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Eurovision has thrown up some surprisingly decent pop tunes the over the last few years. Despite cynics best efforts at deriding it, the contest has come a long way since the days of ‘Boom Bang-A-Bang’. Most entries these days are uplifting true pop songs, three minutes in length, and very commercial sounding. Take this uplifting pop/dance track from Sweden’s Jenny Silver.

A 2011 entrant in the annual Swedish final selection show Melodifestivalen, ‘Something In Your Eyes’ has hooks seemingly inspired by ABBA’s 1979 disco phase, and could easily have been written by super Swedes Benny and Björn. Jenny Silver even resembles a fresher, younger Frida. It’s not surprising she didn’t win and Eric Saade took victory, as her stage show paled in comparison, and that’s as much a part of the contest now as the songs themselves. But, you could argue her song was arguably better – a true modern Swedish pop classic.

Did you watch it? Now that Saturday’s final has taken place and the winning song declared, the Eurovision Song Contest is all over for another year. And 2011 was the best contest for a couple of years. I bet no-one saw the winning entry coming, though. Azerbaijan romped home with the victory, with Ell/Nikki’s Running Scared (above) awarded 221 points with tallies coming in from almost every country. Second place went to rank outsider Italy with Raphael Gualazzi and Madness of Love (the country returning for the first time in 14 years), while my personal favourite, Popular by Eric Saade for Sweden took third spot on the podium.

Staged in the 24,000-capacity Esprit Arena Düsseldorf, the 56th running of the contest threw up some surprises. Ukraine took fourth spot in the winners list with Mika Newton and Angels, yet none of us in South Woodham Ferrers could recall it (bar the strange sand painting act on stage) and Moldova’s So Lucky by Zdob şi Zdub suspended belief, what with its shouty lyric delivery and pointy hat wearing, unicycling stage act. The much more conventional – but none the less anthemic – Denmark entry, New Tomorrow by A Friend In London, rounded out the top five finishers. The stage was almost a personality in itself, with very effective and enormous pulsating backdrop graphics and projections tailored to each act.

What of my favourites? We know of Eric Saade’s fate (third, but at one point, it did seem like he was going to win), and I noted the Azerbaijan entry as the last of my five to watch, so I’m pleased it did well – a worthy winner. Russia meanwhile came 16th with Alexey Vorobyov and Get You, while Hungary’s Kati Wolf’s What About My Dreams? came in a lowly 22nd out of 25. Armenia’s entry, Boom Boom by Emmy, was knocked out in semi-final number one, but two favourites in the top three isn’t bad is it? And other notable acts? Jedward’s novelty Lipstick for Ireland polled eighth and had a lot of support, while the UK entry, I Can by Blue, came in 10th with 100 points, 10 times a better score than in 2010. The German entry, Taken By A Stranger by reigning champion Lena came 10th.

It’s May, so it must be Eurovision. Once again, it’s shaping up to be a good competition, with lots of contemporary and commercial-sounding songs vying for top honours (the UK entry, I Can by Blue, is actually their new single). Either the contest seems to have really stepped up it game in recent years, or the songs now sound more contemporary due to my years away in the early 2000s. Anyway, this year, in a break from tradition, I’m going to post my five favourites on Twitter rather than on the blog itself. Starting tonight – the first semi-final show – check www.twitter.com/gooding2shoes each day until Saturday to find out which five songs from 2011’s entries tickle my fancy. (Clue: one of them is above.)

Round to South Woodham Ferrers again to continue our series of Eurovsion re-runs (yes, Eurovision re-runs). Last night’s contest? 1991. Not a classic in Eurovision terms, but a memorable one, nonetheless. Memorable because of the winner (Carola – see clip above – is Eurovision legend, having taken part a total of 3 times. Her 1991 song Captured By A Lovestorm was also the first Eurovision single I ever bought); memorable because of Samantha Janus’ first notable appearance to UK viewers (she represented the UK that year); because of the male host’s – Toto Cutugno – general incompetence; and finally, memorable because of the epic saxophone fail during the Sofia Vassou’s entry for Greece (watch 02:58 to 03:13 in the video below). With our jury of four, it’s always fun, fun, fun, but always so late, late, late.

Okay, I’ll concede, it was a good song. Much to everyone’s surprise, Germany went and scored douze points from almost everyone as last night’s Eurovision Song Contest 2010 grand final in Oslo. Lena Meyer-Landrut sung to victory with Satellite, and with a very simple stage show (basically just some dancing) and a very simple black dress, she won over the hearts of Europe. The former winner of Germany’s Our Star for Oslo talent show has become a global superstar quite literally overnight.

We caught this year’s event in a hot and sweaty – but friendly – bar in Paris where American, French and Irish Eurovision devotees all stood glued to the big screens, waiting for their favourite entry to have its chance. We hot-footed it back to our hotel near Gare du Nord for the voting (and still amazingly got there before it had even started), and little did we know what surprised lay in wait.

The revelation that was the most talked about (bar Lena’s success, which was all over French TV for at least a week) was the UK’s dix points. And by that, I do of course mean literally dix points. Yep, we got a measly 10 points the whole night, finishing last behind even Belarus. I think that was a little unfair. There was talk of political voting (or non-voting as the case may be) once more and a sub-standard performance, but I don’t think Josh Dubovie could have given it much more. But what of my other songs to watch? Denmark, my favourite, finished fourth with 149 points (still 97 behind Germany’s 246), while Switzerland got knocked out in the second semi-final.

Contemporary pop-sounding entries from Albania and Iceland finished 16th and 19th respectively, even though both singers gave fantastic hi-energy performances, proving that modern isn’t always the way to go. Other drop-outs included Bulgaria in the second semi, and Latvia in the first. My final tips, Armenia and Romania, did quite well, taking 7th and 3rd places respectively.

So, a pleasing result in the grand scheme of things, and some surprises, be they good or bad. Germany’s win does mean that once the venue has been announced for 2011’s 56th running of the show, we might have the most decent chance of watching it live. After all, with my German friend Rainer already living in the country, it could be two Eurovision Song Contests in a row watched from different countries in Europe…