The rehearsals are all done; the first semi-finals are tomorrow.

Now’s a good time to take a look and see what songs are predicted to win Eurovision this year. I’m going to go by country names and not song titles or artists, because that’s what everyone else does. I know it’s not really fair to them, but that’s the way it is.

There are bookies (really!), and (as of this writing – 1800 EDT May 9) this year the collective favorites are:

1. Russia
2. Ukraine
3. France
4. Sweden
5. Australia
6. Malta
7. Armenia
8. Israel
9. Italy
10. United Kingdom

There are literally hundreds of “Eurovision Favorite” clip video lists on YouTube. EurovisionTops.com has a spreadsheet so you can see all the votes and points from the video uploaders. Their ranking as of now:

1. France
2. Russia
3. Spain
4. Bulgaria
5. Hungary
6. Australia
7. Croatia
8. Latvia
9. Italy
10. Azerbaijan

ESCape has included betting odds, the number of YouTube views, and international polls in their ranking:

1. France
2. Russia
3. Australia
4. Spain
5. Ukraine
6. Croatia
7. Bulgaria
8. Latvia
9. Italy
10. Hungary

Wiwibloggs.com is the top independent website for Eurovision. Here’s their rankings:

1. Russia
2. France
3. Bulgaria
4. Iceland
5. Croatia
6. Australia
7. Ukraine
8. Spain
9. Malta
10. Cyprus

Looks like Russia and France are the favorites – but after them, it’s wide open. If you take a close look at the rankings, it doesn’t really look like there’s a clear favorite. The differences in points between them aren’t very large. This is a good thing for Eurovision; it shouldn’t be predictable. Of course, all this will change after the semifinals.

I wonder which of the polls, surveys, and compilations will turn out to be the most accurate….