There are only two days left to exit from 2025, while the Eurovision 2026 season has already begun with 2 announced songs.
But before we move on to the next Eurovision season, we have selected for you the personalities who stood out at Eurovision 2025, regardless of the final ranking of the contest. After all, history has proven that an artist does not need to win to leave their mark.
What is the Secret Combination that makes a participation and accordingly an artist to stand out? The music, the charisma, the displacement, the characteristic stage appearance or something else that we cannot determine? But certainly the love of the people and especially of the Eurofans keeps the “star” of a Eurovision artist lit over time.
In this article, we highlighted 5 +1 artists who stood out according to various statistics and will be specially mentioned when we look back.
Tommy Cash
The Estonian rapper managed to monopolize the interest of the television audience with the viral Espresso Macchiato and his broken Italian. His live performance at the Grand Final is the most popular on YouTube with 42 million views, while the video clip of the song has corresponding views, making it No. 1 on this platform. Eurovision 2025, with all the political controversies, the scandals of the score, the censure of several state bodies towards KAN and the EBU for the disputed first place in televoting, needed the lightness of Tommy Cash . Invited to various countries, to major European television channels, to recognized music festivals – he also passed by the Plisskën Festival in Athens, Tommy Cash left the strongest mark from Eurovision 2025.
KAJ
Even before they won Melodifestivalen , Sweden was the odds favorite to win Eurovision 2025. This was initially due to Mans Zelmerlow, but KAJ’s victory did not change the course of the betting. KAJ is a three-member boy band from the Vörå region of Finland, known for their humor and use of the Finnish-Swedish Vörå dialect. They soon stood out among the candidates not so much for the public favorite “Bara Bada Bastu” but for the joy they transmitted through their Tik Tok videos and live performances with their endless stage energy. Sweden eventually ended up 4th in the rankings, despite the bookmakers’ lead, but KAJ gave a cheerful note to the season, with their song closing 1st in streams on Spotify with 120 million.
JJ
First of all, Johannes Pietsch, known by the stage name JJ , is a very special personality of Eurovision 2025, combining the classical Austrian education of opera, the pop music he learned from… karaoke and the exotic beauty of his mother’s Filipino origin. He emerged as the winner of this year’s competition with 436 points, of which 258 from the jury (1st place) and 178 from the televoting. Entries such as Espresso Macchiato or Bara Bada Bastu may have excited the audience, but the emotion and depth of JJ’s voice were enough to give him the victory, the 3rd overall for Austria.
Beatrice (Shkodra Elektronike)
Albania submitted a masterpiece for Eurovision 2025 this year with Zjerm and the undeniable charisma of Beatrice of Shkodra Elektronike . The 8th place they achieved does not represent the buzz that Beatrice did to eurofans, but it gave Albania a top 10 result and an iconic moment in this year’s competition.
Klavdia
The 23-year-old Klavdia had stood out from The Voice in 2018, being in Elena Paparizou’s team. She has sought to participate in Eurovision again in the past, but in 2025 she succeeded after first winning the National Final organized by ERT. Despite negative predictions – especially from Greek TV presenters – Klavdia with Asteromata directed by Fokas Evangelinos gave Greece 6th place, the best result of their country since 2013. Klavdia, with her voice and ethos, stood out among very unpromising participations and recognized artists. In fact, in a recent interview she expressed her desire to represent Greece again in the future.
Erika Vikman
The Finnish Pop/Rock star Erika Vikman was a persistent demand of thousands of fans and this year she almost comfortably managed to win the UMK 2025, with perhaps not her best song to date. What made her stand out was her incomparable stage temperament with the latex clothes and the… flying microphone that almost did not follow her to the Basel stage. Despite the forecasts that wanted her in the top 5, she arrived just a breath before the top ten, but became the most cult female entry, with her peer (and friend) Miriana Conte from Malta. Ich Komme, Ich Komme!
Special mention to Napa from Portugal, who may have gone unnoticed at Eurovision 2025, finishing in 21st place with 50 points, but later went viral on Tik Tok. Their entry Deslocado is in 2nd place at the end of 2025 with 107 million streams on Spotify. However, I don’t think Napa themselves will be of any concern to the community in the future.
Who would you define as the person of the year for 2025?
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