Top 250 2020

TOP 250 2020

The ESC Top 250 vote and the 2020 Eurovision entries

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Over the past few days, numerous people asked us what we would do with the 2020 Eurovision entries in the upcoming annual ESC Top 250 vote, to take place again in November and December this year, and which has been organised by Belgian Eurovision website Songfestival.be since a few years.

We can now confirm that all 41 entries of ESC 2020 are eligible to vote for when the voting opens in November. The highest ranked songs will also be played during the traditional live broadcast of the Top 250 at ESCRadio, on December 31st.

Force majeure

A logical follow-up question is why we decided to take on board the 2020 entries, even though none of them actually participated in a Eurovision competition, while we continue to exclude other entries in recent or less recent years which were selected as Eurovision entries, but never performed. The difference is simple: entries such as Maruv’s Siren Song and Ovidiu Anton’s Moment of Silence, and there are of course many others in Eurovision history, were withdrawn or disqualified prior to the Eurovision competition because of a breach of rules set by the local participating broadcaster and/or the EBU. They were therefore never considered as official entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

2020 has been, put mildly, a different year for everything and everyone. Eurovision has proven to be no exception to said rule. COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc all over the world, and has led to the formal exclusion of all 41 entries for Eurovision 2020, as the event itself has been cancelled. This upends comparisons with the above-mentioned entries, which were disqualified individually rather than collectively for a clear reason (e.g. rule breaches). For the 41 cases of 2020, the global pandemic has become a force majeure or act of God, aside from responsibilities of individual performers and/or broadcasters. This has led us to decide that the best way for us to honour the 41 artists and their entries by including them in our annual vote.

Trending topic

The ESC Top 250 has become a staple in the Eurovision fan community. A record number of people cast their votes last year, and the hashtag #ESC250 was trending topic all over Europe and beyond on Twitter on December 31st. More information about this year’s vote will be released in the coming months.