Comparing results over the half-century of Eurovision is no exact science as scoring systems in the first two decades differed from todays. This table shows the songs ranked by how many maximum points they scored as a percentage of those available, i.e. how many other countries ranked them top on the night. Where there is a tie the song that competed in the widest field is placed higher. If songs are still tied then (provided the same scoring system was used) the absolute scores are used to split them. A few points to note:

• In years where ten votes were allocated by each jury there was of course no obvious favourite but if say two countries got four votes each then we've credited them with 0.5 of a maximum.  
• Few songs since 2004 have made the list due to the large numbers of countries voting so the ones that do really have achieved something!. 
• In many contests the winner has not achieved the most maximum points of the evening, and while high-achieving non winners were originally in our list it makes sense to remove them from this ranking. 
• In 1969 there was a four-way tie so each of those will be disadvantaged in this list. 
• Some of the biggest names to win Eurovision don't fare too well! 

ALL TIME TOP TEN :

1 Non Ho L'Eta	Many of the earliest Italian Eurovision songs fell flat at the contest but went on to be worldwide hits (none more so than "Volare" of course) but it was not until the ninth contest that Italy could claim both a huge pop hit AND victory. Gigliola's song, translated as "I'm Not Old Enough To Love You" gained the top mark of no less than eight of the other fifteen nations. Unfortunately there is no footage of the event as Danish TV mislaid the only videotape!. Ms Cinquetti went on to finish a close second behind Abba ten years later in Brighton and then co-compered the chaotic 1991 contest in Rome where she reprised this song at the start of the event.
Gigliola Cinquetti
Italy 1964
53.3% top marks
2 Ein Bisschen Frieden	3 Tom Pillibi	4 La Det Swinge
Nicole	Jacqueline Boyer	Bobbysocks
Germany 1982	France 1960	Norway 1985
52.9% top marks	45.8% top marks	44.4% top marks
Nicole's song was composed by longtime German composing team Siegel and Mienunger and her song was perfectly pitched for the cold war paranoia of the early 80s. After her victory Nicole's reprise was a very calculated mix of German, French, English and Dutch.	Jacqueline's parents were both in the French music business and she swept to victory in the first contest held in Britain, also achieving the first UK chart position by a Eurovision winner. She went on enjoy a long music career in both her native France and Germany.	Norway's infamous run of failures came to an end in 1985. Both girls had sung at ESC before (Hanne for Norway and Bettan for Sweden) and their kitsch anthem scored a popular win. Composer Rolf Lovland wrote Norway's second winner a decade later.
5 Net Als Toen	6 Euphoria	7 Love Shine A Light
Corry Brokken	Loreen	Katrina & The Waves
Netherlands 1957	Sweden 2012	UK 1997
44.4% top marks	43.9% top marks	41.7% top marks
Corry gave Netherlands its first of four wins with a song over four minutes long (well beyond the current three minute limit) in the first contest to be televised. She returned a year later to finish equal last, but went on to host the contest in The Hague in 1976.	Sweden's fifth victory was achieved by Lorine Talhaoui, born in Sweden of Moroccan ancestry. In the Baku contest she started as hot favourite and gained no less than eighteen maximum points, a sensational achievement in an era of forty plus countries voting.	Katrina and her Waves of course had a massive 80s hit with "Walking On Sunshine" and after their hits dried up they submitted this song (written by original Waver Kimberley Rew) to the Samaritans, and then of course to the BBC, it went on to sweep ESC glory for the UK.
8 Save Your Kisses For Me	9 Everybody	10 Een Beetje
Brotherhood Of Man	Tanel Padar & Dave Benton	Teddy Scholten
UK 1976	Estonia 2001	Netherlands 1959
41.2% top marks	40.9% top marks	40.0% top marks
1976 saw the first time in thirteen years that the BBC didn't invite one artist to sing all the potential Eurosongs, so we had a final at the Albert Hall. BOM won only narrowly but swept Eurovision and are still together in the same line up over thirty years later.	The old Eastern countries were first admitted into the contest in 1993 and Estonia quickly acquired decent results, though they were rank outsiders in 2001, yet swept to victory with this feel good number. Dave from Aruba is the only black singer so far to win.	A Dutch light entertainment star of the fifties and sixties, Teddy provided Eurovision with its first bouncy winner, so she may have a lot to answer for. The sentiment of the song is that Teddy loves you "a little". She went on to host a Dutch version of Candid Camera.

11-61:

               Unranked:  Refrain, by Lys Assia, the 1956 winner (SWZ) , as no scores are available.

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