How many times has Spain won Eurovision and how has it remained throughout history?

Two years ago, Eurovision was surrounded by controversy. Well, let’s say that controversy always accompanies the Song Festival, but on that occasion, in 2022, it all started with accusations of nonsense when selecting the song that would represent Spain. It was not Ow mom of Rigoberta Bandini, nor the tradition of the Tanxugueiras; Chanel ended up getting on stage. And busting it. He will go down in history as the Chanelazo.

He didn’t win, but he was close. Polls placed her in the top 5 and she did not disappoint. A total of 8 countries gave it 12 points —San Marino, Malta, Sweden, Portugal, Armenia, Ireland, Australia and North Macedonia—although it dropped to third position when televoting arrived: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused viewers to opt en masse for Ukraine. Chanel, then, came third. It was not a bad result: in fact, it is the best in Spain in recent decadesafter a considerable period in which it was relegated to musical irrelevance.

But the truth is that Spain had its relatively golden era at the Festival, and although it is not the country that has led the ranking the most times, it has the occasional victory. Specifically, two. Yeah, Spain won Eurovision only twice in the 63 editions in which it has participated. And it was in the pre-democratic period when he managed to reach the top and two consecutive years, in 1968 and in 1969.

The 29 points it received in Eurovision 1969 took Spain to the top of the ranking

In the 1968 edition, which was held in London (United Kingdom), run by the BBC, Massiel sang his well-known ‘La, la, la’ on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall to receive some, at that time, excellent 29 points that placed Spain at the head of the classification. Only 17 countries participated in that edition in which Netherlands and Finland came lastwith one point each.

The Massiel’s victory brought Eurovision to the Teatro Real in Madridwhere even fewer countries participated in the 1969 edition, only 12. This time, the Spanish representative was Salomé, who sang the also well-known ‘I live singing’, who received 18 points. Today they may seem few, because both participation and the voting system have varied as the years have gone by. But no country in 1969 received more than 18 points. Of course, three others received exactly the same score: the presenter of Eurovision 1969, Laura Valenzuela, did not know what to do when four countries took first place.

In addition to Spain, France, the United Kingdom and this time, the Netherlands, also obtained 18 points, so The gold was divided among the four. The festival, however, could only travel to one destination the following year, and it did so to the Netherlands, where Julio Iglesias sang his anthem to ‘Gwendolyne’. He placed fourth, the second best position achieved to date…until the following year, when Karina came second.

Karina got 16 points that gave her second place thanks to ‘In a new world’ in 1971, but The seventies were good for Spanish representation at the Song Festival: in 1973, Mocedades also came second with his ‘Eres tú’ (125 points); and in 1979 Betty Missiego did it, with ‘Her song of her’ (116 points). This second place was not repeated until 1995, thanks to Anabel Conde and hers ‘Come back with me’.

In third position, Spain has only finished twice: in addition to the year 2022 with Chanel, it happened in 1984 thanks to Bravo’s ‘Lady, Lady’. And the same number of times she has come fourth: with Sergio Dalma (‘Bailar Pegados’, in 1991), in addition to the year of Julio Iglesias. The truth is that Spain has the honor of having passed through all possible positions in the ranking: it was a fifth time; four times sixth; two, seventh; one, octave; four times ninth and seven times tenth. In addition, she placed 11th twice, 12th three times and 13th once; but she doesn’t stop there: she was 14th on three occasions, 15th on two occasions; 16th in three; 17th only once; 18th two and two others, 19th. And so on, until she reached 26th place.

Spain’s worst performances at Eurovision

If we go to the street to ask What has been Spain’s worst performance in Eurovision?there is a popular outcry: “I remember one that I don’t know what his name was but that… that was embarrassing,” said a random Spaniard that Más Vale Tarde asked last year. He was referring to Chikilicuatre the one who, according to another compatriot, only went to “make a fool of himself”—”Well, almost everyone makes a fool of himself,” he later added—. David Fernández is the person who was behind Rodolfo Chikilicuatrea joke that was born precisely in laSexta.

“One morning I got a little cut in the bar of a friend of mine, a Uruguayan man who couldn’t understand anything when he spoke. Then I told him: ‘Tonight in Buenafuente I have to do an improvisation and the way I speak tonight is going to be how you speak,'” he explained a few years ago. His impro liked it, they invented the song and that character with an Elvis wig and a toy guitar ended up with an easy choreography at a festival of a certain prestige. The key to what seemed like pure humor ended up representing Spain in Eurovision was the Internet: “Songs could be submitted and people voted.” And of course they voted for it.

However, Chikilicuatre’s ‘Baila el chiki chiki’ It was not, by any means, Spain’s worst performance at Eurovision. Others were who, to be honest, were serious. “The one with the rooster,” some said in that Más Vale Tarde interview. Chikilicuatre came in 16th place out of the 25 countries that participated -yes, there were nine countries worse than Spain in 2008-, with 55 points. “The one with the rooster” is Manel Navarro, who traveled to Kyiv (Ukraine) in 2017 to represent Spain with a song in English, ‘Do it for your lover’, which ended worse than it started: with a huge rooster. But the truth is that it could be said that Manel Navarro was not the worst either: it was actually last, 26th out of 26 countries, but received at least 5 pointscoming from televoting.

Spain came last in Eurovision five times. Manel Navarro was one of them, but Lydia (‘I don’t want to listen’, in 1999) also achieved it, which obtained 1 point; and Víctor Balaguer (‘Call me’, in 1962), Conchita Bautista (‘How good, how good!’, in 1965) and Remedios Amaya (‘Who drives my boat?’, in 1983): these three They got a whopping 0 points. To be fair, the scores back then were nothing like what they are now. In 1962, the winning country, France, took 26 points – although the runner-up already obtained half, 13 – and a total of four countries, including Spain, did not get any.

In 1965, something similar happened: Spain, along with Germany, Belgium and Finland, remained at 0 points, but the podium was divided between Luxembourg (32 points), the United Kingdom (26 points) and France (22 points). In 1983, the score difference was already more marked. In that edition, Spain and Turkey were left with zero points, but the winner, Luxembourg, took 142 points.

Best performance? For the people, “the Rose of Spain”

Massiel and Salomé are the only Spaniards who have taken gold in Eurovision, but in the mind of the average Spaniard, the best performance was that of Rosa López, the Rose of Spain, in 2002. Reality confirms that it was not one of the worst, obviously, but not one of the best either. In that edition of the Festival, The Spanish woman took 81 points thanks to her ‘Europe’s living a celebration’‘, placing seventh in a year in which 24 countries participated.

But I had others ahead of me seven countries that obtained, some of them, a much higher score: The winner of the edition, the Latvian Marie N (‘I wanna’), added a total of 176 points, while the representative from Malta, Ira Losco (‘7th wonder’) took 164. The Kingdom was tied for bronze. United and Estonia, with 111 points each.