Which countries love Spain (and which don't) at Eurovision?
The countries that have received votes from the Spanish jury are not necessarily the ones that then award the most points back.
BarcelonaIt's been twelve years since José Luis Uribarri, the historic Eurovision commentator for La 1, who was able to predict how each country would vote, died, but something survives: the persistent feeling that the geopolitics of the contest works against the aspirations of the Spanish candidates. Now that the engines are warming up for another night of songs and brilliance on Saturday, May 17, it's a good opportunity to review some figures and see if the stereotypes of cross-alliances between participants from friendly countries hold true.
In the last twenty years there have only been two occasions in which the State representation has managed to sneak into the top 10: Ruth Lorenzo did so, in tenth position in 2014 Dancing in the rain, and also Chanel in 2022, with SloMo and its third position. Coincidentally or not, they are in the minority of topics that have incorporated English, although it also did Do it for your lover, by Manel Navarro, in 2017, and that didn't stop them from finishing last. On six more occasions, the Spanish delegation has been left with its tail between its legs and hasn't even made it into the top 20. Italy is the country that has received the most points from the Spanish jury since its creation – when the number of participating countries was small – but it doesn't appear among its top five contributors. The same goes for Germany, second in terms of votes received from Spain and absent from the ranking of its top five contributors. It has returned and thus become its main donor, followed by France (196), Switzerland (192), Belgium (169) and Greece (158).
If one limits one's view to the last ten years, however, one observes that these five partners The reference countries have provided uneven support to Spain. Only Switzerland has given it votes five times, while Portugal, France, and Belgium have done so four times, and Greece has only paid for it once (to give five votes to Chanel). Among the major recipients of Spanish votes, Italy has only received it twice in the last decade, with 7 and 12 points each for Nebulosa and Barei, respectively. Among the fans of Spanish representatives who contribute votes without receiving them in equal measure are Norway and the United Kingdom (which have each given votes five times) and the four times from countries such as Armenia, Moldova, Albania, Australia, Israel, and Azerbaijan.
As consolation, Spain can count on the fact that every country has voted for it at least once in the last decade—thanks in large part to Chanel—with one notable exception: Belarus, which participated in the festival until 2019 and was subsequently expelled due to constant violations of its principles.
The poor results of the last decade also have a responsible party by omission: Andorra. The Pyrenean country participated six times between 2004 and 2009. In five editions, geopolitical logic prevailed, and Spain received the maximum score of twelve points. But its absence from the festival since then has left the various Spanish representatives without this almost guaranteed crutch.
The televoting earthquake
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) shook up the voting system a few years ago when it introduced televoting to average the scores of the professional juries sent by each country. The impact of this new formula on Spain's chances is difficult to say, since depending on the year, there have been very marked asymmetries between one and the other, but in both directions.
For example, when Blanca Paloma participated with Eaea In 2023, she received 95 points from the jury, with 21 countries remembering her in their ratings. However, in the televote, she only managed 5 points, 3 of which came from Portugal. The Valencian singer finished in 17th place out of 26. The opposite trend may be embodied by Miki Núñez, who only managed to get one point from the jury, from Russia, but managed to collect 54 points from the popular televote (although that didn't allow her to climb higher than 2nd).
On some occasions, there has been a coincidence. Chanel achieved its meritorious bronze with points from both the jury and the televote (231 and 228, respectively). And Manel Navarro also achieved near unanimity, albeit slightly: zero points from the jury and only 5 from the televote, once again from the ever-faithful Portugal, in a participation that was forever marked by the involuntary rooster that marred his performance and made him join the club of Spanish participants who have finished last in Euro andWho's steering my boat?, in 1983, and Lydia with I don't want to listen, in 1999.
At the top of the podium were Massiel and Salomé, with The, the, the and I live singing, the only first positions obtained throughout the 68 editions of the contest, to which we must add the silver medals of Karina (In a new world, 1971) Mocedades (It's you, 1971), Betty Missiego (His song, 1979) and Anabel Conde (Come back with me, 1995) and the third places of Bravo (Lady lady, 1984) and Chanel in 2022, thus breaking a run of twenty-five years without a position of honor.
