Today, we answer the age-old question: what are Eurovision’s best non-qualifying songs of all-time?
That is, if by “age-old” we are referring to “as recently as 2004 and, by some definitions, 1993.”
Plenty of songs which did not escape their Eurovision semifinals deserved their fate. Not every song is going to be a compositional masterpiece or a vocal tour de force. However, this is not the case for some others. There are Eurovision entries that got bounced from the contest in the preliminary round but should not have.
Now, we are not saying that any of the songs on the below list were good enough to win – it is clear that they were not. None came close to making our Eurovision Top 100 list, with the highest-ranking song falling in the 400s. However, what we will say is that these were deserving at least of the chance to have their moment in the proverbial sunlight on a Saturday.
The following are the Eurovision non-qualifying (or NQ) songs we ranked the highest all-time since the semifinal was introduced in 2004. In theory, we would also include songs which got bounced from “Kvalifikacija za Millstreet” in 1993, but none of them were even close to being on this list, anyway.
Please note: The rankings you see below are as of the 2024 contest. Contests 2025 and later are not included at this time.
Eurovision’s Best Non-Qualifying Songs of All-Time: Four Honorable Mentions
Az én apám (Joci Pápai, Hungary 2019)
Joci sings with a lot of passion, and he won a lot of people over with his first Eurovision entry, “Origo.” This one was just as well-written of a song, and it was lyrically beautiful, but it did not get the recognition it deserved.
Drama Queen (DQ, Denmark 2007)
This was a fun number, and as we know, drag queens make everything better. Vocally, it had its moments, but needed more to get out of the honorable mentions.
Tout de moi (Lise Darly, Monaco 2005)
Monaco participated in just three semifinals, and this should have been their moment. No idea how this song did quite so poorly in the semifinal. It had a Disney princess vibe to it, which should have at least been good enough to qualify.
Et cetera (Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy, Ireland 2009)
This song just missed getting through in 2009, which is a shame because this was one of Ireland’s more fun songs of that era. In 2008, they were not trying, but this year they were.
Eurovision’s Best Non-Qualifying Songs of All-Time: 10-6
10.) Your Heart Belongs to Me (Hind, The Netherlands 2008)
This was an energetic performance and she sang well. The Netherlands has had other songs with good beats reminiscent of this which got through, so this NQ was a little jarring. Let’s put it this way: They’ve done a lot worse, and this song did not deserve the fate it received.
9.) Vida minha (Filipa Sousa, Portugal 2012)
I understand that people watching this back in 2012 might have found it a little slow, but the vocals were actually quite decent. Filipa sang too well to finish 13th in a semifinal.
8.) Rak Bishvilo (Moran Mazor, Israel 2013)
This is another song that the voting audiences (and maybe juries) would have found a bit slow, but like Filipa Sousa of Portugal, Moran Mazor sang too well to deserve a middling finish in a semifinal. This is also considering that some songs made it through with, in our opinion, exceedingly poor vocals, but we will get to that in our 2013 review someday.
7.) Goodbye (The Humans, Romania 2018)
This song was one spot outside of qualifying in 2018. It picked up from a slow start and once the electric guitars got going, I was invested enough to think it deserved to go through – yet, it was not to be. The vocals were respectable, and though the staging was a little strange, it was not a bad song.
6.) Crisalide (Vola) (Valentina Monetta, San Marino 2013)
Valentina should have qualified in two of her four Eurovision appearances. Her first entry and her last entry both deserved what they got, but this one and “Maybe” should have gone through. Much unlike her song the year before, this was a more serious attempt. Her vocals were decent and the staging was simple but effective. Give her bonus points for the costume reveal.
The bar is higher for poor San Marino most of the time. They have to hit it out of the park; however, unfortunately this came up short.
Eurovision’s Best Non-Qualifying Songs of All-Time: Top 5
5.) Øve os på hinanden (Fyr og flamme, Denmark 2021)
Denmark dialed up the 80s for this number and I had a lot of fun watching it. For two guys spending most of the performance standing on raised platforms, there was a lot of energy. Our position is that Denmark has sent some overrated songs in the last decade (2014-2024), but this was one of the few I would call underrated.
4.) Je t’adore (Kate Ryan, Belgium 2006)
Our evaluation after watching this performance (numerous times) was that it was perhaps a little better than average. However, that should have been more than enough. The chorus was good and the energy level was not lacking. It gets worse when you see some of the songs that did get through in 2006, which is a problem for another song on this list as well.
3.) Na inat (Poli Genova, Bulgaria 2011)
Poli Genova should have gone through twice in her Eurovision career. This song was almost as good, in our opinion, as the one with which she busted through to the top five. It was a different feel in 2016 than this one, but Poli showed us more than enough in this performance to justify a trip to the grand final. This song had a good energy and if you got Pink vibes from this one, you are not alone.
2.) Through My Window (Sandra, Estonia 2006)
I am borderline offended that this did not make it to the grand final. Part of that offense is that it did poorly in the semifinal, not even a contender to make it to Saturday. This was a good song and we actually had it crack our top 10 for 2006 (keep in mind also that our general opinion of the early to mid-2000s at Eurovision is low, so it would not take much to make an impression). Sandra finished strong and I was crushed when this got bounced.
1.) Comme ci, comme ça (Evridiki, Cyprus 2007)
A French rock song – from Cyprus! To use the vernacular, this song was cool. It was a banger and she pulled it off. Evridiki was at this point appearing for a third time as a Eurovision artist, and in this website’s opinion, she is one of the best singers Cyprus has ever sent to Eurovision. We have her 1994 entry rated as Cyprus’s second-best song. We have this one as number five.
