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...surprising winners
esctoday.com TOP TEN: No. 3 and 2
The list features Eurovision Song Contest winning performers or songs that were not consideredf favourites for first place before the contest. As reliable information on pre-contest media reports is only available since the introduction of the preview videos in 1971, only entries of the last 39 years are considered. It is regarded how much an entry was of a favourite at the time it took part, so "retrospective" surprises are not considered. The following criteria were included in the ranking:
- Betting odds
- Media predictions
- Reactions by the audience in the hall and the commentators
- Reactions after the victory
- Commercial success of an entry compared to the success of other songs that year
So we continue...
No. 3 - Olsen Brothers with Fly on the wings of love (Denmark 2000)
Brødrene Olsen took part in the Danish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 for the fifth time since their first attempt in 1978. With Smuk som et stjenerskud they could win by a clear margin and therefore went to Stockholm, where they would appear as Olsen Brothers performing the English version of the song called Fly on the wings of love. At the beginning, Denmark was definitely not seen as a contender for victory with betting odds around 1-80, although they did improve after the first rehearsal had been held. During the live performance, the song was recevied very well by the audience, which led to the spontaneous change in the camera work.
Denmark got the first 12 points of the night and stayed on top of the scoreboard throughout the whole voting. The Olsen Brothers got 12 points from more than one third of the other countries voting and eventually scored 195 points in total. The only countries that gave no points to Denmark were Croatia and FYR Macedonia.
After a surprising victory, Fly on the wings of love became a surprise hit in some countries. In Sweden, it reached the top of the charts and in Germany it was the highest charting Eurovision Song Contest winning song since 1987. The single was also a top five hit in Norway and reached the top twenty of the charts in Switzerland (staying in the top 100 for more than three months) and Belgium. More impressively, some dance cover versions of the song were very successful in Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Ireland, the XTM cover reached no. 1 on the charts. The Olsen Brothers returned to the Danish national final in 2005 finishing second.
No. 2 - Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL with Everybody (Estonia 2001)
After four top ten placings in five years, Estonia went on to choose a winning song in their 2001 national final. Everybody was the clear winner in the national selection and Dave Benton & Tanel Padar therefore went to Copenhagen with their funky party song. It was not expected to do too well according to the bookmakers, the media and other predictions. The actual favourite was Greece (for the first of many times) along with Denmark and France.
Estonia went on top of the scoreboard after the first country had voted later losing the leading position to Greece and Denmark. After Turkey had voted, Everybody went on top for good and eventually scored remarkable 198 points. About one third of the countries voting gave Estonia a top three mark including nine sets of 12.
Despite a very clear victory, Everybody was a commercial flop. The only decent chart position was no. 12 in Sweden. In other countries it was way out of the top fifty, most notably in Germany, where the song entered the top 100 at no. 99 for one week. Remarkably, the Greek entry (I would) die for you was a much bigger hit reaching the top ten in some countries.
Tomorrow, we will show the no. 1 on the list.
Related polls
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Melodi Grand Prix
- Azerbaijan: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Milli Seçim Turu
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the final of A Dal
- Iceland: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Songvakeppni Sjonvarpsins
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the second semifinal of A Dal
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the third semifinal of Melodi Grand Prix
- Sweden: Vote for your favourite act in the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the semifinal of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Bulgaria: Vote for your favourite act in the Bulgarian national final 2012
- Latvia: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Eirodziesma 2012
- Belarus: Vote for your favourite act in the final of EuroFest 2012
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In my opinion, Mario Mir should should familiraise his/herself to the concept "respect the other people and the facts".
Estonia 2001 and Latvia 2002 were the worst winners ever .
I have. 
but of couse nothing can beat serbia&montenegro this year. my favourite song ever! ♥
Paschalis
Yes we rare agree, but when we agree than nobody agree with us! Who else has Estonia as favorite in 2004!?
My humble opinion, my vey own taste:
Best song in 2000: Latvia (followed by Estonia)
Best song in 2001: Russia (followed vy the Neterlands)
2001 was the year when i watched esc for the first time... and in my humble opinion , greece captured me the most that year and should have won instead of everybody (yuck , what a song that was) !!!!!
Or Aba-ni-bi (Israel 1978) or La la la (Spain 1968). will win the top position.
