Today, August 27, is Independence Day in the Republic of Moldova. It is a public holiday that commemorates when Moldova became an independent nation from the Soviet Union.
Moldova made their debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and have participated 18 times, reaching the Grand Final on 13 occasions. For a small country of 2.5 million people, Moldova has a pretty good track record qualifying into the Eurovision Grand Final, and when they do, they often do very well!
Moldova certainly punch above their weight with five overall top 10 finishes, and six top 10 televote placings.
Moldova has delivered us some quality over the years - fantastic songs, iconic moments and great staging.
More recently, Moldova have received a lot of love from voting nations, particularly when it comes to the public televote. It seems Moldova are often under-appreciated by the bookies and they usually do better than anticipated, especially with the public televote. One thing is for sure - Moldova are much adored in the fandom!
Here at Aussievision we have a look at all of Moldova's top 10 televote results over their Eurovision history proving how they are the darlings of Europe. We also look at how Australia has voted (where applicable). The entries are in order of their televote placing in the Eurovision Grand Finals.
1. Zdob și Zdub and Advahov Brothers - 'Trenulețul' (2022)
Televote - 2nd place (239 points) / Overall - 7th place (253 points)
In the year that Ukraine completely wiped the slate clean, Moldova shocked just about everyone by coming second in the Grand Final televote.
Zdob și Zdub and Frații Advahov gave infectious energy to their performance of 'Trenulețul', and with some changes to the song including the addition of some lyrics in English, fans were able to sing along chanting "hey ho, let's go!"
In what could be dubbed as the party anthem for 2022, the crowd went absolutely crazy for the song in the arena, and a huge televote came for it too. Out of the 39 countries able to vote for Moldova in the Grand Final, Moldova scored televote points from 35 countries. This included two sets of 12 points, four sets of 10 points and six sets of 8 points.
So how did the Australian public vote? We gave Moldova four televote points.
While the jury vote wasn't as high for Moldova in 2022, their impressive televote meant that Moldova scored another top 10 and they finished in 7th place. overall. Not bad for a song some thought would not qualify!
2. Sunstroke Project - 'Hey Mamma' (2017)
Televote - 3rd place (264 points) / Overall - 3rd place (374 points)
2017 was the year that Moldova came oh so close to winning the Eurovision Song Contest giving Moldova their best ever result. Fan-favourite and Eurovision returnees, Sunstroke Project, bought us more epic sax guy action with the catchy song 'Hey Mamma' which finished in third place overall in the Grand Final.
Moldova did extremely well in the televote finishing third. Moldova received points from all but three countries, including four sets of 12 points, four sets of 10 points and five sets of 8 points. And this time, it wasn't just the televote that Moldova scored well with, they also received a pretty decent jury score with the 8th best performance with 110 points. These two scores combined saw Moldova finish in third place overall - their best ever result.
So how did Australia vote for this song? Well in 2017, Australia was one of Moldova's biggest fans as. Australia gave them their 12 points in the televote and 10 points with the juries.
3. Zdob Is Zdub - 'Boonika Bate Toba' (2005)
Overall - 6th place (148 points)
In what would be the first year for Moldova to compete, they certainly made a splash in finishing in 6th place overall! In what could be described best as Red Hot Chill Peppers meets your grandma, this would not be the only time we would see Zdob și Zdub represent their country.
2005 was the second year that a semi-final was used and to qualify, Moldova came an impressive 2nd place just behind their neighbour Romania.
As for the voting in the Grand Final, well it was tight between 3rd place and 6th place with only 10 points between the four countries in these spots. Moldova received two sets of 12 points (from Ukraine and Romania) and three sets of 10 points. Not bad for a first entry!
4. DoReDoS - 'My Lucky Day' (2018)
Televote - 8th place (115 points) / Overall - 10th place (209 points)
2018 was the year of DoReDoS who bought us some of the most clever staging we have seen at the Eurovision Song Contest. Dressed as the colours of the Moldovan flag, the singers snuck in and out of doors with doubles of themselves behind doors and windows.
Not only was it captivating, the song was also a banger and DoReDoS scored Moldova yet another top 10. In the televote at the Grand Final, Moldova got five sets of 12 points finishing them in 8th place in the televote, and the song also did well with the juries in 10th place. The five sets of 12 points is their highest number of douse points to date.
In the semi-final, Australia was once again Moldova's biggest fan, with two sets of 10 points, and in the Grand Final, Australia gave Moldova five points in the televote. Overall, DoReDoS finished in 10th spot.
5. Pasha Parfeni - 'Soarele și Luna' (2023)
Televote - 9th place (76 points) / Overall - 18th (96 points)
Another Eurovision returnee, Pasha Parfeni (also 2012) performed his song 'Soarele și Luna' (the sun and the moon) at Liverpool this May. Pasha easily qualified into the Grand Final by finishing 5th place in the 100% televote semi-final.
In the Grand-Final, the song got the 9th highest televote score, with 76 points, and 18th place overall. Moldova received two sets of 12 points from Romania and Italy, as well as three sets of 8 points.
Australia wasn't as kind to Moldova this year however, as we gave no points in either the jury or televote.
6. Natalia Barbu - 'Fight' (2007)
Overall - 10th place (109 points)
In a year that was heavy on the rock thanks to Lordi winning the previous year, Natalia Barbu bought us Moldovan-flavoured rock with the song 'Fight'. The song features Natalia playing the violin. In Moldova, Natalia was once given the title of a national sex symbol and at the time of her competing at Eurovision, her music was known abroad, particularly in Germany, Romania and Ukraine.
All but two countries this year voted 100% televote, and Natalia finished in 10th place with 109 points. Moldova received one set of 12 points, two sets of 10 points and one set of 8 points.
Here are the rest of the Moldovan Eurovision entries to make the Grand Finals in order of their televote placings (with points where applicable):
=7. Zdob și Zdub - 'So Lucky' (2011) 12th place in televote - 98 points
=7. Natalia Gordienko - 'Sugar' (2021) 12th Place in televote - 62 points
=9. Pasha Parfeny - ‘Lăutar’ (2012) 13th place in televote - 81 points
=9. Nelly Ciobanu - 'Hora din Moldova' (2009) 13th place in televote - 66 points 11. SunStroke Project and Olia Tira - 'Run Away' (2010) 18th place in televote - 28 points 12. Aliona Moon - 'O Mie' Overall (2013) 19th place in televote
13. Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R - 'Loca' (2006) 20th place - 22 points
Since the 2010's Moldova has placed higher in the Eurovision Grand Final televote than the jury vote on seven occasions, in 2017, 2022, 2018, 2011, 2021, 2023 and 2010.
Out of those occasions the only times both the televote and jury were in the top 10 were in 2017 and 2018.
The biggest gaps between the televote and jury placings were in 2022 and 2023. In 2022 'Trenulețul' finished in second place with the televote but only 20th in the jury, a difference of 18 places. This year in Liverpool 'Soarele și Luna' finished 9th in the televote with finished in 23rd place with the juries, a difference of 11 places.
Therefore over the last decade at Eurovision Moldova have proven to be more of a public favourite, than with the juries cementing themselves as the darlings of Europe (and Australia).
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