This year "All Kinds Of Everything" ran a poll of visitors to the site to see which songs are their favourites. The poll ran over three stages, replicating the Eurovision format in May. From April 1st to April 10th, visitors voted for their favourite songs in the first semi-final, from April 11th to 20th, voting was for favourite songs in the second semi-final and from April 21st to April 30th, there was a simulation of the Eurovision final, based on the songs chosen by visitors in the semi-finals.  

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - The final

This poll opened on Aprl 21st and closed at midnight on April 30th, over twelve hundred different people voted over six thousand votes were cast. After thirty days of voting, over three rounds, we are finally able to award the title of “All Kinds Of Everything Favourite” for 2008 to the Swedish entry “Hero” sung by Charlotte Perrelli. Almost a thousand people voted for their favourites and over 6,000 votes were cast in the ten days of the final poll. The result confirms the voting in several other internet polls and also the choice of the OGAE Eurovision fan club votes, so there can be little doubt that we have a clear and undisputed “fan favourite” as we head for Belgrade.

Surprisingly, the Swedish entry didn’t actually win the second semi-final vote, where it lost out to Portugal, but in the final, Sweden was a clear winner, taking over 70 votes more than runner-up, the Greek entry “Secret Combination”, which had also not won it’s semi-final vote. The Top 5 was completed by the entries from Iceland, Switzerland Portugal, which suggests that the second semi-final may be the one with more fan favourites, while the first semi-final (which contains the two bookmakers favourites, Russia and Armenia) may be the one more likely to produce the winner.

The achievement of Portugal finishing 5th should not go unmarked, as this is the first time in a decade that a Portuguese entry has made any significant impact on a fan poll and you’ve got to go back to 1996 and the days of people emailing their votes, for the last time that Portugal found itself doing so well in advance of the contest. However while the entry is certainly a fan favourite, few are willing to back their opinion with their money as the Portuguese entry is still not expected to qualify, if bookmakers odds are to be believed.

Three of the other bookmakers’ favourites, Serbia, Armenia and Ukraine just miss out on the Top 5, along with Norway which showed a remarkable decline in fortune between the semi-final vote where it won and the final. Turkey’s was the only rock song in the Top 10.
In the middle ranking songs on the poll, you’ll find another two of the bookmakers’ favourites, that seem to have less appeal to fans. Russia, finished 13th and Ireland is down in 17th place. The poll has some good news for Andorra, a country with four Eurovision qualification failures to its name. Visitors to “All Kinds Of Everything” not only have this year’s entry qualifying, but finishing in 15th place, a relatively good result. Belgium with three successive qualification failures may also be in for a better year, if our visitors are right. At the bottom of the final poll, quite a long way behind the rest, the Spanish novelty entry seems to fans’ least liked song of the year. Mind you, a similar fate befell Lithuania’s entry in 2005 before it finished in the Top 10 in Athens.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - 1st semi final

This poll opened on Aprl 1st and closed at midnight on April 10th, over twelve hundred different people voted almost six thousand votes were cast. You can find the results in alphabetic order or leave a comment here.

On the left you can see the result of the poll in descending order. The Top 10 countries are shaded in blue and these progress to our final.

Norway's entry "Hold On Be Strong" sung by Maria Haukaas Storeng won the poll by a clear margin, with the Greek and Armenian songs coming second and third. The Top 5 was completed by Israel and Russia.

Ireland finished in 8th place and the competition for the last spot in the final was eventually won by Romania, marginally ahead of the Dutch entry.

If "All Kinds Of Everything" visitors have their way, Andorra will finally qualify for a Eurovision final, on their fifth attempt, but newcomers Azerbaijan and San Marino will have to wait for at least one more year.

Four songs were tailed off in the poll, with Finland, Moldova, Estonia and Montenegro all failed to to gain above 2% of the total votes.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 - 2nd semi final

This poll opened on Aprl 11th and closed at midnight on April 20th, and this time we had almost 1,400 different people voted and this time over six thousand votes were cast. You can find the results in alphabetic order or leave a comment here.

On the left you can see the result of the poll in descending order. This time, the Top 10 countries are shaded in red and these progress to our final.

Three entries pulled away from the packed, and Portugal came out on top after a surge in votes during the middle of the polling period. Sweden and Ukraine were neck and neck for second place.

Indeed so popular were the Top 5 songs, that even fourth placed Iceland and fifth placed Switzerland, gathered more votes than semi-final one poll topper, Norway.

The race for the last qualifying plave was a close run thing between Cyprus Denmark and Malta, with Cyprus taking it on the last day, by only three votes.

Two songs were tailed off in this poll, with Croatia and Lithuania only taking 1% of the votes, although both gained more votes than Estonia and Montenegro in the first semi-final.

We now progress to the last phase of the poll,with the ten songs chosen in each semi-final, joinging the five automatic finalists. This poll will select the "All Kinds Of Everything" visitors favourite which will be announced on May 1st.