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 continue with the first transsexual winner from Israel.
Israel was represented by Dana International in 1998. She had discovered her transexuality at a very early age and underwent a sex-change surgery in 1993 in London. Shortly after she released her debut album “Dana International”. She had already tried to fulfill her childhood dream to perform at Eurovision in 1995 but only came second in the Israeli national final. After her selection in 1998, orhodox Jews and Conservatives tried to prevent her from participating as they deemed unfit that a transsexual was to represent Israel. Her song “Diva” names powerful women in human history such as Cleopatra. The song won the contest with 172 points ahead of the UK and Malta. Dana performed in a silver dress during the contest. For the reprise she changed into a more extravagant dress with parrot-fashion feathers. The song became a moderate success in Europe, Dana has become one of the most popular transsexuals worldwide.
Here is her winning performance:
Do you agree that Dana International is one of the worst winners ever? If you voted for her, why did you?
“Diva” was and is a classic, and I don’t think it belongs in this list of worst winners. At the time it was a victory for the huge gay fan base of Eurovision.
But in a year with so many better songs, it is still a disgrace it won.
it’s the type of song that won with hype versus actual quality, in a weak year in general I guess juries/televoters went with the hype , though it’s a catchy tune and did well in discos afterwards, on the night it didn’t deserve a win IMO, based on performance alone…no wonder the voting was tight that year..
I love the massage this sends, but I don’t like the song at all and Dana can’t really sing… so I agree with the list I guess..
your top 3 from 98?!
1. Cyprus
2. Croatia
3. tough but probably Belgium
and welcome by the way!
thank you, it seems like a nice website with lots going on and different opinions etc, do you manage it just by yourself? yes 1998 top 3 is very difficult, I will go for performance/song on the night so
1/Croatia
2/UK
3/Belgium
It was,in a way,a milestone in esc’s recent history.
for sure a milestone in ESC history, maybe opened doors to less open-minded people re transexuals etc, but maybe not as a”song” contest, and a true worthy winning song,, 98 was the kind of turning point in voting history of ESC until now I guess, after that…other debates started with a vengeance I guess!
As i explained below,i’m not saying it was the best song of the 1998 contest but it was a worthy winner and the song was a moderate hit around Europe.
Dana’s victory was,in a way,a milestone in esc’s recent history.In the 90′s esc was a case lost and forgotten for most countries but i remember the publicity and the backlash that followed her victory.So,her winning the contest and with a hit song was positive IMO.”Diva” doesn’t belong to the worst winners even if the vocal performance was poor.I suspect the possible top-5 in this category.Estonia 01,Latvia 02,Sweden 84,Greece 05 etc…
as I understand this thread is about voting for worst ESC winners? (I’m new here bear with me!), You included quite a few recent winners there , as ESC goes much further back in time my worst top 5 winners would be(more or less)
1/Ireland 92 (I hate that song and singer)
2/Russia 08 (as above)
3/Ireland 94 (never understood that one)
4/Germany 82 (despite its international success, looking back on ESC, and if it made its mark on ESC/world music today..no! even UK entry that year has more of an impact today)
5/ Estonia 2001. yes, but kind of equal with a few other bad winners eg 2002, 1968 etc
The songs i mentioned are those i predict will be quite high on this list judging by the comments i read when the article was introduced.Welcome,by the way!
I had this in 2nd place on my least favourite ESC winner list. A really silly song, depending on the performance and the effects surrounding it. I consider this one to be the one that started the new televoting era of Eurovision, where songs had to step back for shows and performances.
1998 was the first year after what I consider to be the “Golden Age” of Eurovision. Despite that, there was a couple of songs that still were great. My favourite that year is actually the Irish song. Yes, they had almost started to move the contest towards its grave after all their victories, but in 1998, they did really deserve to win imo. Estonia, Malta, Netherlands and Portugal were my other favs.
1998 sure was a turning point in ESC history, after that we lost the orchestra for good, then got a kind of horrible, insipid contest of crappy English songs in 1999 (re language rule) then forever…and ever…
I love Dana International for the very courageous lady she is and like ‘Diva’ in studio version. The live vocals were messy to non-existant though, and thus I don’t have an issue with Israel 1998 featuring on this list, even if I would not have put it there myself.
The 1998 contest is still partly fantastic mid-90s but at the same time it began to foreshadow the constant decline of both song and live vocals quality we experienced until ESC hit rock bottom in 2008, a year that has three songs in my all-time bottom 10 (Czech Rep, Estonia and Latvia) and two more in my bottom 20 (Ireland and Spain). Besides, 2008 contributed the silliest and tackiest winning performance ever.
My 1998 top 5:
1. UK
2. Estonia
3. Malta
4. Netherlands (fantastic backing singers)
5. Croatia
I really like France, Slovakia and Portugal too.
yes I think you are right in your summary, maybe after 1998, it was a real turning point in ESC, especially in some kind of decline that I can’t quite put my finger on, but for sure happened…so what happened?!!
