Thread by @aussievisionnet

Welcome to our third annual Top 100 Moments of the Eurovision Season! In this thread over the next few days, we'll look back at 100 moments of the 2020 Eurovision and National Final Season. We may not have had a Contest but we still had a LOT going on!

100. When Markus Riva entered Supernova for the seventh year in a row we all thought, “could this be his year?” Unfortunately for him, his song ‘Impossible’ co-written by Aminata, was snubbed and left behind in the live audition round 🇱🇻

99. When Petronela Donciu & Andreea Portărescu took "inspiration" from Hanna Ferm & LIAMOO but the "ordered online" version of their staging didn't *quite* live up to the original... 🇲🇩

98. The time during ‘Shine a Light’ that Vaidotas from The Roop became the life coach we never knew we needed 🇱🇹

97. "Baby cause I'm vegan, I can't even call you honey" - Jerry Heil's Vidbir performance spouting the Vegan lifestyle had her coming out of the fridge, dancing with people in pig & chicken suits and a lot of fruit and veg on stage. Iconic. 🇺🇦

96. Lesley Roy. Nearly all Eurovision contestants connected more with fans in 2020 but Lesley Roy takes the cake for us. From joining Zoom calls, taking part in a gazillion online events and releasing new music, she truly embraced the Eurovision fandom! 🇮🇪

95. There was a lot of great augmented reality for Junior Eurovision 2020 in what was a virtual contest. But the 'common song' performed by the group was.... well.... awkward for us all.

94. The epic last 30 seconds of Damir Kedžo’s ‘Divlji Vjetre’ where we thought he might burst a vein at any moment 🇭🇷

93. When we all tried to work out how to pronounce 'Gjon's Tears'. Gyon? Gee-john? Ga-jon? John? And don't lie... you totally said it wrong for months didn't you? 🇨🇭

92. Neda proving age is no barrier, performing the banger 'Bomba' at Beovizija when approaching 70-years-of-age. She finished 4th with the juries and 7th overall in the final. Legend! 🇷🇸

91. When Eurovision legends Dami Im and Måns Zelmerlöw performed a duet together at Australia Decides. You could probably hear the Australian crowd screaming from Europe... 🇦🇺

90. Vincent Bueno representing not just Austria 🇦🇹 but also the Asia-Pacific with his heritage from the Philippines 🇵🇭 who have a large and dedicated Eurovision fan base. Plus his track 'Alive' was quite the underrated bop!

89. When fan favourites Blasted Mechanism crashed out of the Festival da Canção semi-finals with their song 'Rebellion'. Not sure dressing as a post-apocalyptic cockroach helped either... 🇵🇹

88. Everything about 'Szansa na sukces'. The karaoke rounds, including full lyrics on screen, the judge's faces, Albert from Lake Malawi competing. It was a strange car crash we couldn't look away from. 🇵🇱

87. Gabrielius Vagelis had an incredible song in 'Tave Čia Randu' for 'Pabandom iš naujo!' 🇱🇹 but the staging was *out there*. The pyjama kimono type outfit, the tennis shoes, the sitting in the crowd and making them very uncomfortable. It was *something*

86. When Stefania saved a cat. 🇬🇷

85. When Tvorchi claimed he was sabotaged at Vidbir by the sound engineers and blamed "Eurovision" for it (?). It wouldn't be Vidbir without a drama! 🇺🇦

84. When Catarina Sandu really committed to the death aesthetic for her song 'Die for You' at Finala națională 🇲🇩 She finished in 4th place.

83. When the host forgot Christer Bjorkman's name at FiK58 and then followed up by called him Kristen...*screaming* 🇦🇱

82. The Melodi Grand Prix 🇳🇴 road trip of semi-finals that saw many iconic stagings left behind in the head-to-head battles. Pink jackets, virus inspired outfits, same-sex cruise ship bossa novas and flaming guitars. That was a long five weeks of heats though...

81. The furry in the Eurovision fan recap videos.

That's it for part one, we'll be back with 80 to 61 this evening Australian time, tomorrow morning European time!

80. Eurofans spotting all the mistakes in the Eurovision movie. From too many people on stage, to the scoring, to the timelines not working with ABBA, to it being held in Edinburgh despite not UK winning (maybe Australia did?).

