Worst Eurovision Winners Ever – Hundreds of people have voted for their personal Top 5 of the Worst Eurovision winners ever. The 5th place of each voter got one point, the 4th place 2 points and so on, the first place thus getting 5 points. The result is a ranking of all 60 Eurovision winners. In the coming days we will reveal the Top 15 of your voting. Today we start with a young lady from Ukraine on place 15.
It was only Ukraine’s second participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was already crowned with a Eurovision victory. Popular singer Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko, or short: Ruslana represented her country in Istanbul. She performed her pop folk dance song “Wild Dances” with an elaborate stage show. Ruslana and her dancers wore leather outfits and fur coats, played trembitas (Ukrainian alpine horns) and there were lots of “heys”. The performance and outfits were, according to Ruslana, inspired by traditional music from the Carparthian Mountains.
Here is her Eurovision winning performance:
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Do you agree that Ruslana is one of the worst winners? And if you voted for her, why did you?
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Next to already legendary Nicky, Ruslana had the worst live vocals of all winners. Well, at least she danced whereas Nicky only tried to get intimiate with Eldar. I guess that both activities leave you rather breathless after some time …
Yes it is a fairly bad song. I’m not really familiaer with this ESC but, just as what is good is subjective so is what is bad. Who really can say they remember back to the late 50′s, but then there is always at least one
Well… I can reveal that much: there are songs from 5 different decades in the Top 15…
I obviously have inderestimated the people E. T.. Well done to ye all!!!
The worst vocals of all winners? Aren’t you forgetting Mr Lordi and Dana International?
There was a lot wrong with Lordi’s ‘HRH’ imo, first and foremost the song itself, but I have never had an issue with Mr Lordi’s vocals. Yes, they were pretty rough but then this was supposed to sound like a rock song after all.
Dana Int.’s vocals were really bad but she had that nice blonde lady standing to the left who did a very good job. As a result the choruses sounded sort of ok, and at least they did not try to hide their support like Sakis did on both his 3 minutes of international fame. However, Dana Int. completes my top 3 of worst live singers who won ESC. I should have mentioned her too.
I’m glad that we agree about Dana – I was too shocked to look anywhere but straight at her, so I don’t even remember there was anyone else on the stage. As for Lordi, he was supposed to sound rough, of course, but he also sounded (to me) surprisingly weak – I didn’t feel almost any energy in his actual voice. All of the apparent energy of the act was brought about the scary costumes and the fireworks, which puts him rather high on my list of WEWE.
That’s what I have always thought too: Everything about ‘HRH’ was fake and wrong, and thus it is my 2nd least favourite winning song ever. ‘Ein bißchen Frieden’ is dead last on my list. I know that Nicole sang good live but the whole package is so tacky that it makes me … not running scared but running disgusted.
The worst singer undoubtly was Lena Meyer-Landruth. *puke* That voice was ugly as can be. Nigar also sang very badly.
Ruslana is considered one of the worst winners? Gimme a break!
Giant trumpets? If you have any respect for music, please stop writing about it.
nope.
Look, I love constructive criticism, like when people tell me that the oldest granny is only 76 or something.. In this case, tell me what the instruments are called in English,if you know… caus I do not known and didn’t find it either and then resorted to just describing them the best way I could.
Noone needs this snippy attitude… So you have to take a decision: be constructive or leave…
Haha, I’m glad to hear that you took my Mr. Know-All comment as constructive criticism.
What about “Wild dances”. Well, it’s definately not among my least favourites of the winners. As a younger kid back then, I found the song and the performance and those huge… whatever they are – Alpine horns but in Carpathia(?) – to be really cool. I still do it in some way today, even though I can spot more flaws in it now. As mentioned above, the singing voice of Ruslana didn’t really make it on the big night. The lyrics are also really tacky; “I want you to want me”…
But yet, it’s a powerful and enchanting performance (more than a song) and I appreciate this pop/ethnic composition much more than the ones from Sertab and Elena. Should perhaps also mention that Ruslana is on my 3rd place of beautiful ESC singers, after Anne-Marie David and Lúcia Moniz.
“…and I appreciate this pop/ethnic composition much more than the ones from Sertab and Elena.”
This. I agree with this so much.
It is called ‘trembita’, you dumbass!
Thanks I will change the article…
Otherwise, I have to correct you this time, if I may, my ass is not dumb but rather well-formed, sexy and really tight. So in the future it would be more accurate to refer to me as sexyass, wellformedass (a bit academical I think).. We’ll leave tight ass out of it as that has a different connotation I think…
Noapte bună!
I consider this song and performance as one of the 15 best winners, so I don’t agree with this. But that’s how it works :p
I was never a big fan of “Wild dances” but i wouldn’t call it one of the worst winners ever.I don’t really know.I think that we’ll see many love or hate winners in this series and we may miss some of the most forgettable winners.Being forgettable and underwhelming is even worse IMO.
Ruslana will remain one of the most prolific winners, and I guess high trees catch a lot of wind. In the end it’s an argument of taste which will never end.
