Today, October 12 is Fiesta Nacional de España, the national day of Spain. It marks Christopher Columbus's first arrival in the Americas. It is also known as Hispanic Day or Día de la Hispanidad commemorating the Spanish legacy throughout the world.
To celebrate, we have crunched the numbers to explore just who are Spain's Eurovision "Mejores amigos" (best friends) by looking at how Spain has voted and how the rest of Europe and Australia have voted for Spain over the last five Contests, since the implementation of the new voting system in 2016. The new voting system has each country award two sets of 12 points one from a professional jury and another from the televising public.
We will look at how Europe and Australia voted for Spain over the last five Contests split into televoters and jury points and who Spain awards their points to in the Eurovision Grand Finals over the last five Contests. Let's explore!
How Europe and Australia voted from 2016-2021:
Televoters:
1. Portugal (29 points)
When it comes to the most points awarded to Spain from the televoters one very close neighbour has been very generous and its Portugal. They awarded them a total of 29 points over the last five Contests.
Two sets of 12 points, in 2018 for Amaia Romero and Alfred García's 'Tu canción' and in 2019 for Miki's 'La venda', with 5 points for Spain's Eurovision 2017 entry 'Do It For Your Lover' by Manel Navarro, the only points Spain received from anyone that year.
The French televoters trail behind in second place with 13 points awarded to Spain over the last five Contests. The highest single set of points, 7, was awarded in 2019 to Miki's 'La venda'.
Over the last five Contests Australian televoters have only awarded Spain 2 points and that was for their 2016 entry 'Say Yay!' by Barei.
Here is the full list of points (ranked) awarded by the televoting public across Europe and Australia to Spain from 2016 - 2021:
1. Portugal - 29 points
2. France - 13 points
3. Switzerland - 8 points
=4. Belgium - 6 points
=4. UK- 6 points
6. Israel - 5 points
=7. Cyprus - 4 points
=7. Greece - 4 points
9. Netherlands - 3 points
= 10. Australia - 2 points
= 10. Azerbaijan - 2 points
= 10. Serbia - 2 points
= 13. Denmark - 1 point
= 13. Sweden - 1 point
Juries:
1. Australia and Italy (12 points)
It’s quite a difference with the juries, two countries have awarded Spain the most points over the last five Contests, and they are Australia and Italy.
The Australian jury awarded Spain points twice in the last five Contests, 7 points in 2018 for 'Tu canción' and 5 points in 2016 for Barei's 'Say Yay!'. The Italian jury gave Spain douze points back in 2016 for 'Say Yay!'.
Trailing behind are the Romanian juries with 10 points awarded to Spain and the Norwegian juries who gave Spain 9 points.
Here is the full list of points (ranked) awarded by the jury to Spain from 2016 - 2021:
=1. Australia - 12 points
=1. Italy - 12 points
3. Romania - 10 points
4. Norway - 9 points
=5. Bulgaria - 8 points
=5. Moldova - 8 points
=7. Cyprus - 7 points
=7. Denmark - 7 points
=9. Germany - 6 points
=9. Albania - 6 points
=11. Hungary - 5 points
=11. Poland - 5 points
12. Israel - 4 points
=13. UK - 3 points
=13. France - 3 points
=13. Armenia - 3 points
=16. Portugal - 2 points
=16. Malta - 2 points
=18. Belgium - 1 point
=18. Ireland - 1 point
=18. Russia - 1 point
=18. Azerbaijan - 1 point
=18. Sweden - 1 point
How Spain voted (in Grand Finals) from 2016-2021:
Televoters:
1. Italy (40 points)
The country that has received the most points from the Spanish televoters in a Eurovision Grand Final is Italy.
Surprisingly Italy has received 40 total points over the last five Eurovision Grand Finals from the Spanish televoters. Italy have received point every competing year (2016-2021) from Spain.
The Spanish televoters awarded them douze points in 2019 for Mahmood's 'Soldi', 10 points this year for the Eurovision winners Måneskin's 'Zitti e buoni', 8 points in 2017, 7 points in 2018 and 3 points in 2016.