Televoting happened … and with it the reign of gloss, glitter and gimmicks. (sort of quoting Shevek here …)
Coherent composition, fine orchestration and vocal technique became more and more irrelevant because our average Dick, Tom or Harry does not notice (or care for) these things if a hot lady shakes it or a hot gentleman rips off his shirt. After all, ESC is more saturday night entertainment than a credible song contest to most of the tv audience. This is the reason too why I think that televoting is wrong for ESC. With televoting, this will never be a SONG contest but more a PERFORMANCE contest. And don’t get me wrong, performance is an essential part of any live rendering of a song but the performance should always enhance the song (France and BiH 09, France and Portugal 08, Belgium, Germany and Turkey 10, Turkey and Belgium 03 come to mind … well, there still is good stuff in ESC …) and not distract from the song or dissimulate that there isn’t a proper song to begin with (Greece and Cyprus 2012 will give you an idea of what I mean and Poland 09 is an example in the ballad department).
The song should be the first priority imo, then find someone who can sing it properly. Finally come up with a performance matching the song you have.
Oh my, I still remember Danny’s interview during this year’s MF rehearsals: I said that they were rehearsing all the time and that the act will “look amazing onstage”. he obviously did not care much what it would sound like. All these Ken doll singers make a living not by vocal merits but by looking hot … Gosh! how I detest that word unless it refers to nice summer weather or coffee.
* He said …
* that the act would …
No, I disagree. It was jury that brought victory to Diggi-Loo and Rock me by Riva. And televoters gave the victory to Molitva and Fly on the wings of love and Chiara was very close to victory too (when she had good songs). A good song is a good song and it can come in different forms – with or without “glitter”.
I have a huge dislike of Dana International’s win. While she was a breakthrough for the contest and a milestone, musically, she has nothing to offer. “Diva” had terrible vocals and relied too much on gimmick, as well as the hype surrounding Dana’s participation to win.
My top 5 of ESC 1998:
1. Croatia
2. Malta
3. Ireland
4. Portugal
5. Estonia
yes, I think you summed up very well my feelings re 1998, in Uk such a year is not remembered for the show etc, more the fact, as I remember, for the presenters and the fact neither of them were actually from the UK (which meant the UK didn’t care about that from Ireland/Sweden), and the voting, which meant ex Swedish weather girl (Ullrika) got to present ESC, and making the famous faux-pas re the Netherlands vote giver and her age, nobody in the UK remembers ESC 98 but yes that…
Great comment, I AGREE! I hate that winner, it’s beyond horrible! YUCK!
Hi Pat!!
You see, Serena has won Wimbledon, YAAY!
I hope the thumbs are back…
Yes they are, today I couldn’t see them! It was so strange! :/ Sorry..
Accepted!
Hi Marko! Sorry for the late reply, but I had to rush to an evening shift at work after posting that comment. I’m glad your pleased about Serena winning the Wimbledon. I can’t say I have an opinion either way.
That year was indeed a turning year – for the worse!
I so agree, 1999, was such a bad year in so many ways, for the loss of the option of an orchestra, for the introduction of the (crap English) language rule, which led to the first bunch of dross songs in English (maybe the worst bunch in ESC history?), and to televoting, which demonstrated for the first time just how total televoting would ruin ESC..
I think it needed that evolution and the rock bottom in 2008 to then evolve again… In my opinion Eurovision has really developped into a better show from 2009-2012… Many of my friends suddenly like many of the songs and enjoy watching the show. Sometimes you need to hit the bottom to rise again… and the introduction of televoting was inevitable, and without the language rule, Ireland and the UK would probably still come Top 5 every single time, no matter the song…
I agree with that. ESC and in particular the jury voting had become terribly conventional and predictable in the 90s. Everyone thinking outside the box was punished and sent straight to the bottom of the pile. In a way, it is the 90s juries’ ‘fault’ that televoting had to be introduced in order to break the petrified aesthetic framework of ESC.
Typical gay winner. As it was the first televoting year, I guess lines were still occupied by OGAE clubs (which also explains some other results, would not happen now hence the ‘jury’ is back). There are worse winners but I do not mind its entry on this chart.
Also, Israel won with 172 points, not 174.
Thanks! Corrected the mistake.
Israel 98 should never have won. There were far, far better songs and live performances. However, I would not list it as one of the worst winners. Here’s my 98 top 10:
1. Where Are You?, Imaani, UK
2. Kärleken är, Jill Johnson, Sweden (this is going up my list; excellent live performance. When will Sweden send something like this?)
