Portugal has won the 13th annual edition of ChatVote, the traditional event held by escgo! and the #esc chatroom to find our favourite song ahead of each year’s Eurovision Song Contest!

In the 2017 edition, “Amar pelos dois” by Salvador Sabral received a total of 225 points, ahead of Koit Toome & Laura from Estonia in second place (197 points) and Blanche from Belgium in third place (186 points). Meanwhile, Australia propped up the table, receiving 17 points in last place.

Repeating the new ChatVote concept we introduced last year, 50% of the total score was determined by “juries” – regular chatters who gave their votes in ESC-style (12-10-8…) – and 50% by “televoting”, which took the form of a fast-paced poll that was held live in the chat at the start of the grand final, with everyone attending the event welcome to participate and submit as many votes as possible in the five-minute voting window.

While Belgium won our jury vote, it didn’t receive anyone’s 12 points – so in hindsight, it was no surprise to see it overtaken in the televote where people tend to focus on voting for their biggest favourites. In any case, the live-streamed scoreboard of the televoting reveal was a fitting highlight to an exciting night in the chat – thanks to everyone who attended and took part throughout the various events of ChatVote 2017!

You can see the final scoreboard here:

We can now also publish the full results of our semi-finals, in which voters were asked to nominate their ten favourite songs in each semi in two live polls after we had previewed the entries in the #esc chat. This gave the following results:

Semi 1:
1. Belgium and Finland, 3. Portugal, 4. Azerbaijan, 5. Iceland and Armenia, 7. Latvia, 8. Slovenia, 9. Australia and Albania || 11. Sweden and Cyprus, 13. Greece and Czech Republic, 15. Poland, 16. Moldova and Georgia, 18. Montenegro.

Semi 2:
1. Estonia, 2. Macedonia and Belarus, 4. Romania, 5. Bulgaria and Israel, 7. Ireland, 8. Hungary, 9. Norway, 10. Switzerland || 11. Serbia, 12. Austria, 13. Denmark, 14. San Marino, 15. Malta, 16. Netherlands, 17. Russia and Croatia, 19. Lithuania.

It’s worth noting that poor Lithuania didn’t receive a single vote from our chatters – while Sweden failed to qualify for our final for the first time since 2010. And we all know what happened to Sweden at ESC that year…

So that’s all until 2018 – although there is the small matter of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest for us to enjoy first. And while the #esc ChatVote is very much a preference poll, it can be fun to look back and see how our taste has corresponded to Europe’s over the years. As the ChatVote history shows, Salvador’s victory may not be an omen of success in Kyiv next month, but there is a possibility we might have got it “right” – just ask Lena or Loreen! So on behalf of all our voters, we wish Portugal all the best for ESC 2017.

And now, enjoy our winning song!