it only 20 points.

UK superstar Olly Alexander failed to impress with his song “Dizzy,” earning only 56 points from the juries and 4 points from the televoters, likely due to the provocative stage show. In contrast, the Finnish gimmick song “No Rules” featuring a performer in tattered jeans shorts, was more popular with televoters, who awarded it 31 points, while the more conservative juries gave it only 7 points.

Scoreboard Grand Final with the focus on the jury results

This year, there was also an abundance of fast disco songs, leading to competition where not all acts received significant points and some ended up at the bottom of the scoreboard. The final countries ranked lowest were Georgia, Spain, Austria, Norway, all featuring fast-paced songs, beside of Slovenia.

The Swiss song was very special and themed the gender fluidism, while Croatia had a fast anthem like song and Ukraine impressed with the uniqueness, less support from the public. France and Israel delivered stunning ballad, while Ireland used the voodoo theme, which shocked on the one hand, but garnered significant votes.

Scoreboard Grand Final with the focus on the televoting results

In the end, it’s clear that a Eurovision song needs a certain uniqueness to stand out. Whether it’s an anthem that everyone can sing along to or a touching ballad that melts hearts, these qualities often define memorable entries. Following the trends of last year has never worked lately, in the mid-90’s the folklore trend lasted several years and was a kind of safe bank. But gimmick or hard rock song never made a second win the year after.