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Eurovision entries that won by the greatest margin

  • Writer: Liv Webster
    Liv Webster
  • 2 hours ago
  • 4 min read
Compilation of recent Eurovision winners

All it takes is a single point over second place to win Eurovision and at the end of the day, that's all that most people remember - but have you ever wondered who won in such a spectacular fashion that they had a massive margin and completely dominated the results?


Or even which just scraped over the line...


We've crunched the numbers in the new voting system and will compare the entries from 2016 to this year to find out who took the biggest winning margin.


How was this calculated?


Three scenarios were considered:


  1. The song that won purely by the most points over second place,

  2. The song that won by the biggest margin percentage over second place and

  3. The song that achieved the highest percentage of all available points.

This takes into account that some years had more points available due to varying amounts of participating nations in a more holistic view.


Using 2016 as an example, Jamala representing Ukraine scored 534 points over second place Dami Im of Australia with 511. Therefore the winning margin was 23 points.


For the winning margin percentage for each winner their points were divided by the total points available. For example, in 2016 there were 42 countries competing with two sets of twelve points from each country, one from the juries and one from the public.


That means that theoretically if an entry got 12 points from every country from both sets of votes (minus the 24 points from their own country as they cannot vote for themselves), then the maximum achievable score in 2016 was 984 points. A theoretically miraculous achievement.


Now taking the winning margin from earlier of 23 points and dividing it by the total available points of 984 we have a winning percentage margin of 2.34%.


If looking at the percentage of all available points verses what Jamala scored - then she bagged 54.27% of the maximum achievable 984 points.


Without further ado here were the results.



Largest winning margin to second place


  1. 2022: Kalush Orchestra - Stefania (Ukraine)


Winning points margin: 165 points to second place Sam Ryder - Space Man (United Kingdom)




  1. 2017: Salvador Sobral - Amar pelos dois (Portugal)


Winning points margin: 143 points to second place Kristian Kostov - Beautiful Mess (Bulgaria)


  1. 2018: Netta - Toy (Israel)


Winning points margin: 93 points to second place Eleni Foureira - Fuego (Cyprus)


  1. 2025: JJ - Wasted Love (Austria)


Winning points margin: 79 points to second place Yuval Raphael - New Day Will Rise (Israel)


  1. 2023: Loreen - Tattoo (Sweden)


Winning points margin: 57 points to second place Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha (Finland)


  1. 2024: Nemo - The Code (Switzerland)


Winning points margin: 44 points to second place Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim (Croatia)


  1. 2019: Duncan Laurence - Arcade (Netherlands)


Winning points margin: 26 points to second place Mahmood - Soldi (Italy)


  1. 2021: MÃ¥neskin - Zitti e buoni (Italy)


Winning points margin: 25 points to second place Barbara Pravi - Voilà (France)


  1. 2016: Jamala - 1944 (Ukraine)


Winning points margin: 23 points to second place Dami Im - Sound of Silence (Australia)


It's no surprise to see the big hitters of Kalush Orchestra and Salvador Sobral top the results here, two years with landslide victories. Notably some of the more "jury friendly" entries of recent years have finished reasonably high as well.



Largest percentage margin to second place


  1. 2022: Kalush Orchestra - Stefania (Ukraine)


Winning percentage: 17.63% to second place Sam Ryder - Space Man (United Kingdom)




  1. 2017: Salvador Sobral - Amar pelos dois (Portugal)


Winning percentage: 14.53% to second place Kristian Kostov - Beautiful Mess (Bulgaria)


  1. 2018: Netta - Toy (Israel)


Winning percentage: 9.23% to second place Eleni Foureira - Fuego (Cyprus)


  1. 2025: JJ - Wasted Love (Austria)


Winning percentage: 9.02% to second place Yuval Raphael - New Day Will Rise (Israel)


  1. 2023: Loreen - Tattoo (Sweden)


Winning percentage: 6.51% to second place Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha (Finland)


  1. 2024: Nemo - The Code (Switzerland)


Winning percentage: 5.02% to second place Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim (Croatia)


  1. 2021: MÃ¥neskin - Zitti e buoni (Italy)


Winning percentage: 2.74% to second place Barbara Pravi - Voilà (France)


  1. 2019: Duncan Laurence - Arcade (Netherlands)


Winning percentage: 2.71% to second place Mahmood - Soldi (Italy)


  1. 2016: Jamala - 1944 (Ukraine)


Winning percentage: 2.34% to second place Dami Im - Sound of Silence (Australia)


The only change to the standings is MÃ¥neskin moves up a spot over Duncan Laurence as less countries competed in 2019, therefore when taking into account the total available points they performed slightly better.



Percentage of total available points achieved


  1. 2017: Salvador Sobral - Amar pelos dois (Portugal)


Percentage: 77.03% of total available points



  1. 2024: Nemo - The Code (Switzerland)


Percentage: 67.47% of total available points


  1. 2022: Kalush Orchestra - Stefania (Ukraine)


Percentage: 67.41% of total available points


  1. 2023: Loreen - Tattoo (Sweden)


Percentage: 66.55% of total available points


  1. 2021: MÃ¥neskin - Zitti e buoni (Italy)


Percentage: 57.46% of total available points


  1. 2016: Jamala - 1944 (Ukraine)


Percentage: 54.27% of total available points


  1. 2018: Netta - Toy (Israel)


Percentage: 52.48% of total available points


  1. 2019: Ducan Laurence - Arcade (Netherlands)


Percentage: 51.88% of total available points


  1. 2025: JJ - Wasted Love (Austria)


Percentage: 49.77% of total available points


These results tell a very different story! Best explained by years that had a few run away entries (for example Salvador Sobral vs. Kristian Kostov) taking a massive chunk of the pool of votes with a redaction of the midfield and backmarkers. Alternatively, at Basel 2025 we saw some of the highest points scored in the mid-table and bottom 5 in recent Eurovision history, resulting in a lower ranking for 2025 in this metric.



It's up to you to decide which of these reflects the best winner in terms of dominance over second place or the rest of the field - which one do you agree with?


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