The Key

Written by: admin

While you may expect your average Eurovision entry to be a rousing, brass filled pop stomper, the truth is that the modern Eurovision voter has a much more discerning taste.

Taking a look at a very fundamental building block of each song – the key – we see a rather unusual pattern emerging.
- 70% of winning entries in the last ten years have been in a minor key
- 70% of losing entries in the last ten years have been in a major key
The growing Eastern music influence is partly responsible for this, as traditionally they are more likely to use minor scales, but it also shows a growing seriousness in people’s approach to the competition.

The magic key this year it seems is D minor. Norway – the far and away favourites – have chosen D minor for their entry, as have the host nation Russia and the quietly popular Romania.

Azerbaijan and Albania are a semitone above; Moldova and Croatia are a semitone below; and Iceland start in C minor but change up a key to get them even closer to the money.

The key to avoid is G major – a trap that Portugal and Denmark have wandered headfirst into, Malta are teetering on the precipice off (in F# major) and the UK start off neatly avoiding and then changing key dangerously close to.

The key change in itself though is a whole different story…