3. Mere Lapsed, Koit Toome, Estonia
4. Hemel en aarde, Edsilia, the Netherlands
5. Neka mi ne svane, Danijela, Croatia
6. Alltid Sommer, Lars Fredriksen, Norway
7. Aava, Edea, Finland
8. Modlitba, Katarina Hasparova, Slovakia
9. Genesis, Michael Hajiyanni, Cyprus
10. Mia krifi evesthisia, Thalassa, Greece
good top 10!!!
Obrigado.
you’re welcome!
“Kärleken är” is probably the last (latest?) really classy entry that my country did send to Eurovision. Well-built up and great lyrics for once, and Jill Johnson has a great voice. But I kind of disagree with you about the live performance. She sang good, but the whole performance was a bit flat, and didn’t really bring the message and feeling the song is supposed to. Or at least it didn’t do it for me, and therefore it slips down a bit on my ranking.
Otherwise, a quite good top 10 you have, even though I seem to be alone when it comes to love “Always over now”.
I agree. I love ‘Kärleken är’ in studio version but everytime I watch the live performance, I feel pretty underwhelmed. I have no clue waht is missing in the performance but it doesn’t do the song justice. I love Jill’s dress though.
Btw, I did not answer your sauerkraut question last night. Yes, we eat sauerkraut too but the Swabian sauerkraut dishes are totally different from those in other German regions. People everywhere else eat it with Eisbein (salted pork leg) whereas people in Ba-Wü serve it with Bubespitzle (= Swabian finger-shaped potato dumplings … btw, you do not want to know what Bubespitzle means …). In general, people in Ba-Wü eat much less meat than other Germans, probably because the growing season is much longer here (more than 6 weeks compared to the Baltic Coast). At the end of the day, food traditions always boil down to climatic conditions and religious traditions.
Doesn’t anyone see how effing brilliant Genesis is? I listen to that song on my bike and I doubt I am faster listening to any other song…
l love Genesis/Michael/Cyprus! I seriously listened to that song non-stop after first hearing it.
I agree with all that has been said before me. I seriously dislike Israel 98. The first year of full televoting gave us a the first victory where the full hype was bigger than the song or the vocals. With some juries still in, we got a close result with Malta and UK fighting the victory. Full juries would have given us the first Maltese esc victory I bet. My personal top : 1 Uk / 2 Finland / 3 Malta / 4 Slovakia / 5 France / 6 Estonia / 7 Netherlands / 8 Norway / 9 Cyprus / 10 Portugal… and I’d have Greece 11 and probably Israel 12… I don’t get the hype around Sweden and Belgium and honestly hate the Croatian song with a passion…
and full juries would have kept Germany out of top 10 :’(
Yes, the honour of having sent the first modern horror to ESC goes to Germany. There was such a hype here that year, and I never got it.
and it worked with televoting, which proved to be the exact opposite to juries by always going for outside the box, regardless of the actual music qualities
Exactly. Both systems have terrible flaws but I still think that things would be best if we had really professional juries, not the crappy ones we had in the 80s and 90s.
well we can hope! we still got return of “some” juries in 2009 so phew!
Croatia is so great! Melodic, repetitive.. I don’t know I just love it a lot
agree my favourite song of 1998, just ahead of UK…pre contest video is great too! when such things existed!
i hate the lyrics and her voice, the melody leaves me cold and it’s the first “look i can change performance” (well apart from the gag in Uk 81) except this one is cheezy and tacky, I really dont like it
It is still the only dress change in ESC that made sense imo.
am sorry about that, about the lyrics , her voice etc, for me I feel the opposite, her voice and lyrics (that maybe i don’t understand but) leads me to the opposite extreme I guess, I remember listening to it and despite not understanding anything felt very touched by it and her performance…
fair enough
i respect that!
different countries interpret songs in very different ways I suppose, especially in a different language, and such was the case before the (English) language rule, my hope is re Croatia 98 that even singing in her own language she sounded SOOO much better than songs in (crap) English for croatia and the majority of counties since then…
oh yes of course, Croatia is the weakest former yugoslav countries of modern era, and especially because it was the first one to give into English but also to tacky lame songs and performances (Croatia 1997, 2003 or 2011 are all my last of their years for instance)… Croatia 96, 98 and 99 good results were actually never followed! (and to be fair I dont even like them, to me it’s all about Bosnia and Serbia)
Danijela is a real star, but “Neka mi ne svane” is just good to me, not great. It’s a very standard ballad and delivered in a fine way, but is doesn’t really has something that stands out among all other classy ballads. Btw, I liked her more in 1995. The song was better and she did also have a more impressive dress.
I absolutely hate (and I use this word very rarely …) Croatia 1995, which is a 0/12 on my list. I don’t like the melody and I utterly dislike the operatic acrobatics. I remember that my mother called them Snow White and Rose Red when we watched the contest back in 1995.
