Best mates: Australia's voting partners at Eurovision

There's an old Australian proverb: "Everybody needs good neighbours." As such, it’s always a close watch for Australian fans to ascertain which countries might be sending us votes, and we send our votes to.

Even since 2015, when Sweden and Australia first shared 12 points with each other, we’ve been deeply keen to see who our close friends might be, especially in a contest where voting blocs can dominate the overall dialogue in this area.

In this article we’ll take a closer statistical look at where the votes flow, both in and out of Australia – and find out which countries we love and are loved by, not to mention those countries whose relationship with us might be considered a love-hate one.

To do this, we’ve taken all the votes we could possibly give and receive to each country and calculated the percentage of votes we’ve sent to them in Eurovision Grand Finals since 2015.

With Australia having competed in five contests now, and 24 points being available each year – with the exception of the maximum of 12 available in 2015, before the jury/televote split – the maximum votes that could flow from one country to another is 108 points.

This percentage has been adjusted for both countries that didn’t compete in a Contest in a given year, and thus couldn’t vote, and also for countries that failed to qualify for the Grand Final in a given year, so we couldn’t vote for them.

The results are below, and some of the stats unearthed proved surprising:

How Australia has voted:

1. Iceland – 75.0% (18 out of 24 votes)

In Australia's time at the Contest, Iceland has only made the Grand Final once, in 2019 - and we rewarded them handsomely for it. Hatari finished second in Australia's televote and came third with our jury, and in doing so instantly became our nation's favourite country at the Contest.

2. Moldova – 60.4% (29 out of 48 votes)

Aussies hold great respect for those who don't take themselves too seriously, and Moldova's entries have proven that. The meme-tastic return of Sunstroke Project (known to Euro-muggles as "Epic Sax Guy") in 2017 saw Australian place the Eastern European nation first in their televote (and 2nd in the jury!), while 2018's 'My Lucky Day' picked up 5 points from the televote and another 2 from the jury.

3. Belgium – 56.7% (34 out of 60 votes)

Australia famously sent our full 24 point allocation to Belgium in 2016, with Laura Tesoro's 'What's the Pressure' proving popular with both juries and televoters alike. As for the rest, Loïc Nottet's 'Rhythm Inside' finished second with our televote in 2015, which ultimately led to us sending them 6 points under the previous combined vote system.

4. Sweden – 51.9% (56 out of 108 votes)

5. Bulgaria – 51.7% (31 out of 60 votes)

6. Ireland – 50.0% (12 out of 24 votes)

7. Denmark – 38.3% (23 out of 60 votes)

8. Russia – 31.7% (19 out of 60 votes)

9. North Macedonia – 29.2% (7 out of 24 votes)

9. Switzerland – 29.2% (7 out of 24 votes)

9. Portugal – 29.2% (14 out of 48 votes)

12. Israel – 27.8% (30 out of 108 votes)

13. United Kingdom – 26.9% (29 out of 108 votes)

14. France – 24.1% (26 out of 108 votes)

15. Netherlands – 22.6% (19 out of 84 votes)

16. Romania – 20.8% (10 out of 48 votes)

16. Malta – 20.8% (10 out of 48 votes)

18. Norway – 20.2% (17 out of 84 votes)

19. Estonia – 18.3% (11 out of 60 votes)

19. Czech Republic – 18.3% (11 out of 60 votes)

19. Lithuania – 18.3% (11 out of 60 votes)

22. Finland – 16.7% (4 out of 24 votes)

22. Ukraine – 16.7% (10 out of 60 votes)

24. Latvia – 14.6% (7 out of 48 votes)

25. Italy – 13.9% (15 out of 108 votes)

25. Germany – 13.9% (15 out of 108 votes)

27. Austria – 13.1% (11 out of 84 votes)

28. Spain – 13.0% (14 out of 108 votes)

29. Serbia – 7.1% (6 out of 84 votes)

30. Cyprus – 6.5% (7 out of 108 votes)

31. Croatia – 4.2% (2 out of 48 votes)

32. Azerbaijan – 3.6% (3 out of 84 votes)

33. Poland – 3.3% (2 out of 60 votes)

34. Georgia – 2.1% (1 out of 48 votes)

35. Armenia – 1.7% (1 out of 60 votes)

36. Montenegro – 0.0% (0 out of 24 votes)

36. San Marino – 0.0% (0 out of 24 votes)

36. Belarus – 0.0% (0 out of 48 votes)

36. Greece – 0.0% (0 out of 60 votes)

This stat floored me when I first read it. Given the famously strong and passionate Greek-Australian community and their role in the growth of Eurovison's popularity in Australia, it could be reasonably assumed that Australia had voted for Greece at least once – but we haven't.

Of the three Greek entries to have competed in the Grand Final since 2015, none of Maria Elena Kyriakou, Demy, or Katerine Duska managed to win the hearts of Australian voters.

