Commentary: The biggest of all – VG

Lauren is a Eurovision participant of all time. Thanks to the expert jury.

That’s a comment. The comment expresses the writer’s position

In 1987, 33-year-old Sean Patrick Michael Sherrard made history.

As a first, the Irishman stood at the top of the Eurovision podium for the second time. Five years later, Linda Martin won with her song “Why Me”.

Johnny Logan, which is his stage name, has been since 1992 the most successful Eurovision entrant in the 67-year history of the Song Contest.

Through Saturday, May 13, 2023.

From now on, it is Lorraine the Swede who holds the honor. In fact, she is equal with Logan in number of victories, just as Sweden is now equal with Ireland in its seven national victories. But this is no ordinary account.

In recent years, Eurovision has managed to establish itself as part of the “regular” charts. Rosa Linn’s Snap got a whole new life via TikTok last year, and has since climbed the charts in over 30 countries. Moonlight, the 2021 winner, is among the biggest artists on the planet. Duncan Lawrence’s Arcade movie from 2019 has been given a huge boost by the pandemic and will soon reach 1 billion plays on Spotify alone.

So one can put two lines under Bjorn Ulvaeus’ pathos in the pre-recorded segment of half-time entertainment: winning Eurovision could change your life and your career forever.

This is how the first Swedish winner passes the virtual baton to a new Swedish winner. Who is now literally standing and nodding with Johnny Logan.

Anyway, purely mathematically.

When Logan won, the number of participating countries was 19 (1980) and 22 (1987), respectively. Loreen’s numbers are 36 (2012) and 37 (2023), and Logan’s scores are based solely on expert opinions.

Lauren had to win over both a professional jury and an overwhelming number of voting TV viewers.

If the audience jury had been left to decide on its own, the high-energy Finn would have already passed Sweden. Norway ended up in third place, instead of an already good fifth, up five places from last year.

Lauren Lauren Zainab Noura Talhawi cannot and should not do anything about it. She wouldn’t even think about it.

On the other hand, its compatriot, competition director Martin Osterdahl, the man who sits down and approves all points for the EBU, has the opportunity and history to do something about the way points are collected.

he has to. He probably already does, because this year’s semi-final was completely jury-free.

As for Johnny Logan: he remains the only person to have contributed to a total of three Eurovision gold medals. In contrast to the best moments of this year’s Eurovision final, the singing of what has become the anthem of Liverpool football team, the beautiful song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” which ended powerfully and poignantly in a videotaped crowd in Kiev:

Here, he may remain the only one. While Lauren is the eldest. never.