Eurovision Song Contest 2018: Who are the favourites?
The bookies are convinced they know who'll take the title, but could internet search data prove them wrong?
Who's going to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2018? That's the question on everyone's lips and the bookies are convinced they've got the answer, but the odds are constantly changing in what's set to be one of the most unpredictable Eurovision finals of all time.
Who is the odds-on favourite to win Eurovision 2018?
The current favourite to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira, who came from nowhere after her semi-final performance on May 8th and has remained top of the bookies' rankings ever since. The majority of bookmakers are offering odds of ranging from 11/8 to 5/4 for her to claim victory in Lisbon with Fuego, an upbeat track that sounds a little like the lovechild of Shakira and Beyonce.
Israel’s Netta Barzilai – who had been the bookies' hot favourite in the run-up to the contest – is still in the mix, though. Her song, called TOY, is now the second favourite to win with odds of 11/4 and 5/2 being offered.
Ireland's Ryan O'Shaughnessy has emerged as a late competition dark horse with odds of between 7 and 10/1 that his song, Together, will take top honours. The Irish act hit the headlines when it was announced that the EBU had terminated Chinese broadcaster Mango TV's contract to broadcast the song contest because they'd censored Ireland's LGBT performance during the semi-final.
France's married double act, Madame Monsieur, have risen steadily through the ranks and are now being tipped as the fourth most likely to take the title with odds ranging between 14 and 20/1.
Sweden’s Benjamin Ingrosso is currently ranked fifth most likely to win, ahead of Lithuania's Ieva Zasimauskaite in sixth, Estonia's Elina Nechayeva in seventh, and Italy's Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro are eighth favourite.
Germany and Norway round out the bookies' Top Ten.
The UK is currently ranked the fourth least likely to win, with odds ranging from 100/1 to 450/1 being offered to those who want to bet on a victory for SuRie.
But could the bookies have it wrong? Could Cyrpus be pipped at the post? Well, Google certainly seems to think so...
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Who could actually win Eurovision 2018?
If we just looked at search traffic, Cyprus's Eurovision 2018 victory would be far from a done deal. The powers that be at Google HQ have crunched the tech data (as you do) and come up with a list of winners based on the countries and acts that have been searched for the most by people in participating Eurovision countries online.
Here's what their Top Five looks like:
Israel’s Netta tops the list and is the likely winner.
Norway’s Alexander Rybak, who previously won the Song Contest in 2009, is second most likely to win.
The Czech Republic’s Mikolas Josef, who was another early favourite with the bookies, is Google’s third most likely winner.
Bookies’ favourite Cyprus falls to fourth in the search rankings.
And Belarus – whose act eliminated in the first semi-final – was thought to be fifth most likely to win.
Google's data suggests that Russia, whose act was eliminated, should have finished sixth overall, with Sweden, Finland, Ukraine and France (who have all qualified for the Grand Final) rounding out the Top Ten.
The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will air on BBC1 on Saturday 12th May from 8pm, and the show will also be broadcast on Radio 2 from 8pm
