A catchy melody is the key for a winning tune; however, this can be overdone. Sakis Rouvas (Greece, 2004) could have easily won the competition, for instance, if the melody and chord progression they went for wasn’t over-simplistic.

Showing off falsetto ranges (for female singers too) tend to win points as well.

Tempo is set to 80+ bpm. Ballads aren’t doing particularly well recently because of the audience’s patience, or there lack of. Listening to 20-or-so songs one after another is hard for anybody so the song has to have the dynamics to keep the audience's attention. So a ballad to win, it would have to have a very very strong and flowing melody. On a personal note, I’d love to see a ballad win; it’s been a while since I heard a nice one.

A key change right before the last 30 secs is a definite NO NO! That is OLD school! An interesting riff is more effective than a repetitive chorus. The song can only be 3 minutes anyway; why repeat yourself just to throw in a key change?

Unless the song has an extremely strong or a suithing melody, e.g. Serbia & Montanegro entry of 2004, it shall be written and sang in English. Translations don't work! A song with lyrics that match its melody in a native tongue works better than a translated one. If in doubt, invent a language that works for the melody, e.g. Belgium 2003.

This list will be extended as I complete analysing the last 18 years' winners.