79. Destiny going from Junior Eurovision winner to a Eurovision contestant after taking out X Factor Malta. She then released an slick entry that many fans tipped to do well in Rotterdam - 'All Of My Love' 🇲🇹

78. Tornike Kipiani's 🇬🇪 stereotypical tour of the Big 5:

✅Talk, like an Englishman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 / 🇬🇧
✅Dress like an Italian 🇮🇹
✅Dance like a Spanish guy 🇪🇸
✅Smell like a French homme 🇫🇷
✅Play like a German 🇩🇪

77. The endless comparison between Roxen, Victoria and a certain artist called Billie Eilish. To be fair... there were some similarities... 🇷🇴🇧🇬

76. Everything about 'Moldovita' by Valentin Uzun & Irina Kovalsky. The suit, the costumes, the staging, the lyrics, the catchy earworm of the song. This was ROBBED in 9th place at Finala națională 🇲🇩

75. When Egert Milder broke every workplace healthy and safety law by jumping on top of the piano during his song ‘Georgia (On My Mind) at Eesti Laul 🇪🇪 He finished 4th in the final.

74. "Forget what your dad said / it's ok to cry / if you need a hug, then I'll give you it"

Felix Sandman's 🇸🇪 'Boys with Emotions' certainly had emotions flowing with fans - good & bad! It had jury love but public vote bombed for 7th overall at Melfest

73. When Spain served us up the Junior Eurovision bop we never knew we needed with 'Palante'. An absolute earworm that will never leave you! 🇪🇸

72. When Eden Alene slayed every single one of her 'HaShir HaBa L'Eurovizion' 🇮🇱 performances including the winner 'Feker Libi'

71. When Natalia Gordienko tried to do a one-handed Dotter... 🇲🇩

70. THAT outfit reveal by Achille Lauro at Sanremo 🇮🇹

69. When Aussie Eurovision and Australia Decides artists came together (including Jess) to perform a virtual edition of 'We Got Love' for SBS's 'Big Night In' special. Catch the full version here: sbs.com.au/programs/eurov… (Copyright issues on Twitter 😢) 🇦🇺

68. When Jaagup Tuisk stopped the rain during 'Beautiful Lie' 🇪🇪

67. When NRK celebrated 60 years of Melodi Grand Prix with this medley of winning songs performed by regular Norwegians 🇳🇴

66. Anis don Demina was the surprise packet of Melfest with 'Vem e som oss'. Fighting his way through Andra Chansen, he brought energy and a catchy Swedish language bop to finish 5th overall. 🇸🇪

65. Fans held their collective breath when Daði og Gagnamagnið were completely out of time with the music in the final of Söngvakeppnin. Luckily it was a technical issue and they could restart and take out the crown! 🇮🇸

64. Ulrikke got a surprise message from Tom Leeb during her NikkieTutorials interview and got a little flustered (didn’t we all??) 🇳🇴 🇫🇷

63. Athena Manoukian revealed an incredible video of her entry 'Chains On You' but it didn't stop us all singing "chainsaw chainsaw you!" 🇦🇲

62. When Senhit dropped a last minute digital battle between herself for the San Marino Eurovision entry. 'Freaky!' took the crown over 'Obsessed' 51.6% to 48.4%! 🇸🇲

61. When the IKEA lamp "fell" onto EMA host Klemen Slakonja "injuring" him during his performance of 'Arcade'. He then appeared to get more "injured" as the show went on. 🇸🇮

That’s it for now 60 to 41 tomorrow morning Australian time, this evening European time.

60. When Melodi Grand Prix contestant Jæger released this drag queen video ‘How About Mars’ 🇳🇴

59. VAL. When pro-democracy protests rocked Belarus this year, VAL publicly supported the rallies. They still wanted to do Eurovision if they could "honestly say what we think.” BTRC quickly dumped them. A loss for Eurovision but in good news the couple got engaged in October 🇧🇾

58. Bárbara Tinoco gave us one of the most French entries to ever come outside a non-French speaking nation. She was a big hit with Eurofans but finished runner-up at Festival da Canção despite winning the public vote. 🇵🇹

57. “I’ll give you my last..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................*breath*” 🇬🇧

