That Music List: LIST 254 – 16/05/2026 (Eurovision Special)

Hello all,

For those of you (there must be some?) who have been keeping count across the two lifetimes of That Music List, you'll know already that today's offering represents the fourth ever Eurovision Song Contest special, following on from Lists #157 (2015), #202 (2016) and #236 (2018).

I'll be perfectly honest - I didn't think I had another one of these in me, all the more so with the running time of the Lists having increased from almost 80 minutes to almost 120 minutes since I came back, bringing with it a resultant need to find 50 percent more tracks. Even allowing for the extended videos for the two contributions from a certain much-loved Icelandic act, that was always likely to equate to around 35 or 36 songs all told.

I ought not have worried. There were plenty enough highlights among the line-up from this year's Eurovision, added to those favourites of mine from the seven other renewals to have taken place during That Music List's hiatus (yes, I'm including the 2020 edition that sort of never was), to nourish a complete list.

Whether there'll be another such special this time year, however, I somehow doubt, short of mining both National Finals for lost gems among the non-winners and pre-millennium Contests to a far greater extent than ever previously.

Here then, are my choices from 2019 to 2026 inclusive.

By my maths 24 nations are represented in total. There's nothing from the UK, though I suppose Look Mum No Computer from this year came closer than any.

There are a handful that split the jury in this household; I suspect I'll never be able to convince my nearest and dearest of the fragile beauty of Zalagasper or Maro, but that's fine.

There is even one stone cold last place finisher in Circus Mircus (the lowest scorer in either semi-final in 2022) that I swear would have been embraced by BBC Radio 6 Music had it been submitted not to Eurovision, but instead to that radio station bearing a label marked "new project from Beta Band alumni" or similar. Yep, that's today's hill on which I'm quite prepared to die.

Regular List features are in thinner supply than usual, as the confines of this particular special don't lend themselves to too many of them. In addition, whilst there was the notional possibility of doing a Then And Now with any of this year's returning acts, I liked all of Vanilla Ninja, Senhit and Bzikebi's new numbers far less than their old ones, and I'm afraid Delta Goodrem has never done a thing for me. Ah well!

Instead, and having talked about Brainstorm in the context of the Contest's subsequent near-total aversion to indiepop during my That Eurovision Review 2026, I wondered whether they were still a going concern. Turns out they very much are, with new work - and an accompanying bittersweet video - out only last year. That seemed cause enough to give the occasional Yes, They Did Other Songs As Well feature an unexpected run-out.

That aside, think of today's List as an extended Eurotastic, with the frequent German and French language song features also included.

However, you choose to do Eurovision - be that curled up in bed with a drink and the laptop like us, or actually in Vienna itself like a friend or three of ours - I wish you a very pleasant few hours' entertainment.

My work for Eurovision 2026 is almost done now, with just my scoresheets and patented bingo cards to distribute to them as wants them.