24 August is Independence Day for one of Eurovision true powerhouse performers - Ukraine.
Since their debut at Eurovision 2003, Ukraine has come in the top 10 an incredible 11 times, and is the only country to have never failed to qualify for the Grand Final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004.
Most impressively, Ukraine is the only country to have won the Eurovision Song Contest three times in the 21st century, most recently in 2022 with Kalush Orchestra's 'Stefania'.
To commemorate Ukraine's national day, we conducted a poll for fans to vote on their favourite Ukrainian Eurovision entries of all time.
Voters were asked to choose their top 10 and allocated points according to standard Eurovision rules - 12 points down to 1.
There were 18 entries to choose from, from Olexandr's 'Hasta la Vista' from 2003 right up to this year's Eurovision winners. Go_A's 2020 song 'Solovey' was included, as it was intended to represent Ukraine at the cancelled 2020 contest. However, MARUV's 'Siren Song' from 2019 was excluded, as Ukraine withdrew from the Contest.
Our responses were from a diverse range of Eurovision fans, with 55% of responses coming from countries other than Australia.
Before we reveal the all-time ranking of Ukraine's Eurovision entries, we will first look at the top 10 as voted by our Australian participants and by our followers from around the world.
Australia's Top 10
1. Go_A – ‘Shum’ (2021) – 282 points
2. Verka Serduchka – ‘Dancing Lasha Tumbai’ (2007) – 241 points
3. Ruslana – ‘Wild Dances’ (2004) – 192 points
4. Kalush Orchestra – ‘Stefania’ (2022) – 152 points
5. Jamala – ‘1944’ (2016) – 145 points
6. Zlata Ognevich – ‘Gravity’ (2013) – 140 points
7. Ani Lorak – ‘Shady Lady’ (2008) – 136 points
8. Go_A – ‘Solovey’ (2020) – 129 points
9. Svetlana Loboda – ‘Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)’ (2009) – 92 points
10. Mariya Yaremchuk – ‘Tick Tock’ (2014) – 76 points
Rest of the World Top 10
1. Go_A – ‘Shum’ (2021) – 359 points
2. Ruslana – ‘Wild Dances’ (2004) – 252 points
3. Verka Serduchka – ‘Dancing Lasha Tumbai’ (2007) – 237 points
4. Jamala – ‘1944’ (2016) – 207 points
5. Kalush Orchestra – ‘Stefania’ (2022) – 187 points
6. Ani Lorak – ‘Shady Lady’ (2008) – 177 points
7. MELOVIN – ‘Under the Ladder’ (2018) – 133 points
8. Go_A – ‘Solovey’ (2020) – 117 points
9. Svetlana Loboda – ‘Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)’ (2009) – 111 points
10. Mariya Yaremchuk – ‘Tick Tock’ (2014) – 107 points
While the lists have a lot of similarities, a few interesting differences arise.
Notably, Australia preferred Verka Seduchka's 'Dancing Lasha Tumbai' to the 2004 winning song, Ruslana's 'Wild Dances'.
Similarly, in the battle of the winners, while our international followers preferred Jamala's '1944' to Kalush Orchestra's 'Stefania', Australians gave the edge to Kalush - does the ghost of Dami Im's narrow defeat still walk?
Overall, though, there was an overwhelming winner in our poll - check out the full results below!
Combined Full Results
1. Go_A – ‘Shum’ (2021) – 641 points
2. Verka Serduchka – ‘Dancing Lasha Tumbai’ (2007) – 478 points
3. Ruslana – ‘Wild Dances’ (2004) – 444 points
4. Jamala – ‘1944’ (2016) – 352 points
5. Kalush Orchestra – ‘Stefania’ (2022) – 339 points
6. Ani Lorak – ‘Shady Lady’ (2008) – 313 points
7. Go_A – ‘Solovey’ (2020) – 246 points
8. Zlata Ognevich – ‘Gravity’ (2013) – 243 points
9. MELOVIN – ‘Under the Ladder’ (2018) – 205 points
10. Svetlana Loboda – ‘Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)’ (2009) – 203 points
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11. Mariya Yaremchuk – ‘Tick Tock’ (2014) – 183 points
12. Tina Karol – ‘Show Me Your Love’ (2006) – 163 points
13. Gaitana – ‘Be My Guest’ (2012) – 108 points
14. Alyosha – ‘Sweet People’ (2010) – 96 points
15. Olexandr – ‘Hasta La Vista’ (2003) – 69 points
16. Mika Newton – ‘Angel’ (2011) – 66 points
17. O.Torvald – ‘Time’ (2017) – 52 points
18. Greenjolly – ‘Razom Nas Bahato’ (2005) – 33 points
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