Today, October 1, marks the ‘Independence Day of Cyprus’. On August 16 in 1960 the United Kingdom granted Cyprus full sovereignty and the Republic of Cyprus formed. Their independence was celebrated on October 1 of that year.
Over recent years at the Eurovision Song Contest, Cyprus has brought us some fantastic dancefloor bangers.
Now known for their female pop singer dance numbers Cyprus' first Eurovision dance pop entry was 22 years ago back in 1999 when Marlain represented Cyprus in Jerusalem on the Eurovision stage with 'Tha'nai Erotas' (Θα'ναι έρωτας).
An internet poll by fans at the time had Marlain's entry as one of the favourites to win along with Iceland's Selma with 'All Out of Luck'. Unfortunately Marlain was sandwiched between Selma, the eventual runner-up and the Eurovision 1999 winner Charlotte Nilsson with 'Take Me to Your Heaven' in the running order, finishing in 22nd place with just two points... ouch! Both points came from the United Kingdom.
Cyprus have come a long way since their first dance pop number. To celebrate their independence day and their love for dance songs we have combined Spotify streams and YouTube views from the official Eurovision YouTube channel (as of October 1 in Australia) to find the top 5 most popular Cypriot dance pop entries, so let’s dive in and take a look at their best!
5. Sandro - 'Running' (2020) 2,239,380 total streams and views
Being the only male in our dance pack, Greek/German Sandro Nicolas was chosen internally to represent Cyprus at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. This song actually has an Australian connection as it was written by Sandro and Australia's very own Alfie Arcuri. Unfortunately, as we are all well aware, the 2020 Contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Sandro didn't make it Rotterdam, nor was he chosen to represent Cyprus in 2021. Hopefully we will see him in the future.
4. Tamta - 'Replay' (2019) 29,904,574 total streams and views
Chosen through an internal selection, Georgian-Greek singer Tamta was the Cypriot entry at Eurovision 2019. Tamta had previously attempted to represent Greece in 2007 and was offered the opportunity to represent Cyprus in 2018 but turned it down.
'Replay' is written by some of the same songwriters of 'La la love' and 'Fuego'. The staging for this song saw a good old outfit reveal with Tamta's jacket being 'ripped' off half way through the song by her back up dancers. Not really a surprise in the voting in the Grand Final, Tamta received 12 points from both Georgia and Greece in the televote and 12 points from the Greek jury. She finished in 13th place.
3. Elena Tsagrinou - ‘El Diablo’ (2021) 48,555,584 total streams and views
Another internal selection, Elena Tsagrinou's 'El Diablo' was the opening song of the Eurovision 2021 Grand Final and wow didn't she set us up for a good evening (or morning in Australia!).
While this song did cop a bit of criticism for sounding like another songstress' hit, this song goes down in history as an epic dance floor anthem, with its heavy bass and wall of sound!
The staging for this was slick, sexy and impressively choreographed for Elena who danced and sung her heart out to put on a show for us. Cyprus received two lots of 12 points in the televoting, from Russia and Greece, and from Australia gave Cyprus 4 points in the jury vote. It finish in 16th place and is Cyprus' third most popular dance song.
2. Ivi Adamou – 'La la love' (2012) 57,321,115 total streams and views
At just 18 years of age, Ivi Adamou wowed us all with ‘La la love' in 2012. While Ivi was internally selected to be the Cypriot entry, the song was actually chosen through a national final of three songs.
Simple but catchy with memorable lyrics, Ivi sung and danced mostly on top of a platform surrounded by four dancers. Both Greece and Sweden gave the maximum 12 points to Cyprus, and finished 16th in the Grand Final. This song remains a huge favourite at Eurovision dance parties so it comes at no surprise it is the second most popular Cypriot dance entry.
1. Eleni Foureira – 'Fuego' (2018) 170,629,239 total streams and views
If ever there was an iconic Cypriot entry, 'Fuego' has to be it.
In 2018, Eleni Foureira aka Queen Eleni took to the Eurovision stage in Portugal and blew our minds! She finished in second place in the Grand Final, the best result ever from Cyprus.
The song was originally offered to both Tamta (2019) and Helena Paparizou (Eurovision winner for Greece in 2005), who for sure would be regretting not taking it, but could they have pulled it off Eleni's choreography?
As one of the favourites heading into the Contest, Eleni absolutely nailed her performance in her fiery glittery catsuit, incredible choreography and lyrics about pelicans! While Cyprus may have missed out on the win to Israel's Netta, this song is firmly embedded in many Eurovision fans' top favourite lists. Cyprus scored jury and/or televote points from every other voting country, with Australia sending 7 Televote points to Cyprus' way. This song is simply one of the best dance entries at Eurovision ever and most popular with over 170 million streams and views combined on YouTube and Spotify.
Check out the full results of the Spotify and YouTube rankings of Cyprus' dance-pop numbers:
Spotify streams + YouTube views = combined streams and views
1. Eleni Foureira - ‘Fuego’ (2018) 87,970,907 + 82,658,332 = 170,629,239
2. Ivi Adamou - ‘La La Love’ (2012) 29,152,206 + 28,168,909 = 57,321,115
3. Elena Tsagrinou - ‘El Diablo’ (2021) 28,897,564 + 19,658,020 = 48,555,584
4. Tamta - ‘Replay’ (2019) 15,201,657 + 14,702,917 = 29,904,574
5. Sandro - ‘Running’ (2020) 1,172,418 + 1,066,962 = 2,239,380
6. Evridiki - ‘Comme ci, comme ça’ (2007) 163,198 + 398,541 = 561,739
7. Konstantinos Christoforou - ‘Ela Ela (Come Baby)’ (2005) 190,436 + 306,374 = 496,810
8. One - ‘Gimme’ (2002) 120,620 + 0 = 120,620
Unfortunately Marlain's entry ‘Tha 'nai erotas’ isnt on Spotify or on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.