The best and worst Eurovision qualification streaks

Europe and Australia have voted and decided: 20 semi-finalists are now finalists in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Since Ukraine and Kalush Orchestra qualified for the Grand Final of Eurovision 2022, the country remains the only nation in the competition that has never failed to qualify for a Eurovision Final.

The remaining competing countries have all, at least once, failed to qualify (e.g. Australia), which begs the question: Which countries have the best qualification streak, and which have the worst?

Before expanding the list, it's worth mentioning that the Semi-finals were only introduced in Eurovision 2004, and that Eurovision 2020 was canceled and therefore not taken into account.

Best qualification streaks

After Ukraine, Sweden is the first country on the list. Surprise, surprise! There has only been one year that the Nordic country has failed to qualify for the Eurovision final. That year was 2010, when Anna Bergendahl took "This Is My Life" to the competition. Five more points were needed.

If it weren't for Eurovision 2022, both Cyprus and Israel would've been the next honorable mentions. But both Andromache and Michael Ben David failed to qualify for the show's Grand Final. Before yesterday, the friendly neighbors had had a six-year qualification streak.

That brings us to the Netherlands, who hosted last year's contest after Duncan Laurence's 2019 victory with "Arcade." Since 2016, the country has never missed out on a Eurovision final. Despite having eight consecutive non-qualifications from 2005 until 2013, the Dutch team has stepped up their game, only failing to qualify in 2015.

With Subwoolfer's qualification at this year's Eurovision, Norway has now put together a five-year qualification streak, followed closely by Serbia, which has seen their number increase from three to four after Konstrakta's recent qualification.

Worst qualification streaks

It is not an honor to reside on this list, but some other countries haven't been so lucky.

Despite not taking part in Eurovision 2021, Montenegro hasn't seen a final since 2015 when Knez performed "Adio." That adds up to a five year non-qualification streak, as Vladana couldn't turn things around for the Balkan country at this year's contest.

Georgia and Latvia are next in line with five failed attempts at qualifying for a Eurovision Grand Final. Their last qualifications take us back to 2016, when Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz (Georgia 2016) and Justs (Latvia 2016) made it through.

At last, we have Croatia, followed by Ireland, with four and three consecutive missed finals, respectively. Croatia's last qualification was back in Eurovision 2017, when Jacques Houdek performed "My Friend," whereas Ireland's last appearance in a Eurovision final was in Lisbon when Ryan O'Shaughnessy (Ireland 2018) performed "Together."

With a perfect qualification streak up until 2018, Romania would have also been a candidate for this list. But with WRS' qualification for this year's Grand Final, Romania is looking to start over.