United by Music

Half of the result of the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was decided by the votes of each participating country’s national jury, a panel of five music industry ‘experts’ selected by the country’s broadcaster. According to Eurovision rules, jurors should rank the competing songs using their professional skill and experience, with the sole reference for their judgement being the performance of the acts during the second dress rehearsal. The official rules also state that jurors should be free from all external influences, including betting odds. The extent to which this can be ensured in the digital age is possibly up for debate, and you only need to look back to the jury scandal of 2022 to see that the system is far from perfect, but I am of the belief that the presence of juries is necessary in Eurovision. In the interests of transparency, the EBU releases each jury’s full ranking of the competing songs after the contest has taken place, as well as the ranking of e...

The second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 saw sixteen countries become ten in a battle to qualify for the final. Just like the first semi-final, the eventual result was very close, and also threw up a few surprises, so once again I think it’s time to dive into the numbers and find out what the scores on the doors really mean for these participating countries. Before we do, however, I would recommend you read my previous article , which was an analysis of the results of the first semi-final, if you haven’t already. For the avoidance of confusion, I will once again clarify that the results of this semi-final were determined solely by televoting in each participating country, as well as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, voting as pre-determined automatic qualifiers, and an aggregated ‘Rest of the World’ vote. I’ve shared before on this blog that I don’t agree with this system, and would definitely favour the re-introduction of juries, but this is where we are at the ...

Fifteen countries competed in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, yet only ten could qualify for the final. In the end, the difference between tenth and eleventh place was just two points, so clearly every vote mattered for those countries on the borderline. With that being the case, it seems only fair to delve a bit deeper into the results of this semi-final and take a look at some of the stories and underlying trends that got lost in Eurovision week itself. As with all Eurovision semi-finals since 2023, the results were determined solely by televoting in each participating country, as well as a set of pre-determined automatic qualifiers (in this semi-final, these were Italy, Spain and Switzerland) and an aggregated ‘Rest of the World’ vote. The only exception to the televoting rule is San Marino, which is unable to organise its own televote as it shares Italy’s telephone network, so a jury vote was used instead. Now that disclaimer is out of the way, let’s hav...