If we can believe the streaming figures, it is inevitable that Joost Klein will win the Eurovision Song Contest with Europapa. But the bookmakers think differently: they predict that Croatia will win. What’s up with that?
The figures don’t lie: with 22 million streams, Joost Klein’s video is the most viewed clip on the Eurovision YouTube channel. Followed by the entries from Israel and Ukraine, which both have 5.3 million views. On Spotify, only Italy (55.3 million streams) is higher than Joost Klein (40.2 million streams).
“Although the Italian song has been on Spotify for much longer, it is not surprising that that song has more streams,” says Eurovision Song Contest reporter Lonneke Haveman. “If you look at last week’s streaming numbers, the Netherlands with Joost Klein is far at the top with more than 3 million streams, followed by Italy with more than 2 million streams.”
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But how is it possible that countries such as Croatia and Switzerland are ranked much higher by bookmakers? According to Stefan Raatgever, music journalist at Het Parool, this has everything to do with the jury. “The fact that Joost Klein now has the most streams and views is really great. Europapa is really a hit and the fact that a song is already so popular in Europe before the festival is really unique.”
Professional jury
But it is not enough that he does well with the public. “The professional jury will be watching closely,” Raatgever continues. “Joost Klein really has to give his best performance so far during the semi-final on Saturday, only then can he win. He has the votes from the audience – because he is a great performer. Only he is not the best singer and the jury will be strict about that. But if he does well with the jury, he can still win.”
Although the coffee grounds remain visible, says Lonneke Haveman. “In the year that Duncan Laurence won, he was in 3rd place on Spotify and YouTube in the week before the Eurovision Song Contest. Still, he won that year, so streams and views don’t say everything.”
