It’s time for us to launch ChatVote 2021!

As you may know, our legendary chatroom, #esc, has been around for much longer than escgo.com in its current form. This is illustrated by the fact that this will be the 17th edition of ChatVote, our annual event in which the #esc chatters decide which is their favourite entry from the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. If you want to read all about the previous 16 editions, check out our comprehensive ChatVote history page!

ChatVote 2021 will follow a familiar pattern to previous years, with two semi-finals and a final – just like in ESC itself. But this year we’re making a big change!

One of the most popular questions in the fan world is “What if the big five and the host had to go through the semi-finals?” So we thought, why not answer that question? Rather than being automatically qualified, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom will compete in the ChatVote semi-finals and fight for the right to earn their place in the grand final!

What’s the plan?
On Saturday 24 April and Sunday 25 April, we will gather in #esc to watch each of our semi-finals. Everyone who attends will then be able to vote for their ten favourites, after which the lucky qualifiers will be revealed live in the chat.

Once our qualifiers are known, the jury vote for the ChatVote grand final will be opened. As usual, chat regulars will be invited to submit their jury votes by e-mail (or using the voting form on our website), and there will be a preview event in the chat on Saturday 1 May to help anyone who needs one last reminder of the songs – with a producer-determined running order to help our finalists really shine.

Then, on Sunday 2 May, it’s time for the climax: the traditional voting show! The votes submitted in advance will determine most of the result, and we’ll invite our chatters to take to the stage in turn and present their votes to the assembled crowd. But as an added incentive to attend, we’ll be starting the show with a live “televote-style” poll which we’ll convert into a “super jury” that will be announced after each individual chatter has announced their votes. A little bonus for spending your Sunday night with us and enjoying the show!

So what do I do now?
Simply come and attend our semi-finals if you can and vote your favourites through to the grand final! Please note that the first semi will start a little earlier to avoid a clash with PrePartyES, which we’ll surely watch together afterwards.

As usual, the jury voting for the grand final will open after the second semi-final – full instructions will be published then, so no need to e-mail us anything yet. A mini-calendar with all the important dates and times can be found below for your convenience.

And please do add yourself to the Facebook event so we can keep you updated with everything you need to know.

See you in the chat!

ChatVote 2021: Calendar