56. When Kateryna from Go_A maintained a deathly eye-contact with us all even during the dance break of Solovey 🇺🇦

55. Casey Donovan and THAT performance of 'Proud' at Australia Decides. She shocked everyone by winning the public vote (third public win after 'Australian Idol', 'Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' crowns) but fell just short of Montaigne. 🇦🇺

54. When Denmark gave us a taste of what was to come with no crowds during Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. And they probably had the best stadium and stage of the season. Such a shame! 🇩🇰

53. There wasn't just one Baltic Queen with two bears in 2020! Synne Valtri ft Väliharf served us up this classic entry 'Majakad' at Eesti Laul finishing 9th overall 🇪🇪

52. The revamp of 'Kemama' that saw fans react VERY strongly. Benny Cristo responded by de-vamping (is that a word) from the revamp but still revamping the original. I think? Here's the first controversial revamp 🇨🇿

51. Filipe Sambado. He brought a cracker of a song and did an iconic performance of 'Gerbera amarela do Su' including a shorts reveal. He easily won the jury at Festival da Canção but finished 3rd overall 🇵🇹

50. When Ulrikke had a huge come from behind win at Melodi Grand Prix. Down just under 30k votes going into the last round, she needed almost 100k votes after Kristin Husøy’s were announced. You can guess what happened next! 🇳🇴

49. Playbackgate. Artists at Junior Eurovision were accused of doing playback with even Spanish broadcaster RTVE asking the EBU for clarification. It saw some terrible behaviour from fans (but we also have to say those French jury votes were more than a little strategic)!

48. "T-shirts / In all the colors / Need more / What will I wear next summer / T-shirts / For just one dollar / Need more / Fantasize / Hey next season / Time to buy" 🇱🇻

47. Nanne Grönvall finished last in her semi-final with 'Carpool Karaoke' despite forming a human car. However the icon found some global fame when it was included on James Corden's Talk Show in the US (watch that segment here: ) 🇸🇪

46. When Vasil eye-banged the barman 🇲🇰

45. Eleni Foureira returned to the country of her birth to do the interval act at #FiK58 She did Fuego, Dancing Lasha Tumbai, Like a Prayer, Sweet Dreams, a new song plus spoke to the crowd in Albanian and just all round smashed it 🇦🇱🇬🇷

44. When Jon Ola Sand made a dramatic entrance at Australia Decides (borrowed from Courtney Act the year before) and was greeted with a rockstar reaction from the Aussie crowd! 🇦🇺 🇳🇴

43. A lovely moment when all the Festival da Canção finalists performed a medley of their songs together. More of this! 🇵🇹

42. EMA host Klemen Slakonja did an incredible medley of songs (and costumes) of all past Slovenian Eurovision entries 🇸🇮 His mannerisms were on point! Here’s a snippet...

41. After 9, 19 or 99 attempts at representing Latvia Samanta Tina finally did it! And she brought iconic fringing, spray cans, crazy music breakdowns, coloured visors and short blonde bobs into our Eurofan life 🇱🇻

That's part three done! 40 down to 21 tonight Australian time, Wednesday morning European time. See you then!

40. When the most problematic thing about Eesti Laul 2020 was only singing sausages. Viinerid with ‘Kapa-Kohi-LA’ grabbed fans attention with their meatgoods inspired video. They *almost* made the final but were a little under done getting 1710 televotes to Uudo Sepp’s 1760 🇪🇪

39. "People tell me I'm a fish"🐟 - one of the most iconic opening lines of a song of all time! Despite those "interesting" lyrics, Raylee finished =3rd in the final of Melodi Grand Prix and 'Wild' has been streamed almost 6 million times! 🇳🇴

38. We all sniggered or rolled eyes at the name We All Poop & their song 'All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)' & then it turned out to be pretty good! It finished 4th in the Czech selection 🇨🇿 but got 12 points from international fans & juror Kasia Moś

37. Everything about KaYra and this performance of ‘Alligator’. The crazy clown in a suit aesthetic, the choreography with the creepy twins but also the absolute bop of a song. She only finished 7th in the final of Pabandom iš naujo. Deserved more! 🇱🇹

36. Every moment of Anna Bergendahl's 'Kingdome Come'

-The bangs
-The pointing
-The arm waving up thing
-The moment the dancers jump in
-The one dancer out of time getting up at the back
- The "HEJ!"
-The barnstorming finish

It's PERFECT 🇸🇪

https://twitter.com/CarlosRivasFdez/status/1226240898901725192/video/1

35. The performance of CHAKRAS and their song ‘La-ley-la’ (which is dedicated to a dead cat) was iconic. The LED use is simply out of this world, there’s a woman making horse noises and it concludes with a foetus. It won the televote but finished 3rd behind VAL 🇧🇾 Unforgettable.

