Eurovision 2023 — My rankings

I ranked the thirty-seven contestants in Eurovision 2023 based on the music videos and national final performances (whichever were posted to the song contest’s YouTube channel), before the semi-finals.

In the list below I have also included the semi-final the songs will participate in (1️⃣ or 2️⃣ with 🟩 for the countries that go straight through to the grand final). After the semi-finals happened (May 9th & 11th), I added a tick or cross for whether the song got into the grand final (✅ or ❌).

1. 1️⃣✅🇭🇷 Croatia — Let 3 — Mama ŠČ!
2. 1️⃣✅🇨🇿 Czechia — Vesna — My Sister’s Crown
3. 2️⃣✅🇦🇹 Austria — Teya & Salena — Who The Hell Is Edgar?
4. 1️⃣✅🇲🇩 Moldova — Pasha Parfeni — Soarele şi Luna
5. 1️⃣✅🇳🇴 Norway — Alessandra — Queen Of Kings
6. 2️⃣🟩🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Mae Muller — I Wrote A Song
7. 2️⃣❌🇩🇰 Denmark — Reiley — Breaking My Heart
8. 2️⃣❌🇬🇷 Greece — Victor Vernicos — What They Say
9. 2️⃣❌🇮🇸 Iceland — Diljá — Power
10. 1️⃣✅🇵🇹 Portugal — Mimicat — Ai Coração
11. 1️⃣✅🇸🇪 Sweden — Loreen — Tattoo
12. 1️⃣✅🇫🇮 Finland — Käärijä — Cha Cha Cha
13. 1️⃣🟩🇫🇷 France — La Zarra — Évidemment
14. 1️⃣🟩🇮🇹 Italy — Marco Mengoni — Due Vite
15. 2️⃣✅🇸🇮 Slovenia — Joker Out — Carpe Diem
16. 2️⃣✅🇦🇺 Australia — Voyager — Promise
17. 2️⃣✅🇦🇲 Armenia — Brunette — Future Lover
18. 1️⃣❌🇲🇹 Malta — The Busker — Dance (Our Own Party)
19. 1️⃣✅🇨🇭 Switzerland — Remo Forrer — Watergun
20. 1️⃣❌🇳🇱 Netherlands — Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper — Burning Daylight
21. 1️⃣❌🇦🇿 Azerbaijan — TuralTuranX — Tell Me More
22. 2️⃣✅🇪🇪 Estonia — Alika — Bridges
23. 2️⃣🟩🇺🇦 Ukraine — TVORCHI — Heart Of Steel
24. 2️⃣✅🇨🇾 Cyprus — Andrew Lambrou — Break A Broken Heart
25. 1️⃣🟩🇩🇪 Germany — Lord Of The Lost — Blood & Glitter
26. 1️⃣❌🇱🇻 Latvia — Sudden Lights — Aijā
27. 2️⃣❌🇸🇲 San Marino — Piqued Jacks — Like An Animal
28. 2️⃣✅🇦🇱 Albania — Albina & Familja Kelmendi — Duje
29. 1️⃣✅🇷🇸 Serbia — Luke Black — Samo Mi Se Spava
30. 1️⃣✅🇮🇱 Israel — Noa Kirel — Unicorn
31. 2️⃣✅🇧🇪 Belgium — Gustaph — Because Of You
32. 2️⃣❌🇬🇪 Georgia — Iru — Echo
33. 2️⃣✅🇵🇱 Poland — Blanka — Solo
34. 2️⃣❌🇷🇴 Romania — Theodor Andrei — D.G.T. (Off And On)
35. 1️⃣❌🇮🇪 Ireland — Wild Youth — We Are One
36. 2️⃣✅🇱🇹 Lithuania — Monika Linkytė — Stay
37. 2️⃣🟩🇪🇸 Spain — Blanca Paloma — EAEA

Comments from after the final

Seeing a song on stage makes me like it more. Poland, Belgium, Israel, and Finland are all acts I would have ranked higher if I hadn’t just been basing my opinions off the music video. Perhaps next year I’ll formulate my rankings during the intervals in the semi-finals so I’ll have seen all performances on live TV.

Belgium this year reminded me of Israel last year — both queer disco bangers about being proud in yourself. Israel this year reminded me of Austria last year — both energetic pop-songs that felt a bit too “busy” for my liking. Austria this year reminded me of Serbia last year — both female-led, very catchy, and on serious (and weird) subject-matters. Serbia this year reminded me of Serbia last year — Konstrakta is a mentor of Luke Black and both do creepy performance-art.

All ten songs I wanted in the final from the first semi-final got through to the final. In the second semi-final, which had worse songs in my opinion than the first semi-final, there was no correlation between my opinion and what songs got through. This was also all true last year!