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 enter the “Top” 10 and continue with the first and only winner from Belgium.
Sandra Kim represented Belgium in 1986. After their last place finish the year before, Belgium could completely turn its chances around and won the competition. The song “J’aime la vie” (“I love life”) is life-affirming and positive. Kim sings of the pleasures life holds in store. She also sings that she is 15 years old. After her win, it was actually revealed that she was only 13 years old at the time, which lead Switzerland to ask for a disqualification as she was deemed too young (Switzerland had come second by the way). Kim is still (and as the rules have changed – now performers have to be at least 16 – will probably always be) the youngest Eurovision winner ever.
In 2006 Kim told website 12points.be that she does not always perform the song with pleasure: “It’s a little girl’s song, with little girl’s lyrics, with a young adolescent’s atmosphere. Nowadays, singing “J’aime la vie”…do you like life every day? Me neither.” In 1986, little Sandra was obviously still very enthusiastic about the song as she performed it with fervency, dancing throughout the entire performance. These, possibly distracting dance moves and the pink trousers may be one of the reasons you voted this performance into 10th place of the Worst Eurovision Winners ever.
Here is the winning performance:
Do you agree with this choice?
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This would be my absolute number 1. I hate the song, the dance, the voice, the clothes. everything…
good choice. it comes close for me. but riva 1989 is even worse …
This song is in my bottom 5 too. Belgium has sent some of my favourite ESC songs over the years (1968, 1990 etc.) … and out of everything they have sent they won with THIS?
Juries in the 80s and 90s sucked for sure!
Watching this performance again,it’s like watching the winner of Jesc.I guess,it does belong among the 15 worst winners ever.I don’t hate the song.I just find it repetitive and annoying after a minute and a half.
Sandra Kim seems to be a smart lady judging from her comments i read above.
That’s what I thought as well..
I should have added this though:
That is basically Sandra Kim. Like Johnny Logan, her whole career consists of her eurovision win.
As for the song in this ranking, somehow it screamed winner back then. It was a rather bad year with lots of tacky irrelevant songs. Her win was obvious from the very start.
My favorite that year was Yugoslavia. Doris Dragovic sang a beautiful Balkan ballad, one of the best songs ever from Yugoslavia. And I am rather fond of the Spanish song.
I was a kid when Sandra won, and I loved the song back then.. Today my taste changed, but still I will not hate it cause it brings me good memories.. btw 13 year old kid singing that good shouldnt rank this way. Just my opinion!!
I guess I’m clearly at odds with people voting on this site – this is one of the best winners in my opinion. She is wearing some pink trousers – so what? Minimize the window and listen to the song and dance around the room – that’s what I would do.
There were quite a few winners who really should be featured here – Ireland 92, Luxembourg 72, France 77, Russia 08, Ireland 70 and maybe a few more (Germany 82). Perhaps, they will come later on as the top 5 of worst winners, then I will take my words back.
Luxembourg 72 and France 77? Ok.. well you are at odds with me on this.. I love both songs for their Frenchness and the feeling of listening to something important when they sing… especially Après toi is wonderful to me…
These are not bad songs per se – it’s just they don’t seem as appealing to me as other winners. Monaco 71, France 69 and Luxembourg 73 are much stronger songs in this genre imo.
I don’t like those too much… I don’t know what it is exactly… Maybe the lyrics as well
France 69 rules supreme.
ah yes… and I mixed up Anne-Marie and Corinne… so Lux 73 is also great although I prefer L’enfant soleil!
The Monaco Bank, tree, street song doesn’t do much for me, however…
My favourite of 1971 (and the Luxembourg jury didn’t give it 1 point, so it must have been something remarkable, LOL).
Great that you will do 1979. A really good year of Eurovision.
I love 3 1971 songs: Portugal, Austria and Yugoslavia (all 12/12). LOL Austria again … people might get the impression that I adore Austria in ESC when in fact I only like 5 of their 45 ESC songs and have the country in second to last place on my ESC countries list (4.40). Btw, Belarus is last with only 2.33.
Austria is just a bit… strange.. What do you think about Austria 79? I was wondering what you thought about the lyrics especially..
I am divided on the lyrics of Autria 1979. They are a laudable effort (in particular since the contest was held in Jerusalem) but then they are a bit too much and contrived for my taste.
