Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026  or UMK (Uuden musiikin kilpailu) takes place in Tampere tonight in Tampere arena to sold out crowds.  Special guests are last year's UMK winner Erika Vikman (11th in ESC) with last year's Eurovision winner Austrian  JJ, Finland's Eurovision 1985 represent Sonja Lumme and quartet of leading Finnish rappers Elastinen, Ares, Turisti and Averagekidluke. It's worth remembering JJ's staging and even outfit was made in Finland last year with UMK team.  The show is hosted by Jorma Uotinen, Sami Sykkö and Jasmin Beloued. Read more about them here . Out of 491 submitted entries a panel of nine members along with five audience groups selected the seven entries for the final. Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged instantly the runaway favorites to win the selection gaining more Youtube views in 24 hrs than any other UMK entry ever and also reached one million streams in record time. They also became inter...

Another year, another year of official singles chart number ones! the rappers dominate the charts many hitting the #1 spot only for a week. the weeks and weeks lasting hits are missing this year except for KAJ's Bara bada bastu with 7 weeks, the others don't go further than 4 at most. Same names scored short runs for their #1s: Averagekidluke (4), Lauri Haav (4), JVG (3), Isac Elliot (3), Mirella (2), Turisti (2) and Ares (2) Obviously the radioplay chart is completely different and you can find it here. It's also worth mentioning ALL number ones are by Finnish artists. The only one to score a number one is Ed Sheeran in the radio play charts in 2025.  Averagekidluke - Diva (week 1) Ares - Menestys on paras tapa kostaa (weeks 2-5) JVG - Rehellisesti (week 7) Turisti - Diana (weeks 8-9) KAJ - Bara bada bastu (weeks 10-15, 21) Lauri Haav - Toisessa elämässä (weeks 16-17) Ares - Onneks (week 18-20) Lauri Haav, Mirella - Aja tai kuole (week 22) ABREU - Äiti Teresa (feat. B...

Now after the national selection season is over and before the real thing starts happening in Basel it's a good time to check some #Finpop released in the past few days, weeks and months.  We kick of with none other than Käärijä with Swedish Hooja followed by Averagekidluke or Lucas Kihlman, a Finnish-American artist, singer.songwriter and designer who has been one of the most streamed artists lately, ever so popular Isac Elliott and finally Eurovision veteran Windows95man with his latest offering fresh from his European and American tour! Enjoy! Käärijä x Hooja - San Francisco boy Averagekidluke - Mitä meist jää Isac Elliot - Ehkä se siitä Windows95man - What's my name

The 2024 year in music started with AHTI's Väärään aikaan (feat. Hugo) sitting at #1 spot for the 5th week in a row. Then came Mirella going straight to #1 in week 2 starting off a spectacular year for this newcomer. Four number one hits and 25 weeks at number one spot! A total of 12 Top-20 hits off her #1 debut album. Check out the Radio Play charts here It was also a year of duets and collaborations while UMK 2024 artists Sara Siipola and Sexmane scored a joint #1 (when their UMK songs stopped at #2 and #4), as did hostess and interval act Pilvi Hämäläinen. And good old Wham! scored a Christmas number one being also the ONLY foreign act to do so. The rest was then pretty much various (pop) rappers as usual. All in all the songs that made it to #1 are all quite melodic and good and deserved their success, unlike in many times in previous years when I personally wasn't so keen on those that made it to the top many times. And nine Eurovision song contest entries made it to top-5...

This week superstar Jenni Vartiainen's new single along with already more or less known names AHTI, Averagekidluke, Pihlaja and Jari Uutela, all already featured here previously. Jenni Vartiainen / Etta - Viimeinen pisara AHTI / Averagekidluke - Kissa Pihlaja - Delulu Jari Uutela - Silmät tottuu pimeään 

 This week's #Finpop offers fresh sounds from some of the hottest new names in scene like ANI, Viivi, Mirella and Lauri Haav with Isac Elliot and Italian origin Sebastian NOTO. And that's not all, two of these videos are shot in Italy, and one is even named Italia. The odd one out is ANI / Viivi.  NOTO - 100 kyyneltä ANI / Viivi - Lupaa et sä lähet Isac Elliot / Averagekidluke /  MD$ - Italia Mirella / lauri Haav - Luotathan 

 After a tiny holiday break some more new #Finpop tunes from the radio waves and charts. Enjoy! ABREU - Paholainen (querido) feat Averagekidluke KUUMAA - Tulipalo Elias Kaskinen - Elos ALMA - Everything beautiful