As the Eurovision Song Contest prepares to make its return, new research reveals that Cyprus is most likely to claim the crown this year.
The study from Bookmakers.tv, looks at various characteristics of all 67 past champions, finding the average winner is a female soloist, nearing their 27 th birthday.
And, at 26 years of age, Cypriot representative Elena Tsagrinou almost perfectly matches the key characteristics for Eurovision glory – especially as she’s due to sing in English.
The findings reveal that 50 previous winners were individual artists, and 38 of those have been female – including the United Kingdom’s very own Sandie Shaw (in 1967) and Lulu (1969).
So, the UK may be in for another ‘nul points’ with 35-year-old James Newman a very different representative, compared to a historical winner.
But, it could have been worse for the UK, if they had selected an all-female group as their representative. Just once in the entire history of the competition has a girl group claimed victory (Norway in 1985), suggesting Serbia’s Hurricane have little chance of taking Europe by storm this time around.
Looking at the song itself, other recipes for success include all-English song lyrics (31 wins in total), and an average song length of 213 words sung over three minutes and four seconds.
A Bookmakers.tv spokesperson commented: “Historical research demonstrates a subtle science to selecting a winning Eurovision entrant. Solo females have proved undeniably popular, whereas single-gender groups or those singing in anything other than English tend to struggle.
“France’s Babara Pravi is the 17/5 favourite, and she also very closely matches the description of a typical winner, but while she sounds like another safe bet, the fact that her song is in French may count against her. Instead, there looks to be far more value in a Cypriot victory at 31/1.
“The United Kingdom’s James Newman currently sits at a distant 299/1, and given our research, you can see why.”