A good text is coherent yet ambiguous (very tricky thing to achieve, and most efforts end up being just random …). France 1979 is a perfect example of coherent yet ambiguous. The best text in this category is Robert Brownings ‘Sordello’ imo … “appears Verona”. Love it to bits.
Such a pity that nobody has ever set it to notes …
That’s what I thought… Parts of the lyrics are really creat and other parts are just cheesy… The first time I went like: uuuhhh—oohhhh-uuuuhhh-ohhh all the time in my head ^^ But simply for that I enjoy listening to it
“Falter im Wind” and “Warum, nur warum” are the best songs from Austria according to me. They have also sent the only “joke song” that is really funny, “Weil der Mensch zählt”. I’m also fascinated by “Du hast mich so fasziniert” (didn’t see that joke coming, huh) because the songwriter and conductor was from the 19th century. The only 19th century person in Eurovision? And the song is rather charming in my ears, despite the fossil smell around it.
i also love these three songs of 1971 as well and I have Austria my 1971 winner… but Austria 1972 is even better and my all time #5!
I think Belgium 86 is an ok song; in fact, till some time ago it was in my top 5 for that, average, year.
I agree with w s though regarding who should had been the winner; Yugoslavia is my #1 for that year too. I love Doris Dragovic; her 1999 song for Croatia is my #1 that year.
It seems that me and w s share the same views when it comes to Yugoslavia in the ESC
Btw, this would be the Greek entry that year, should we had participated
I’m sure you all recognize Paulina, backing vocals for Greece 1979, in the video.
lol!I was watching some songs from the 1986 edition on youtube and found this video by accident.I was ready to post it here as well and then saw your post.I didn’t know that this song would represent Greece nor the story behind our withdrawl.Esc took place the Saturday before Easter and the archbishop threatened the Greek delegation with excommunication were they to go on with the participation…lol!!!
*withdrawal ** on the Saturady
LOL, exactly Dimitri! I think the story behind the withdrawl, or at least part of the story, was mentioned by G. Kapoutzidis and Z. Makrypoulia during the show for the Greek nf in 2006 as well
I don’t think that this threat would still do the trick today, or would it?
I guess not
In 1994, the esc final coincided once again with the Saturday before greek orthodox easter sunday, and despite that Greece participated. The Archbishop was the same one as in 1986
Oh it was in 1994!
No.I don’t think so!Our current archbishop is a very calm and open-minded person i think.Besides,we did participate in 1995 when esc was again held on the Saturday before Easter Sunday(and the archbishop was the same as in 1986,weird,lol).
Perhaps he was a smart guy you had realised that times had changed …
Exactly togravus
Maybe he could tolerate “Pia prosefhi” more since it has some sort of a byzantine, greek-orthodox atmosphere around it.
Does the church in Greece care about ESC? Do they have any regular opinions about it?
The Church in Greece are a banch of hipocrites who like to intervene in politics every once in a while.
They even held a rally in 2000 against the decision of the then government to abolish info regarding the regious status of citizens in their IDs.
Btw, I never got the hype over Greece 1995; for me it’s rather average and most of all too pretentious
What sounds pretentious to Greek ears and brains might sound authentic, exotic and mysterious to foreign ears and brains. I know many cold Northerners who adore that song. Personally, I would not go as far as ‘adore’ but I like it a lot.
I know; many fans in Europe love that song. In fact, almost all esc fans here in Greece too love it, they consider it our all time gem in the ESC. I guess I ‘m left all alone on this
Shall I take that as a “yes, they have opinions about ESC”?
I love “Pia prosefhi”, it’s pure timeless ear candy to me. Greece 1996 and 1997 were also really good, a good time period for Greece in ESC, to put it simple. Pity that Elena would end up behind that Cypriot hunk ten years later. She should have made an ESC comeback by herself.
Another surprise perhaps … I like Cyprus 2005 a lot, at least in studio version. Next to Belgium 2004 it is my favourite ESC shake it! song.
Omg Togravus, I can’t stand Belgium 2004! Btw I still remeber Daphne Bokota, the greek commentator back then, saying that the Belgian song was proper for aerobics exercises
It was my dad’s favourtite in 2004 and he hates physical exercise …
Cyprus 2005 is my favorite ESC shake it.
I’m not with you on Belgium 2004 though.
“Shall I take that as a “yes, they have opinions about ESC”?”
