Happy New Year, Eurovision Song Contest fans. Time to look back at the five articles that OnEurope recorded as its most read during 2022. This is our own site-traffic ranking rather than an independently verified set of figures, but it gives a decent snapshot of what caught readers’ attention during a remarkable Eurovision year. Thanks again for your support — we really would be nothing without you!
Polina Gagarina performs at Pro-Putin rally
Russian singer Polina Gagarina, who represented Russia at Eurovision 2015 and finished second with A Million Voices, performed at the Luzhniki Stadium rally-concert in Moscow on 18 March 2022. The event marked the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and publicly supported Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eurovision 2022 – The viewing figures
Mo Fanning’s ongoing compilation of broadcaster-reported television and streaming audiences became one of the year’s most-read pieces. It included an average UK Grand Final audience of 8.9 million on BBC One, peaking at 10.6 million during the voting, alongside 6.6 million viewers in Italy, 6.8 million in Spain, 2.44 million in Sweden and 1.2 million in Norway. The figures were a contemporary snapshot, with more numbers still being added rather than a final consolidated dataset.
Ukraine story rolls on – this time, it’s drugs
Another Ukraine-related controversy from the 2022 Eurovision season. The detail is best left to the original article, but the wider story was a contest taking place while Ukraine was under Russian invasion — and ultimately won by Kalush Orchestra with Stefania, a song that acquired a significance far beyond its original story about frontman Oleh Psiuk’s mother.
Why a massive song contest in Europe is no fun for sound engineers
Eurovision may look effortless on screen, but mixing and broadcasting a show on this scale is anything but simple. The article examined the technical headache behind the spectacle, at a time when some performances in Eurovision 2022 attracted criticism for inconsistent live audio, including vocal and mix problems. So, yes, there is rather more to it than pressing “play” and hoping for the best.
Serbia – The standout moment of 2022
Konstrakta — Ana Đurić — represented Serbia with In corpore sano, the gloriously strange entry built around repeated hand-washing at a basin and five backing performers. The song took aim at health, access to healthcare and society’s ideas of beauty and celebrity, while even finding room for a reference to Meghan Markle’s healthy hair.
In the Grand Final in Turin on 14 May, Serbia finished fifth with 312 points: 87 from the juries and 225 from the public vote. A memorable performance, then — and clearly one that OnEurope readers agreed deserved another look.