36. Albania – 0.0% (0 out of 60 votes)

36. Slovenia – 0.0% (0 out of 72 votes)

36. Hungary – 0.0% (0 out of 84 votes)

How Europe has voted:

(those with a star are voting in our semi-final)

1. Sweden – 60.2% (65 out of 108 votes)*

We forced Europe to start listening to us, and it looks like the Swedes have got Stockholm syndrome. In both 2015 and 2016 Sweden awarded Australia the maximum points it had to offer, and Swedish juries in particular love Australia - in our five years at the Contest, the Swedish juries have never failed to put Australia in their top 10.

2. Iceland – 51.9% (56 out of 108 votes)

Personified in the friendship formed between the award-winning Icelandic anti-capitalist techno performance art group Hatari and our own Kate Miller-Heidke (pictured above), Iceland has also sent a myriad of votes to Australia. 'Tonight Again', 'Sound of Silence' and 'Zero Gravity' all finished within the top 3 of Iceland's televote, while 4 of our 5 entries have ended up top 5 with the Icelandic juries.

3. Poland – 50.0% (54 out of 108 votes)

Poland has a bad case of unrequited love for Australia. As with Sweden, our entries have never left their juries' top 10, and Kate Miller-Heidke in particular won heavy Polish plaudits – finishing fifth with the Polish televote and first with their jury. Have we reciprocated? Frick no. Australian voters have only found it in their heart to reward Poland once, with our jury awarding two points to Kasia Moś and her entry 'Flashlight' in 2017.

4. United Kingdom – 49.1% (53 out of 108 votes)

Here sits another of Australia's spurned lovers - the UK, no less. Australia has finished top 3 with the British juries on no fewer than four occasions, and top 10 with the British televote on the same basis. But we haven't repaid the favour at all. Although our jury gave Lucie Jones 12 points in 2017, they've only awarded the UK points on one other occasion. The UK does prove popular with the Australian public, however, finishing in the national top 10 four years running between 2015 and 2018.

5. Denmark – 48.1% (52 out of 108 votes)

6. Finland – 42.6% (46 out of 108 votes)

7. Germany – 41.7% (45 out of 108 votes)*

8. Spain – 38.9% (42 out of 108 votes)

9. Norway – 38.0% (41 out of 108 votes)*

10. Israel – 37.0% (40 out of 108 votes)*

10. Moldova – 37.0% (40 out of 108 votes)

12. Hungary – 34.3% (37 out of 108 votes)

13. Belgium – 31.5% (34 out of 108 votes)*

13. Albania – 31.5% (34 out of 108 votes)

15. Netherlands – 30.6% (33 out of 108 votes)*

15. Malta – 30.6% (33 out of 108 votes)*

15. Latvia – 30.6% (33 out of 108 votes)

18. France – 27.8% (30 out of 108 votes)

18. Austria – 27.8% (30 out of 108 votes)

20. Switzerland – 26.9% (29 out of 108 votes)

21. Romania – 26.2% (22 out of 84 votes)*

22. Estonia – 25.9% (28 out of 108 votes)

23. Croatia – 24.0% (23 out of 96 votes)*

24. Ireland – 23.1% (25 out of 108 votes)*

24. Cyprus – 23.1% (25 out of 108 votes)*

24. Serbia – 23.1% (25 out of 108 votes)

27. Russia – 22.6% (19 out of 84 votes)*

28. Italy – 22.2% (24 out of 108 votes)*

28. Lithuania – 22.2% (24 out of 108 votes)*

28. Belarus – 22.2% (24 out of 108 votes)

31. Greece – 20.4% (22 out of 108 votes)

32. Portugal – 19.0% (16 out of 84 votes)

33. Slovenia – 18.5% (20 out of 108 votes)*

34. Bulgaria – 18.1% (13 out of 72 votes)

34. Ukraine – 18.1% (13 out of 72 votes)*

36. Czech Republic – 17.6% (19 out of 108 votes)

37. San Marino – 13.9% (15 out of 108 votes)

38. Azerbaijan – 10.2% (11 out of 108 votes)*

39. North Macedonia – 9.3% (10 out of 108 votes)*

40. Georgia – 8.3% (9 out of 108 votes)

40. Armenia – 8.3% (9 out of 108 votes)

42. Montenegro – 7.4% (8 out of 108 votes)

So what can be gleaned from the above? Clearly, if we were to fall into any so-called voting bloc, it would be a Scandinavian one. We spurn some countries who consistently vote for us, and instead settle for nations in Northern Europe like Sweden and Iceland.

Doesn't that just sum up the magic of the contest? Iceland, possibly our closest Eurovision voting neighbour - is the one on the exact opposite side of the globe. As ever, the contest makes the word a smaller, closer, and friendlier place.