Actually, I’d say: not anymore
Re: Greece 1996, It’s my 12th most fav greek entry; not as good as Marianna’s 1989 effort, but still good.
As for “Horepse”, well…It’s #1 on the list with my ranking of all the greek entries and my #32 on my 50 most fav eurovision songs ever!
Same here, ‘Horepse’ tops my Greece in ESC list with a fat 12/12. If it wasn’t for Slovenia and Iceland, Marianna would top my 1997 list. Btw, my sister had it (and still has it) in 1st place on her 1997 list.
Have I ever told you how much I love your sister?
No, you haven’t but I am sure that she sends a big kiss.
A big kiss back to her
The question everyone in Europe was asking back in 1997: do the Greeks really use grapes as drumsticks?
I must admit that I sort of like Cyprus 2005. It’s that chorus that’s so catchy you can’t resist it. And for as long as I can ignore that he is actually singing “let me be the key to passion”, I can enjoy the time while listening to it. Not watch it, though. The live performance was tacky, and was it a coincidence that both Greece and Cyprus were using sticks in their show that year?
No.They usually don’t.The only time i remember hearing something they said about an esc entry was back in 2004 when they translated the lyrics of “Shake it” in Greek and criticized them as being vulgar and contributing to the moral decline of the youth.
On the contrary,most of the Greek singers taking part in esc get the patriarch’s blessing.It’s like a custom by now.Even Eleftheria went on to meet with the Patriarch this year.
But she did not show her undies there, I guess …
Good night everyone!
I also like Greece 95, Oxi. Greece was way above average in the nineties.
Hi Shevek
Yes, I love our 91, 92, 96 and 97 songs.
Hi, Oxi. I have to go now. See you all soon.
93 was ok too.
and me too
She would have competed against Elpida. But the song is far too generic eighties eurovision for my taste. And somehow the intro reminds me of the Belgian song.
It is rather generic, yes; I kinda like it though and Paulina is a good singer
OMG… I know that song very well and never realized it was a Eurovision song… They always sang this at karaoke in Bulgaria… And I like it as well… I really need to speed up my “watching old ESCs” business….
I mean Yugoslavia of course! ^^
“I really need to speed up my “watching old ESCs” business….”
Watching old ESC’s is one of my favourite hobbies
I’m doing 1979 right now.. I hope I can finish the review by Sunday..
Oh … 1979, one of my favourite contests ever.
I also love it … France is supreme, Austria, Israel, Luxembourg, Monaco… and I haven’t even listened to the last like 7 songs yet.. (I’m writing my thesis next to it… my deal is: I write one page of the thesis and get to listen to 2 more songs ^^.. works pretty well)
Sounds like a great strategy to get work done.
I love Israel and Monaco (and some others you haven’t mentioned) too but France is miles above anything else. My favourite ESC lyrics ever …
Me too… I have like 7 different interpretations for that story…
Only 7? Oh boy, you have a long way to go …
my favorite one: he is a German soldier during Occupation
That is a valid yet pretty straightforward interpretation. Well done!
well he comes from “the North”… a German soldier would have been more precised as coming from “the East”… especially that she’s the sun-child and in the South, sounds more like a minor and her an agriculture girl to me (very strong representations at the time in French culture, remember the National 7 road for tourism sung by Charles Trenet?)… though the fact he’s got reason to be arrested proves that these’s something else going on (fugitive and all that)
Great news! Thank you
1979 is one of my most fav esc years 
1979 has a magical opening sequence. Pity the voting dragged along for so long, repeating everything in 3 languages. The contest lasts almost 3 hours, while the normal length in those years was 2 hours.
Generally speaking I love Yugoslavia in eurovision. But I am not very fond of the songs with which they had most success, the typical rockabilly songs. Even “Hajde da ludujemo” is merely tolerable imo. I understand that it is their most popular song, even today.
I agree; It’s so sad for me that one of my fav esc countries, my avatar pic says so
, won only once with probably one of the worst winning songs 
I agree too. Yugoslavia is in 6th place on my countries list with an average of 7.52. If France (5th with 7.57) sends another song I do not like next year, they will be 5th after ESC 2013 …
I agree that 1986 was a pretty weak year but there are three songs I love and three songs I like:
1. Turkey
…)
2. Austria
3. Yugoslavia
4. Finland
5. Portugal (Yay, the first street look in ESC
6. Switzerland
…..
14. Belgium
….