Denmark 2000 -
Not awful but it isn't my cup of tea either. I get why it won to be fair.
Estonia 2001 -
Love it!! Such a cool, funky song that makes me happy!!
Next year I hope we won't know the winner a month before the contest. Would be great to have an unpredictable winner for a change.
Number 1 must to be Riva with "Rock me"
Regarding Estonia 2001:
In 2001 I was just 11 years old, and by coincidence I watched the preview programmes for Eurovision 2001. And as soon as the Estonian entry was played, I said "THAT's the winner!" At the night itself, me and my friend were both sure it would win and... we were right 
I guess we, as fans, hear the songs in different ears than the regular viewers. What "Everybody" has, is that it's instant catchy, happy and "cool". The fans listen to all the songs a lot of times, and notice wellcrafted songs and good lyrics, while the audience just have ONE chance to listen to each song on the night, and Estonia leaves the best first impression.
By the way ESC year in Armenia has officially started with preselection show of Junior ESC contestants!
Olsen Brothers with Fly on the wings of love - what was it. That year Russia or Latvia should have been winners!! Alsou...... my love of my teenager years!!!
Haha, whoever made this list didn't have great expectations for the northern countries, did he!! Next he's gonna tell us Norway 2009 was the biggest surprise ever........
@ Marko
One rare time we agree! Netherlands 2001 was indeed robbed! I can't understand how such a great song with a really good performance got such a bad place and the horrible estonian song won.
I will disagree about Denmark 2001 though, I like it a lot and I think its place was deserved!
Estonia 2001 was a terrible winner, and so was the runner-up, Denmark.
I've never understood why both entries were so massively voted.
Greece and France were, by far, better than them.
Dragan
YES!
I've been to her concert, she's GREAT!
Marko, Vesna's Za tebe stvorena is also one of my favourite Croatian songs ever. So happy, positive, lovable... love it
Ohh again..one AMAZING winner and one horrible winner!
Of course Estonia 2001 is bad one, i don't like at all, again I can't believe it won, but even worse is that Denmark was 2nd with Rollo & King - "Never Ever Let You Go", they got 177 points! 
I will give them max 30 points and 15th place! They were bad!
But AMAZING songs that year were:
1. France - Natasha St Piere - "Je n'ai que mon âme" - it's my favorite French entry and my winner of 2001
2. Germany - Michelle - "Wer Liebe lebt" - what a lady, what a hair, what a dress, what a song (German schlager ballad!!!!!) 8th place wasn't enough for all that.....
3. The Netherlands - Michelle - "Out on my own" - again Michelle, again AMAZING and again underrated 
, this time brutally, I adore that performance and 16 points is not enough, NO, NO, NO 
4. Greece - Antique - "Die for You" - I love that song, deserved place
5. Sweden - Friends - "listen to your heartbeat" - so ABBAish, so great, so very well performed, well done again Sweden! 
And exactly the place I will give them that year and round 100 points, you see Marko can be 100% sattisfied with results, it's rare, but I can be..
6. Slovenia - Nusha Derenda - "Energy" - the best hair in ESC EVER, I can't describe how good that haircut was 
...Nusha deserved a bit more, but quite fair placing that was.
7. Spain - David Civera - "Dile que la quiero", again very sattisfied with result, I will exchange positions of Nusha and David, but that's it!
I like:
1. Croatia - Vanna - "Strings of My heart" , but I'm so angry Vesna pisarovic didn't win Dora 2001 with "Za tebe stvorena" It's one of my favorite preselections songs ever, I love Vesna's song from 2002, but this one was better!
2. Poland - Piasek - "2 Long" - why they got Barbara dex award for 2001??? I simply ADORE his fur jacket , I suppose they got exactly coz of it
3. UK - Lindsay Dracass - "No Dream Impossible" - OMG I can't believe that typical English girl appeared on ESC stage in training suit, it was for Hyde park, not for ESC stage, it's so funny that earlier in ESC appeared ladies with all those dresses and she came like she went for running maybe that's why I like her so much, she could sing better thou, song was OK!
4. Turkey - Sedat Yüce - "Sevgiliye Son", quite unique Turkish entry, male ballad in Turkish LOL , I liked his suit and if Turkey was 11th back than with that entry maybe it will win by landslide now with similar stuff!