Following closely behind is Bulgaria with 35 points. The Spanish televoters awarded them douze points in 2016 to Poli Genova for 'If Love Was a Crime', 10 points in in 2017 to Kristian Kostov for 'Beautiful Mess', 8 points in 2021 for Victoria's 'Growing Up Is Getting Old' is and 5 points in 2018 to Equinox for 'Bones'.
The Spanish public have awarded Australia points on two occasions over the last five Contests. In 2019 they gave Kate Miller-Heidke's performance of 'Zero Gravity' 5 points and Dami Im's performance of 'Sound of Silence' 4 points in 2016.
Here are the full list of points (ranked) awarded by the Spanish televoters from 2016 - 2021:
1. Italy - 40 points
2. Bulgaria - 35 points
3. France - 33 points
4. Switzerland - 17 points
=5. Portugal - 13 points
=5. Ukraine - 13 points
=7. Israel - 12 points
=7. Sweden - 12 points
=9. Czech - 10 points
=9. Netherlands - 10 points
=9. Norway - 10 points
=9. Russia - 10 points
13. Australia - 9 points
=14. Cyprus - 8 points
=14. Iceland - 8 points
16. Romania - 7 points
=17. Germany - 6 points
=17. Moldova - 6 points
=17. Armenia - 6 points
20. Poland - 5 points
=21. Belgium - 4 points
=21. Lithuania - 4 points
23. Malta - 3 points
=24. Estonia - 2 points
=24. Finland - 2 points
=24. Austria - 2 points
=24. Azerbaijan - 1 point
28. Ireland - 1 point
29. UK - 1 point
Juries:
1. Australia (26 points)
A bit of a surprise but Australia scrapes through with 26 points to be the most popular with the Spanish juries over the last five Contests.
The Spaniards gave Australia one set of 10 points in 2019 for 'Zero Gravity, and two set of 8 points in 2016 to Dami Im and in 2017 for Isiah Firebrace's 'Don't Come Easy'.
Here are the full list of points (ranked) awarded by the Spanish jury from 2016 - 2021:
1. Australia - 26 points
2. France - 25 points
3. Cyprus - 23 points
4. Italy - 22 points
5. Sweden - 19 points
6. Portugal - 17 points
=7. Israel - 14 points
=7. Malta - 14 points
9. Switzerland - 13 points
=10. Netherlands - 12 points
=10. Armenia - 12 points
12. Austria - 11 points
=13. Bulgaria - 10 points
=13. Czech - 10 points
=13. Hungary - 10 points
16. Azerbaijan - 9 points
=17. Germany - 7 points
=17. Iceland - 7 points
=17. Moldova - 7 points
20. Russia - 6 points
21. Ireland - 5 points
22. Belgium - 4 points
23. Greece - 3 points
24. Lithuania - 2 points
=25. Estonia - 1 point
=25. Slovenia - 1 point
The verdict
It is probably safe to say that the Australian and Spanish juries are "Mejores amigos". The Australian jury, along with the Italians, awarded the most points to Spain over the last five Contests and the Spanish juries gave the Aussies most of their points in Grand Finals over the last five Contests.
The Spanish televoters LOVE Italian Eurovision entries awarding them points every year over the last five Contests. The Spanish juries don't fall far behind either. Italy is ranked fourth in our list of most points awarded from the Spanish juries and over the last five Contest they awarded Italy points every year except this year, snubbing the Eurovision winners. Over the last five Contests three Italian entries charted in the top 20 on the music singles chart in Spain. 'Zitti e buoni' peaked at No. 16 this year, 'Occidentali's Karma' by Francesco Gabbani peaked at No. 14 and Mahmood's 'Soldi' reached No. 5 in 2019.
The same cannot be said about about Spain and their close neighbour Portugal. Over the last five Contests the Portuguese televoters may have supported Spain (even awarding two set of douze points), but the Spanish televoters have only awarded points to Portugal in a Grand Final on two occasions with 13 points, but given Portugal only made three appearances in a Grand Final over the last five Contests Spain could possibly be forgiven.
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