34. When Georgia 🇬🇪 and Russia 🇷🇺 were depressingly shown as lonesome figures during the Junior Eurovision 2020 vote. It seemed to sum up the isolation of COVID-19 lockdown quite well.... because... that's why there were separated from their teams! (as a precaution).

33. Hearing 'Cleopatra' by Efendi 🇦🇿 for the first time, enjoying the eastern bop and then suddenly 1:01 into the song getting:
"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo"
😳😱

32. Jaguar Jonze making an impact on Eurofans with her quirky and explosive performance at Australia Decides. She did this all with a DISLOCATED SHOULDER that happened during the performance. What a bloody legend! 🇦🇺

31. "I'm a Lithuanian basketball player...." Twosome's 'Playa' was truly awful but it was god damn catchy and had a memorable performance. The "vocals", the broken violin and the belly ball. It unsurprisingly went out in the heats. 🇱🇹

30. When Kazakhstan managed to smash out an incredible staging yet again at Junior Eurovision, despite the restrictions of a virtual contest. They also finished runner-up for the second year running 🇰🇿

29. When Norway featured the pro-LGBT song 'I Am Gay' at Melodi Grand Prix performed by the very heterosexual Liza Vassilieva. Problematic? Supportive? It had fans in much debate... but regardless it was annoyingly catchy and finished =3rd 🇳🇴

28. When Diana Rotaru went on daytime TV and shook her stuff to ‘Dale dale’ while writhing around on the studio floor... much to the shock of the host! What a Queen! 🇲🇩

27. Hurricane 🇷🇸 had quite the impact on the Eurovision fandom. From their rampant win at Beovizija to this moment where they issued a warning to Europe they were coming and the Coronavirus was nothing

26. When Vanessa Amorosi crawled out of god damn overturned car on the stage of Australia Decides. During her performance of ‘Lessons of Love’ she also ripped her clothes off and got rained on. Talk about drama. A well earned 3rd place 🇦🇺

25. Many people expected Jaagup to take out Eesti Laul so when Uku won we all resembled this woman sat behind the celebrating winner! SHOOK! 🇪🇪

24. Memorable for the wrong reasons, Hooverphonic 🇧🇪 did become the pantomime villains of Eurovision 2020.

Called Eurovision a circus of bad taste ✅
Spruiked their future music during Shine a Light ✅
Didn't take part in 'Shine a Light' medley
Fired their lead singer ✅

23. When we had something in our eye as they lit up landmarks all over Europe (and Australia!) for Shine a Light. Beautifully done 😭

22. France announced their Eurovision entry by using the mother flipping Eiffel Tower & putting Tom Leeb on top! The fan reaction was just as dramatic... unfortunately not in a positive way. It got a revamp with the French dialed up a baguette or two 🇫🇷

21. Italy 🇮🇹 was the first European nation devastated by COVID-19 to the extent of total lockdowns and mass deaths. A beautiful moment was Italians coming together to sing from their balconies including their wonderful Eurovision entry 'Fai rumore'

That's it for now - the final 20 will be revealed tomorrow morning Australian time / Wednesday evening European time. See you then!