20. Sweden 0/12
I hate Sweden 86. What were they thinking. They had the questionable honor of sending the first topless man on an eurovision stage. For anyone rushing to youtube to see that. Do at your own risk.
You have just mentioned one of the reasons why Sweden is dead last on my list too. And the topless guy isn’t even good looking … And then that other guy in the yellow playsuit or wrestler’s suit. Completely tasteless. Oh my, the song came 5th … Sweden got away with tasteless cr*p so many times in ESC.
It was not intended that the topless guy should be good-looking, togravus.
Probably not. This act makes it perfectly clear that nobody onstage was supposed to be good looking. Sort of foreshadowing Guildo Horn, I guess, but at least Guildo kept his shirt on … Both songs are in my all-time bottom 20 though!
Btw, I have never understood the Swedish ESC results. Most years I loved the Swedish song (1967, 1993, 2005 f. e.) it didn’t get anywhere and so many songs I find totally unappealing have come top 5.
Sweden needs to send happy, jolly dance-schlager songs to prove that we are something more than depressing Ingmar Bergman characters.
You do like Sweden 1993? There you surprised me. The song is btw written by the same guy who did Sweden 1986.
I am always happy when I can pleasantly surprise people. Yes, I like Sweden 1993 a lot but I admit that this idiosynracy might be partly due to biographical reasons I am to well-bred to elaborate on in a public space.
In general, I prefer Ingmar Bergman characters to fancifully dressed people jumping around onstage.
I like Belgium 1986 (or at least the studio version). The song is cutesy and fluffy, but there’s still something more mature about it. Teenage life put in a very good description, if you ask me. And I’m weak for such synth arrangement too.
With this said, Belgium did send better songs during that decade, especially in 1983 and 1984. And they are not my favs in 1986, Switzerland are.
1. Switzerland
2. Turkey
3. Denmark
4. Luxembourg
5. United Kingdom
It’s too festive, joyful and bubbly for its own sake. Here my 86 top 5:
1. Die Zeit ist einsam, Timna Brauer, Austria (I love this song very much)
2. Zeljo moja, Doris, Yugoslavia
3. Paiva kahden ihmisen, Kari Kuivalainen, Finland
4. Pas Pour Moi, Daniela Simons, Switzerland
5. L’Amour de Ma Vie, Sherisse Laurence, Luxemburg
People here still remember Dora’s outfit. LOL
“People here still remember Dora’s outfit.”
Of course we do. Everyone loved it at my parents’ party. Dora looked exactly like some of my sis’ friends my granny had second thoughts about.
It was very well chosen. Green had to be present, obvioulsy.
She looked so stiff and formal two years later.
Stiff and formal but beautiful. One of my favourite ESC outfits ever (even if the hair was fake …). Such a pity that Dora’s vocals weren’t spot-on.
I usually love stiff and formal looks. She did sound strained.
I voted it, too, but don’t know why…I anyway don’t really like it…
It’s now official: I’ve broken my personal record on posting so many comments on the same article within a few hours!
LOL
I feel like i have to apologize for kinda ruining the article, since it was on Belgium 1986, but I sort of messed it up with the video on Paulina’s song.
A very good night to all my former esctoday/current ET family
Did you leave esctoday, too?:D
An abysmal year altogether – to my ears, the only songs worth listening are Yugoslavia and (possibly) Switzerland.
I join like, everyone, in saying this is an abysimal year in which it’s close to impossible to find a decent winner and I have Switzerland for that (another one wearing pink lol) maybe because with the lyrics I find it classy and I seriously hate it came second to this pile of 80s crap ranked 10th worst winner. The other songs I kinda like are Austria, Yugoslavia and Luxembourg. Oh and I kind of enjoy Cyprus lol.
The fact this won proves that 86 is a bad year and juries of the 80s really went for what was big in the radio that year, and the whole polemics around “oh the youngest 15 years old” helped Belgium win actually. She was considered the funny cute girl among the performers during the rehearsal week and it definitely hit it with all the 80s happy sing-along shaky flashy thing that we got on stage, actually matching the lyrics.
Not one of my favourites, not a pet hate of mine either. 1986 was not a particularly strong year but I think along with 1989 the only acceptable edition in the incredibly weak mid and late 80′s. Switzerland, Austria or Yugoslavia, among others, deserved much more to win. Yet another proof why juries damage the contest.