Well then, I guess “Nostalgija” is a real divider because I love that song. It’s my second favourite of 1995 after Greece, and the music video of it is my all-time favourite ESC preview video.
And thank you for your answers about sauerkraut. I’m very fascinated about the cuisine of different countries and how you can trace history and other things in them. When it comes to Germany, I’m especially fond of that Bavarian LCHF bomb, made up of butter and brie cheese. Geez, the name of it has slipped off my mind!
Obatzter. I like that one too.
And I agree, you can learn so much from food. Tell me what you eat and I tell you who you are.
At least, I love Greece 1995 too. But my top 3 are Cyprus, Denmark and Poland. Sweden is fantastic in studio version.
I also love “Nostalgija.” It’s my 3rd of 1995, behind Cyprus and Poland.
agree with you, an example of a waste of a great language from previous times that could have won…
I dislike Danijela’s both contributions to eurovision with a passion. The 1995 song was plain tacky imo. And I really hate her 1998 song and performance. Such a sugary sweet song, childish girly voice, singalong chorus. And for a Dutch native the lyrics sound as if she is singing about something x-rated. And last but not least, the way she moves her arms during her performance. The only Croatian song I like less, is the even more sugary “Don’t every cry” from 1993.
i agree though 97, 03 and 11 are way worse than 98
But worse doesn’t equal hate.
Yes, Croatia 2011 was abysmal. But I also found it sympathetic. Especially the look at her face after the second dress change at the end. As if she thought it was the first time the audience had seen such an extraordinary thing.
2003 was also bad, but Claudia looked great. And I loved her dance moves. And she looked like Sandra Bullock.
ah you must be straight, all of these don’t do it for me unless they’re done by Jonsi or Donny Montell LOL
but i get what you mean, they’re worse but you don’t hate them as much, im with you, fine with that!
I really like Croatia 2003 in studio version but the poor song was slaughtered live. Professional hairdressers have never signalled anything good in ESC: Christine Minier, Leon (Germany 96), Claudia Beni …
My favourite Croatian entries are their 2005 and 2012 songs. And yes, I really love Nina’s voice, ‘Nebo’ and the dark haired dancer …
Least favourite Croatian entries: 1995 and 2001 … two of the most sugary things ever sent to ESC.
2005 is without the shadow of a doubt their best ever, then Id select 2008 as second best and 2004 and 2007 as the two others that remain good… all the rest… *sigh*
The by far worst Croatian entry ever is the one from 2007. How come that nobody have mentioned it before, pure horror!
Croatia has been one of my favourite countries in ESC during the last decade. The only songs I have not liked are the ones from 2003, 2007 and 2011. “Sveta ljubav” is my absolute favourite, followed by “Nostalgija” and then “Vukovi umiru sami” (my number one of 2005). “Ostani” is good, but I would rather have seen Goran do “Bolero” in ESC, that song was even better.
So, togravus, your two least favourite entries are written by Tonci Huljic. I like his songs, but no matter what, I think he has played a quite big role for the ex-Yugoslav countries, since he did somewhat started to popularize these folk-pop songs in Dora, and later in ESC. But yes, surely he pulled it a bit too far sometimes, with the over-the-top songs “Marija Magdalena” and “Nazaret” (Dora 2005).
Oops, I digress. Easy to do that when talking about Croatia.
I don’t like Croatia 2007 that much either, but it’s no way horror or the worst Croatian entry. I respect the fact that they tried sth different from the stuff they usually send, that year
It wasn’t new, it was out-dated as hell.
“Such a sugary sweet song, childish girly voice, singalong chorus…And last but not least, the way she moves her arms during her performance”
I couldn’t disagree more. Both the song and her performance were great imho, making it therefore along with “Ostani” my most favourite Croatian entries ever
Boy, those were the days for Croatia in the ESC: 96, 98, 99, 00. I can’t remember when was the last entry from them I liked; maybe 2005, and in a wicked way, 2006. Oh, 2009 was ok too
i cant believe i launched a full croatian discussion lol
Well done, Morgan
LOL
And congratulations for the article on France’s history in the ESC. I have always admired people with a special skill in writing
thanks for that! i hope i can repeat the success with something more personal like my editorial on esc 2012 without bringing too much passion in the debate (not that it’s a bad thing, but esc fans tend to be wackos lol)
1998 is one of my favorite contests…I had a hard time figuring out a top 10 because I almost liked every song. That said, UK/Imaani takes my top spot. “Diva” is also in my top 5 of that year, but definitely not my winner.
Haha, I knew it: Some of my Favourite Songs will be in this Ranking…but I think it’s no Shame to be in this List, due to the Fact, that People remembered it:)
Probably the only gay-friendly ACT that I like !
For once again I definitely disagree with the wewe outcome as I don’t see “Diva” as unworthy winner.
Vocals were abysmal indeed but I remember it being my runaway winner from the very first listening !