I really didn’T like Ruslana in 2004 (Still remember it was one of my Bottom 5 on the evening’s scoreboard).. Since then it really grew on me.. (at the time I was very fixated on ballads… loved France that year ^^) but now I really enjoy the song (in studio), especially the Ukrainian version
I disagree with the Ukraine being one of the worst gainers. It is the second best winner since the abolishment of the language imho. Quite obvious many people voted for it because it avoided the probaly best ESC song of all times, Lane moje, from taking the trophy. Serbia and Montenegro should of won in 2004! :/
Wait… REALLY!? COME ON!
*Hundreds* of people have voted? Oho, I hope the results are not spoilt with fake votes.
through the form I can see the ip address and deleted all votes from the same ip…. So no, no fake votes…
Fine!
I actually quite like Ruslana’s win. She wasn’t in my top 5 for the year, but I like the show and the song itself, so I have to disagree with this one on a personal scale. I agree with Toggie’s criticism of her vocals though. Ruslana is one of the worst vocalists to win Eurovision.
“Wild Dances” was probably the first Eurovision winner I heard as a kid though (yes, even before the classic winners that had international fame. I was uninterested in music as a child). I was flipping through the channels on the radio here, and the song caught my attention. I forget what station the song came on now, but I believe it was an international music station that has since gone defunct.
2004 was extremely weak and therefore Ukraine makes it high in my list and it’s not a scary totally unfair winner imo. Vocals, shaky irrelevant sure, but the song is stronger than schlagery “My Number One” which is slutty too. It’s like since Marie N, every single winner afterwards kept getting worse and worse until Lordi saved us all (and saved Esc’s reputation). However, in the long run of winners, I get that 2004 would get pretty low. I’m already sure the top 2 will be Latvia 2002 and Estonia 2001, making it extremely unfair!
“until Lordi saved us all (and saved Esc’s reputation)”
It didn’t save me.
We will never agree on that one. Lordi’s victory was the biggest farce in the history of ESC in my opinion. I love rock and therefore detest this lame wannabe rock tune.
And Lordi’s victory was the only instant in the history of my parents’ ESC parties that made some regulars give up on ESC for good …
Turkey 2003? Ukraine 2004? Bad? Really?
What is this comment supposed to mean? I like Turkey 2003 … and Greece 2005 too, even if that might come as a shock to some people. Helena Paparizou is a very competent live performer and I have my shake it! moments too.
Ooh… forgot to qoute “every single winner afterwards kept getting worse and worse until Lordi saved us all”. Maybe that’ll clear things up?
btw, I’m autistic.
all my “friends” gave up esc on Helena… Lordi was the one thing that reconciled some of them with it
I think it’s a great song and one of the best performances. Perhaps, people voting for it (or against it) are older Western Europeans who are crying over orchestra not present on ESC anymore.
Don’t diss Ruslana! She and her wild dancers are going to come after you! For all of those that like “Wild Dances” be sure to watch the US gymnastics team at the Olympics especially during the floor exercises…the song may make an appearance…
i love “wild dances” – it’s one of my favourite esc-winner-songs!!!
SPAIN 2013, SPAIN 2013, SPAIN 2013, SPAIN 2013, : spanish representative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jsnw5zrWDA&feature=related
According to eurovision tv next ESC will be held in Malmö
It is true. I think i Will cry
Me too! btw, it’s still Allan94 here
I think Ukraine 2004 should be considerably higher but anyway..Definately belongs on that list and marks for me the actual beginning of the esc dark era that lasted up to 2008. These are the years I consider the most damaging for the contest’s reputation and it has yet to recover.
Serbia 2007 as well?
‘Molitva’ was the 1st winning song I really loved since … 1977, I guess.
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Btw, what anyone calls the dark ages of ESC depends on personal taste and perspective. People from certain countries that were very successful in the mid-noughties might think completely different. Plus, I remember that most of the shake it! aficionados from the other site claimed that ESC started to go downhill from 2009 on.
You do not need to be a “shake it! aficionado” to think that quality and entertainment value have been decreasing dramatically ever since. Albeit, this year was surprisingly good compared to 2010 and 2011 imho.
I definitely don’t agree at all ! Well deserved winner that year although I do prefer “Lane moje” of course.People degrading Ruslana’s vocal performance should realise that we are talking about singing and dancing at the same time…Besides , when Sweden 11 come into my mind , it is obvious Ruslana was more than decent back in 2004 …
@ Desiree
hahahahha, you RULE, your comments ROCK!! hahahaha! Ya da best!!
My very first comment here, and I truly have to say I quite couldn’t believe when Ruslana won way ahead of the touchy Zeljko Joksimovic and the brilliant Athena… After all the performances, I thought it’d be a three horse race between Serbia, Turkey and Cyprus. Damn I was wrong!!
Ruslana and her Wild Dances definitely qualify as one of the worst winners of all time, possibly the worst ever in my book. It also makes me feel sick to think that this hoora-hoora-hey-hey crap was ranked above Lane Moje and For Real, two of the very best songs of 2000′s.