Eurovison - This Year's Frontrunners
As Eurovision fever builds we take a look at this year’s front runners ahead of Saturday night’s final in Moscow.
Norway: Alexander Rybak - Fairytale
Having already topped the charts in Norway, is Russian born vocalist and violinist Alexander Rybak destined for a "Fairytale" ending in Moscow?
Odds: 6/4
Greece: Sakis Rouvas - This Is Our Night
Greece last won the competition as recently as 2005 but can Sakis Rouvas take the trophy back to Athens with this slice of europop gold?
Odds: 6/1
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Regina - Bistra Voda
A somewhat sombre entry from Bosnia and Herzegovina who made their debut at the Contest in 1993 but have so far failed to win. Will 2009 be their year?
Odds: 9/1
Turkey: Hadise - Düm Tek Tek
Fusing r’n’b beats with some exotic eastern sounds, it’s easy to see why Turkey are highly rated this year.
Odds: 9/1
Iceland: Yohanna - Is It True
Don’t expect Norse inflected verses of fire and ice as Iceland’s entry sounds like it could be straight out of High School Musical, complete with polished smiles and sweeping key changes.
Odds: 14/1
United Kingdom: Jade - It's My Time
Having fared badly in the contest since 2003's Iraq war, the UK aim to break their cycle of 'bad luck' with Jade's Andrew Lloyd Webber penned track. A win in Moscow this year would take the UK's total up to six gongs.
Odds: 14/1
Azerbaijan: AySel & Arash - Always
The former Soviet State made their Eurovision debut last year so it may come as a surprise to some that they're amongst this year's front runners.
Odds: 16/1
Malta: Chiara - What If We
Now a veteran of the contest, this is Chiara's third Eurovision attempt. Will it be third time lucky this year?
Odds: 16/1
Armenia: Inga & Ansuh - Jan Jan
Our personal favourite in the Yahoo! Music office. It's an outside chance but we're bold enough to predict that Armenia will get a podium finish this year with their genre busting track "Jan Jan".
Odds: 33/1
Sweden: Malena Ernman - La Voix
We didn't really know what to make of Sweden's rather bizarre fusion of europop and opera sung by a rather striking looking Nordic belle but it's clearly worth a look in.
Odds: 66/1
Think if you check 'England' aren't in it this year!
Now would you like another try on which country you meant?
performer. A sure fire recipe that. And they did it when Ireland was flavour of the competition in the early to mid nineties too - remember their 1995 win thanks to a haunting violin solo - that was Fionnuala Sherry from ??? Full marks , you've guessed it .....IRELAND !
There is only one thing that can be salvaged from this years unprecedented fiasco and that is a win for Malta with Bosnia, Estonia and Lithuania figuring in the top four also.
Otherwise, Eurovision is a joke,ha ha. It has been for ages now.
Is their really any need to explain why I feel this way?
I really believe Ireland should never enter this competition again, not because the song was bad, (it was the best Irish Eurovision song in recent times) it’s because only neighbouring countries are going to vote for a certain song. And all we have is the UK, so no more Eurovision final for us! :-(
But it's not only that, Norway and Denmark do the same thing, but what do you do about it?