And finally the United Kingdom, as the last country in the alphabet, is also the last country for us to cover in this year's escgo line-up check series. Eurovision and the United Kingdom, that's a complicated relationship, as already pointed out in our article from a...

There are some countries that once in a while stumble upon a formula that works for them, and then they stick to it. Take Spain’s last four entries for an example (and also an example of Eurovision inconsistency). Two top 10 results. Two bottom ones. One can only...

In the 11 years since the semi-final system began, only four countries of this year’s participants have made it to every final, and who of those four (Greece, Russia, Romania and Azerbaijan) will be the last one standing is anybody’s guess. But there’s no doubt that...

Sweden is spoilt with an excellent result record. Five victories, 36 top 10 placements in total - that's more than half of the whole Eurovision history. There were three top 3 results in the past four years, but it also isn't very long since Sweden failed to qualify,...

Eurovision songwriters just love a good "shine" metaphor. Maybe Katrina and the Waves are to blame, with their ultra-successful Love Shine A Light setting an unwelcome precedent back in 1997. Whatever the reason, four of the last six contests have featured an entry...

Slovenia's recent Eurovision history doesn't look very glorious. In the most recent ten contests, there were only three Slovenian entries reaching the final: 2007 (Alenka Gotar), 2011 (Maja Keuc), and just last year (Tinkara). From the country's perspective,...

Serbia returns to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 following a one-year break. Cynics might suggest they were sulking after Moje 3 failed to reach the grand final in Malmö; kinder souls would say they were simply taking time to rethink their approach to the contest...

If I could sit down for an interview with the people in charge for song selections in Portugal, I would only ask one question: What are you aiming to achieve when you pick the songs you do for your selections? I suspect – or hope – the answer wouldn’t be “succeeding...

Romania has been a permanent fixture in the Eurovision grand final since the start of the semi-final era, although the days when they looked all set to be the next winner after strong showings in 2005 and 2006 are rapidly receding into history. Last year, Paula Seling...

Every year there are a couple of songs that happen to be huge fan favorites, but when I listen to them, not only do I dislike them (that can happen quite a bit, but I will understand why other people like them), I also really struggle to see their appeal. This always...

Sometimes a country gets in a bit of a rut and sends the same kind of thing to Eurovision year after year. We can all think of examples from the fields of French chanson, Greek ethnopop and so on. Sometimes, though, you get back-to-back entries from a country that...

It was the sensation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014: San Marino qualified for the final! On the third consecutive attempt of Valentina Monetta, the fifth attempt of the microstate, it finally happened. Surprisingly or not, SMTV decided to send someone different...

"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...

Hungary achieved one of its best results ever when András Kállay-Saunders came 5th in last year's Eurovision final with his song Running. The Hungarian national final, A Dal, remains a huge local success even in 2015. Will its winner, Boggie, manage to reach a similar...

This year, Georgia returned to using a national final again after two years of internal selection. Erovnuli Shesarcevi konkursi happened already a while ago, and memories of the daytime show are very vague, but I remember we didn't get to see any full live...

France are struggling to make an impact in the Eurovision Song Contest of late. Since Patricia Kaas snuck into the top ten in 2009, they have entered a televoting favourite that was screwed over by the juries, a bookmakers' favourite that was largely ignored, a...

It's easy to think of Finland as one of the more successful Eurovision participants in recent years because of the huge impact of Lordi's victory in 2006, but you have to go back as far as 1989 before you find another top ten result for the Nordic nation. As such, the...

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as we're supposed to refer to them in a Eurovision context, have a patchy history in our beloved competition. They've never reached the top ten on the scoreboard - indeed, the left-hand side is fairly unknown territory for...

Estonia has struggled throughout most of the last decade, but in the last six years, the country has at least managed to qualify for the final more often than not. Two top ten finishes within the last ten years isn't a great record, but many countries still dream...

Last year's host, Denmark, is one of those rather unstable countries. On the one hand, the country recently won twice within 15 years. On the other hand, there have been bottom-5 placements and failures to qualify at all. After a few years with mostly good results,...

2015 marks the return of the Czech Republic after sitting out for the last five years, and there are many things to be learned from this return - for example, the importance of context. One could say that the Czech effort for the 2015 has the potential to give the...

For ESC fans of a certain age, Cyprus probably still feels like one of the "newer" participating countries, having made its debut as late as 1981. However, this year's 60th edition of the Eurovision Song contest will feature the 32nd entry from the island in the...

In the last ten years, Belgium has only qualified for the final on two occasions, in 2010 and 2013. Indeed, it has only achieved one single top five placing (Sanomi, 2nd place in 2003) since winning with Sandra Kim in 1986. This year, it's RTBF's turn again to select...

Belarus is often one of the earliest countries to select its Eurovision entry, and the national final staging - and the quality of the webstream! - isn't always the best. Coupled with the local producers' propensity for changing the selected song after the...

Azerbaijan has still only a short history in Eurovision. However, it's a very successful one: Seven participations so far, of which six resulted in a top 10 placement, including one victory. It was only at their latest ESC appearance, in Copenhagen last year, that...

It still feels strange to be writing it, and it's going to feel even stranger when we're actually in Vienna, but here goes: It's time to take a look at the home entry that will be representing Austria. After it won the Eurovision Song Contest. Still crazy, right? But...

It was the breaking news of the season: Australia will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest. Allegedly this will be a unique occasion, but nevertheless, this headline caused some controversial debates among Eurovision circles, including the justified question: Will...

This time last year, I was writing about Armenia as the bookmaker's favourite for victory in ESC 2014. What a difference a year makes: This year's entry from the Caucasian nation would be flying completely under the radar if it wasn't for the controversy surrounding...

Albania hasn't reached the final since 2012, when Rona Nishliu achieved a remarkable 5th place, the best result for the country to date. Albania has been in the contest since 2004, and has always used its traditional Festivali i Këngës as its national selection...