Anyone who follows the Olympics or other sporting events will be familiar with the concept of the Medal Table, which ranks countries based on their first, second and third place finishes. Here is a similar table for the Eurovision Song Contest based on all results from the first event in 1956 to the most recent competition in 2008.

There are some points worth noting. The voting in the first Contest in 1956  was done in private and the full result was never made public, with only the winner (Switzerland) being announced. While it is widely speculated that Germany came second, only a gold has been awarded for this Contest.

In 1969 there was a four-way tie for first place between the U.K., Netherlands, Spain and France. All four have been given a gold, and no silver or bronze has been awarded. In 1990, there was a tie for second place between France and Ireland, and both have been given a silver with no bronze being awarded. In 1991 Sweden and France tied for first place, but on a countback of the jury votes Sweden took the title, and they get the gold for that year, and France the silver. In 2002 the points of Estonia and the U.K. were equal, however Estonia were awarded the third place and the U.K. fourth and the bronze medal has been given to Estonia on this table as the introduction of sudden death relegation means that there are now no tied positions.

It's no surprise that with seven wins, Ireland finishes on top of the table. Of the countries with five victories, the U.K. is ahead of France and then Luxembourg, based on the higher number of second place finishes. 

The UK has the most medals, with 22 finishes in the medal positions, including a remarkable 15 silver medals, but the UK has not picked up a medal since 1998. France has 16 medals, but you have to go back to 1991 for their last medal; a silver. Ireland has 12 medals, with the most recent being the silver picked up by "Mysterious Woman" in 1997.

In total thirty eight countries have taken part in the Contest. Twelve countries have yet to finish in the top three. Some like Morocco, Hungary and Slovakia have only taken part on few occasions and no longer participate, but others like Finland and Portugal are still waiting for a medal finish after taking part on almost forty occasions.

For the third year in a row, 2003 saw a new country win the competition with Turkey jumping up the table as their only previous Top 3 finish had been a 3rd place back in 1997. Belgium overtake Monaco after outscoring them on silver medals and Russia has also climbed following the bronze medal gained in 2003.

There are four countries on the medal table that no longer take part in the competition; Luxembourg, Italy, Monaco and Yugoslavia. Many of the constituent parts of the former Yugoslavia continue to enter the contest, though none has yet made it onto the table in it's own right with Croatia coming closest with two 4th place finishes.

Information can be found at http://www.keithm.utvinternet.ie/Medal Table.htm

RANK

COUNTRY

TOTAL

IRELAND

7

4

12

2

UNITED KINGDOM

5

15

2

22

3

FRANCE

5

4

7

16

4

LUXEMBOURG

5

0

2

7

5

SWEDEN

4

1

4

9

6

NETHERLANDS

4

0

1

5

7

ISRAEL

3

2

1

6

8

SPAIN

2

4

1

7

9

SWITZERLAND

2

3

3

8

10

ITALY

2

1

4

7

11

DENMARK

2

1

3

6

12

NORWAY

2

1

1

4

13

GERMANY

1

4

5

10

14

1

2

2

5

15=

BELGIUM

1

2

0

3

15=

UKRAINE

1

2

0

3

18

GREECE

1

0

3

4

=19

ESTONIA

1

0

1

2

=19

=19

LATVIA

1

0

1

2

=22

1

0

0

1

=22

FINLAND

1

0

0

1

=22

SERBIA

1

0

0

1

26

MALTA

0

2

2

4

=27

ICELAND

0

=27

=27

0

1

0

1

=30

0

0

1

1

=30

0

0

1

1

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