20. The clown aesthetic of Montaigne. Most fans appreciated the song 'Don't Break Me' but it was her Australia Decides look that had fans split. Blue wig, rosy cheeks and ruffles.... Many loved it, many hated it but it was certainly memorable! 🇦🇺🤡

19. When Dotter didn't bring a lightshow to Melfest, she WAS the lightshow. INCREDIBLE staging concept that had fans gagged and the #Dotterdam movement began! 🇸🇪

18. The iconic "choreography" of Roxen performing 'Cherry Red'. She stood firmly on the spot, swayed her arms a few times and made it abundantly clear she did NOT want to perform this at Eurovision. What a statement! 😂 Still a bop though! 🇷🇴

17. When Rein Alexander came out as a Game of Thrones character, summoned the dead and lit an actual fire in his hand! 'One Last Time' was an incredible Melodi Grand Prix entry and was robbed of a spot in the Top 4. 🇳🇴

16. When Melodi Grand Prix's online voting crashed during the live final. We endured five weeks of heats and the live grand final all for it to come down to a 30-person public jury who only heard the studios to decide the Top 4 and these acts missed out. Disaster! 🇳🇴

15. France last won Eurovision 43 years ago but were able to enjoy a victory this year at Junior Eurovision when Valentina stormed to victory with ‘J’imagine’ 🇫🇷 🏆

14. Eurovision Home Concerts. The EBU did a great job keeping fans entertained by organising artists from 2020 and years gone by to perform Eurovision songs in a virtual concert each week through April & May. But please can can we never hear another cover of Euphoria again!

13. The Roop. The Song. The Dance. The Video. The Performance. Everything about this was fantastic and it looked to give Lithuania 🇱🇹 their best result ever at Eurovision.

12. The one good thing that came out of the contest cancellation was #EurovisionAgain A chance for fans to relive or discover old contest each week & vote on them. Organised by Rob Holley with some great technical work from the EBU & broadcasters. It was a true 2020 highlight!

11. The 2020 season began with a *SHOCK* when heavy favourite Elvana Gjata and her song ‘Me Tana’ lost FiK58 🇦🇱 It all came down to one rogue juror and fans were livid! (Though it must be added that ‘Shaj’ was an incredible performance.)

10. "Uno, uno, uno, dos, cuatro!" Little Big's 🇷🇺 entry was annoyingly catchy with an iconic clip. It soon became the most viewed Eurovision video of all time and if you didn't shake your legs during the chorus, what were you even doing in 2020?

9. When Bugo walked off mid-song during Sanremo 🇮🇹 unhappy with his fellow artist Morgan's performance. Cue Italian comedy/drama of people walking in and out of a silver curtain, hand gesturing and trying to work out what was going on. Just brilliant.

8. We hate to rip the scabs off but it must be included. The moment Jon Ola Sand officially announced that the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam was cancelled 😭 Historic and horrific. And what a sad way for him to bow out. A living legend of our Contest.

7. When The Mamas won Melodifestivalen by a SINGLE POINT and then received the trophy from the 2019 winner John Lundvik who they had been back-up singers for the year before. A beautiful moment that even Dotter fans can appreciate! 🇸🇪

6. When Erika Vikman gave us the fan favourite song about Hungarian-Italian politician and porn star Cicciolina. Her UMK 🇫🇮 performance was epic and included DANCING BEARS but it was dogged by the jury and finished runner-up. Shock of the season.

5. "PLAY JAJA DING DONG!" Whether you loved it or hated it, this catchphrase from the 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga' movie went global in 2020. It introduced or reengaged fans worldwide into the contest we love so dearly.

4. The juggernaut that was 'Think About Things' by Daði & Gagnamagnið 🇮🇸 It won almost every fan poll, charted well (even in UK), appeared on countless shows, saw a cult of green sweatered Eurofans pop up and kind of "won" Eurovision without winning.

3. When Diodato walked into an empty stadium lit up in the azzurro blue & the Italian flag 🇮🇹 and delivered an epic and moving live performance of 'Fai rumore'. It captured so much - COVID-19, the contest cancellation and the power of music. Bellissimo.

2. The Song-Along! A perfect combination of real Eurovision with the Fire Saga movie in what was a joyful 3+ minutes. Much of which saw fans trying to spot who was in it and how Anna Odobescu stumbled in there! She became our cult hero for her appearance!

1. When the artists of 2020 came together to perform 'Love Shine a Light' on "Grand Final night". It was the moving moment that gave us some closure but more importantly we, as a Eurovision family, shared it together. And that's what it's all about.

That's a wrap on our Top 100 moments of 2020, we've loved seeing your comments and we're sure we've missed some here that you truly love! Thank you for all the good things of 2020 and let's hope for a better 2021! Bring on #ESC250 tonight!