Posted in: TV | Tagged: eurovision

Eurovision 2025: Here's Who Made OUR "Grand Final" Top 10 Cut

With the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Grand Final only hours away, we rank the Top 10 countries and songs we believe should've made the cut.

The 69th Eurovision Song Contest (nice) is this weekend in Basel, Switzerland, and I, for one, could not be more excited. This year's Eurovision Song Contest entries feel like a nostalgic return to form of the early-mid 2000s power ballads and dance music, and it's a delightful reform from the previous years, which have been feeling more and more manufactured, generic pop primarily in English. 2025 sees the delightful return of the "language salad" of music, and I, for one, could not be happier.

Now, as the finals are upon us already, of course, 37 has become 26 and I have OPINIONS about it. Obviously, I don't agree (How could you possibly cut Australia after that performance?), but as this is my article, I'm going to share my opinions on which countries I think should have made it to the end, at least the top 10.

And so, here is my Eurovision 2025 top ten countries ranked, by song.

Before we dive into my top 10, here's my non-top 10 opinions:

Belgium is fun, very safe, same with Croatia and Cyprus, though they're all good. Lithuania sounds like Coldplay, and Estonia is for sure serving…espresso macchiato (12 points to Estonia).

Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland—all expected club bangers. Did Portugal send up their version of the 1970s Beatles? Ukraine continues this theme and gives us a very ethereal 70s Mamas and Papas hippie-feeling power ballad.

I'm bored to tears with Slovenia (and it's in English) as well as Lithuania. Spain – be honest, did you kidnap and clone Shakira?

Female power ballad time: it feels like Austria copied Australia's 2019 Zero Gravity, and Australia did it better. Czechia could pull out a fun stage performance, Finland gives us classic female power anthem, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, and Israel all deliver yet another strong female power ballad, but at least Greece's has some flavor and Israel has emotion.

UK gave us Haim a'la Bridgerton and it's fun, albeit forgettable. I've already forgotten it and don't feel the need to go back and listen to it again. It was a cute video though, a lot like a Victorian version of that one Billie Eilish music video.

So, who's in my top 10? Are the Big 5 entries actually worthy of the finals this year? Here's my top 10 take on Eurovision 2025:

10. Italy – Volevo Essere Un Duro, Lucio Corsi

• It's got an orchestra, a charismatic singer, and fantastic musicality. Personally, the magic just isn't there – it feels a little "Elton John goes Beatles" for me, but it's good. Better than the typical male tenor, classically influenced power ballad, and I don't mind it. To be completely fair, of the greater Italian entries, I prefer San Marino (Tutta L'Italia, Gabry Ponte), but since they're not part of the big 5, I think they're kind of a long shot here, though way more fun. We'll call it a tie for 10 between Italy and San Marino.

9. Malta – Serving, Miriana Conte

• Will this be controversial? For sure, it's the fun of Netta with a bit of a racy, campy, drag edge, but it's catchy and will absolutely give the children life. But given that this is Eurovision and all the entries this year, it could be completely snubbed (sadly) and misunderstood, or it could have a real shot at winning. Who knows? Update: the stage performance was sadly, serving boring. Could have gone further and gone more camp. Take a tip from Luxembourg!

8. Iceland – RÓA, VÆB

• I understand none of this, but it's 100% a vibe, and it tells a magnificent story of what can best be described as a sea shanty gone electronica. 10/10, no notes, but I'm sure the points will have something to say about this fan favorite. Nevertheless, it just feels fun, which is something we're seeing a lot more of this year.

7. Armenia – Survivor, PARG

• Armenia gave us the token harder song this year, though it's absolutely not metal or anything really hardcore; it's hard compared to the usual candy floss Eurovision pop. That said, it does give me similar vibes to Imagine Dragons, so if that's your vibe, this song is 1000% for you. If not…meh.

6. Luxembourg – La Poupée Monte Le Son, Laura Thorn

• It's got everything: a danceable beat, social commentary, and a fun stage performance that hopefully will lean further into camp. I'm being optimistic, ranking it in the top 10, but I feel like it has strong potential nonetheless. It's very in-the-box and classic feeling (think Ilona), but that seems to be the vibe this year, and a lot of people (including me) aren't mad at it.

5. Germany – Baller, Abor & Tynna

• Cello? Check. Dance beat? Check. German? Häkchen. I'd imagine this is already outdated at all the trendy Berlin clubs I'm not cool enough to get into, which means it's perfect for the mainstream. Very now, which means it has that immaculate vintage early 2000s vibe that's absolute perfection.

4. Latvia – Bur Man Laimi, Tautumeitas

• This is transformative, like goddess fairy-core music from a sapphic daydream. This is what Shakespeare envisioned when he wrote Titania and her fairy court in A Midsummer Night's Dream, I'm sure of it. It's immediately going on my "main character energy" playlist, because that's exactly what it feels like.

3. Serbia – Mila, Princ

• This has everything I want in a Eurovision power ballad, and Princ delivers vocals beautifully and effortlessly. Is it something never-seen-before and innovative? No, but it's classic, clean, and immaculate. 12 points from Eden (not that that counts for anything since I'm a person and not a country participating in Eurovision).

2. Australia – Milkshake Man, Go-Jo

• In the best way, I'm going to describe this as off-brand Freddie Mercury singing about milkshakes in a slightly suggestive but not crude kind of way. It's cheeky and fun and should it rank number 2, probably not, but this is my list dammit, and I like this stupid song. It's right up there with Norway's banana wolf song from 2022 for me, but less What Does the Fox Say? and more The Darkness.

1. Ireland – Laika Party, EMMY

• Oh, Ireland, never change. This year, they gave us a Norwegian singing a Y2K dance party anthem in English about a dead Soviet space dog, a la Kylie Minogue. It cooks; number one dance banger of the year already, I could watch this video over and over, and I cannot wait to see what she brings to the stage. Update: my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

Eurovision Song Contest grand final airs Saturday, 17 May, with streaming in the USA exclusively on Peacock at 3 pm ET.

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