5. Portugal - MTM - "Só sei ser feliz assim", nice and again underrated, well it's Portugal.
Except Estonia and runner up denmark we had more horror in 2001 of course some of them were even worse:
B&H - Nino Pršeš - "Hano", what a freak, what an ugly song, what an idiotism! He deserved Barbara Dex award that year with that horrible outfit not Piasek guy!
Israel - Tal Sondak - "En Davar" AWFUL, deservd bad position it got
I completely disliked ther Baltic entries that year - Lithuania and latvia, while Rusisa - Mumiy Troll - "Lady Alpine Blue" also was HORRIBLE for me! 
In 2000 actually my favorite won, it was Denmark and it was very rare that my favorite wins!
Well, when i'm not serious I say that my favorite of 2000 was Macedonia - XXL - "100% te ljubam" coz I loved kitsch and barbie effect they produced , but their singing hmmm, hmm.. So i will put them on the second place, thus they were brutally underrated Then I love again the Netherlands - Linda Wagenmakers - "No goodbyes", what a 90s tune, it's soo AMAZING and legendary performance with dress change!! black, white and shiny silver!! WOW!
Russia was GREAT with anorexic Alsou! I Austria (awwwwwwwwww Rounder girls are unbelievable , underrated ), Norway, Romania (Taxi ), Norway, Switzerland (criminally underrated ), Ireland and blind Spanish Serafin Zubiri I will never forget him! OK songs came from Croatia and Estonia (but why oh why cowboy outfit )
And my favorite part 
---------> Horror of the year lol:
1. Israel - PingPong - "Sameyakh" OMG SOS, SOS, SOS..... I dunno If i should cry or laugh at it? Please somebody explain me what that disaster was and where it came from? Probably from hospital, that was brutally bad and outfit, MAMAAAAA! 7 points!! What for??
2. Germany - Stefan Raab - "Wadde hadde dudde da?" NO COMMENT.. Germany sent horror for me twice in history, rab should say "thank you" to Guildo Horn coz he isn't the worst German entry in ESC for me! And both were so overrated, i can't stand them and their silly entries!
3. Iceland - August & Telma - "Tell Me!" - I usually like this kind of entries, but this, this was sooooooo bad, everything about it, actually her name is AMAZING (Telma), but I'm afraid that's all..
I also dislike Latvia - Brainstorm - "My Star" (not horror, but I completely dislike it, not my cup of tee, thus for me 3rd place is brutally overrated)
Ufff..I'm waiting for no1!
"Rock me" is so No. 1!
While I can understand that Denmark 2000 and especially Latvia 2002 won thanks to the different and good live performances, I would never ever understand how it happened that Estonia won. Who actually pick up the phones and vote? Everyone I speek with, back in 2001 and nowadays, was shocked by that victory.
Denmark 2000 is one of the best song ever competiting in Eurovision, whether was the victory clear or not.
Still, I think France deserved to win 2001.
I guess this is ...
Denmark 2000 - when I first heard this song I did not pay much attention to it. However, its live performance was something else. Despite being ordinary, I've grown to love and it is now my nº1. I would have been happy too, if France, Latvia, Switzerland or Romania had won.
Estonia 2001 - I guess this another ESC mystery. This country had just sent two great songs (EST 98 is an exquisite song, imo) and it managed to win with this?! France, Turkey (and a few others) were robbed.
I thought these two would be No. 1 & 2 as both of them were very surprising winners, Denmark in a great year full of beautiful songs, and Estonia in a bad year but still never thought Everybody could be even in top 10.
Now, I think Riva with Rock me will top the list.
How France did not win in 2001 is beyond me.
Estonia 2000 is an ok song but I have never liked 'Fly on the Wings of Love'. Seems as if I am not a fan of surprise winners ...
Funny how a topic can make you go back in time as it were.Have just finished listening to 2000.Very few of the songs that year were in the "Bad" or "Awful" categories.Surely that makes a surefire winner hard to pick.Even FYRM,had a brill pop song(admittedly very badly sang on the night),so I am sure it was hard for the public to choose who to vote for.Of course Denamrk deserved the win,but of course so did many others in 2000.2001 is a different story,a crap song amongst a lot of crap songs won.Greece were robbed as were Norway with their poor position.
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