"Why-ay-ay-ay?" was a commonly heard complaint in the Netherlands for most of the past decade, as Eurovision non-qualification became an unwelcome but firmly ingrained habit. Everything changed two years ago, when Anouk not only stormed into the grand final with her...

We've become used to seeing Lithuania in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest, after their entries from 2011 to 2013 all qualified despite not being particularly favoured by fans or the bookmakers. That made it all the more of a surprise when the Baltic...

Wait, didn't I write this line-up check already last year? Internal selection, male solo artist, lots of mountains in the preview video, Balkan ballad? No, it's 2015, Montenegro has recently qualified for the first time as an independent country, and now the cards are...

"Success" is a relative term where the Eurovision Song Contest is concerned. With around 40 countries competing every year, the average gap between victories - assuming equal song quality, which is a big assumption to make! - would be around four decades. As such,...

It's hard to choose the right gimmick for Eurovision, and Moldova knows this only too well. A projection dress and a hydraulic podium can propel you to the fringes of the top ten, while a pack of loincloth-clad dancers and a detachable pigtail can leave you stranded...

Latvia, once the "quickest" winner in Eurovision history, has struggled a lot in more recent years. The Baltic nation hasn't qualified from the semis since 2008, when it entered the stage of the grand final with the help of a gang of pirates. Is that what it will take...

Italy, the classic Eurovision country that returned to the contest after a long break, has been mostly successful ever since its comeback in 2011. It automatically joined the privileged group of countries that have a default place in the final without having to...

It's been a tough decade for Israel. Back in 2010, Harel Skaat was tipped for a podium finish only to end up in 14th place. Since then, the country on the fringes of Europe has continued to slip backwards, failing to qualify for the grand final on four successive...

Ireland, one of the grand old nations of the Eurovision Song Contest, must be looking over its shoulder nervously. If bookies' favourite Måns Zelmerlöw really does take the victory at ESC 2015, Sweden will be just one behind the self-proclaimed "home of Eurovision" in...

Iceland hasn't been very successful in the Eurovision Song Contest lately, aside from Yohanna's podium finish that is slowly disappearing over the horizon. Pollapönk, something different for the Nordic country at Eurovision, didn't really change that situation either...

As you might have noticed, escgo! is a Eurovision chat website. What does it mean? Many things, but among others, it means that every year during the national final season, many of us gather in a virtual room and watch all the national finals together. We’ve been...

The Greek ESC bandwagon has slowed a little lately, although the wheels are by no means falling off. Following a clutch of podium positions in the previous decade, culminating in Helena Paparizou's victory with My Number One, two of the last three Greek entries have...