56	57	58	59
60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69
70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89
90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99
00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21

Fascist Spain arrived in 1961, balanced by Communist Yugoslavia. It is fair to say that they weren't very popular with the rest of Europe, though even in their debut year the quality of Conchita Bautista shone through enough for them to get a top ten placing. One can consider most of their '60s output as a work in progress: an attempt to perfect a specifically Spanish sound, heavy on sass and shimmy and thick with latin passion: effectively, an attempt to create their 1969 entry. In this respect, 1968's "La La La" stands out as different to the usual Spanish style, which perhaps explains its popularity with the European voters as much as any of Franco's alleged bungs.

Throughout their history, Spain have played the tourist card, offering straw donkeys of varying quality for our consumption. This sense of playing away has been of definite benefit: the Mediterranean nations have provided us with consistent respite from the central European core of Eurovision, and at no time was this more welcome than in the dark days of the '80s and '90s when predictable power ballads had nothing more to give than a contrasting middle-eight, and the sound of Irish pipes haunted the land. Spain offered something different (albeit seldom of a standard to appear in this top ten). That, coupled with their uninterrupted involvement and Big Five status, has earnt them the honour of being the nation to have been awarded the most points by our AView jury. That said, there's only one track that's made it to this list in the last thirty years...

	1pt	1990	AV: 4th Eur: 5th
	Azúcar Moreno - "Bandido"
	A backing tape problem saw an hilarious false start for the opening Spanish entry in 1990, showing up the miming nature of the stage band. That's not why we ranked it so highly. It's a good latin dance number with more than a hint of a call to prayer, even if it does feel a lot, at times, like an episode of the Clothes Show.
	2pts	1966	AV: 2nd Eur: =7th
	Raphael - "Yo soy aquél"
	In 1966, Spain gave us the legendary Raphael: a sort of Spanish Cliff Richard with hints of Norman Wisdom if Norman Wisdom had been a plastic sex-toy. The song is a powerful, stabby, soaring ballad (of the sort which would dominate in later years, but done properly here, by an expert).
	3pts	1973	AV: 5th Eur: 2nd
	Mocedades - "Eres tú"
	"Eres tú" was accused at the time of ripping off the 1966 Yugoslavian entry "Brez besed", and, let's face it, it does. This poses a bit of a problem, but it must be said that the innovation is superior to the original invention here. "Eres tú" would itself become a Eurovision classic, and something of a prototype for future entrants: a building power-ballad with a fantastic chorus-line and oddly poppy moments for such a folksy looking outfit.
	4pts	1980	AV: 3rd Eur: 12th
	Trigo Limpio - "Quédate esta noche"
	In 1980, Spain took to the stage in evening-wear (the woman doing the increasingly standard cape removal at half-time) for an at times quite haunting, at times rather brassy and dramatic number (think "Live & Let Die" or "MacArthur Park"). It's all very tense, but doesn't quite do enough with it.
	5pts	1974	AV: 2nd Eur: =9th
	Peret - "Canta y sé feliz"
	The Spanish entry of 1974 was the most Spanish yet: singer Peret throwing his free-held guitar all about the place, turning it backwards and hammering on the back at one point, in an exciting and fun rumba fiesta to which the shouting of "¡Olé!" is obligatory.
	6pts	1968	AV: 1st Eur: 1st
	Massiel - "La, la, la"
	Universal nonsense sing-along reached its zenith in 1968 with the excellent "La, la, la", complete with moody minor verse and a joyous, tear-jerking exclamation of a chorus. If a Francoist bribing spree did take place that year, it at least served to create one of the few occasions when Europe agreed with our own scoring. In another time, this song might do better in this chart, but familiarity has taken its toll slightly, and allowed less well known entries to gain over it the advantage of novelty.
	7pts	1977	AV: 7th Eur: 9th
	Micky - "Enséñame a cantar"
	Sung by the buoyant, Roy Castle-ish Micky accompanied on stage by three backing singers, a jug blower and a seated young woman in silver cowboy boots pretending to play a banjo, this is a happy-go-lucky affair rather reminiscent of "Young at Heart" by The Bluebells, or even "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke". It possesses an infectious sense of joy, as might be found in a curious uncle. It's rubbish in a way, but such delightful rubbish as might be found in a bric-à-brac shop.
	8pts	1983	AV: 2nd Eur: =19th
	Remedios Amaya - "¿Quién maneja mi barca?"
	Truly amazing. In a bold move Spain went with a particularly hard-core Moorish flamenco, far from the safety of European tonal conventions. The result is a loud, aggressive, mechanical and profoundly North African performance. Petrifying stuff. The wild Remedios Amaya, performing barefoot, flourishes her dress in some wonderful semi-colons, though had she done a few more she might've thawed the hearts of a few more juries and scored more than nul points. Alas, we know how blinkered Eurovision judges can be.
	10pts	1969	AV: 2nd Eur: =1st
	Salomé - "Vivo cantando"
	Spain's 1969 entry was pure brilliance: delivered by the constantly shimmying Salomé in her distinctive (and apparently rather heavy) blue porcelain-tasseled jump-suit, the song starts inauspiciously before taking a chunk of 1965's entry "¡Qué bueno, qué bueno!", shaking it about a bit, and then repeating it with increasing vigour and speed until poor Salomé can shake no more.
	12pts	2008	AV: 1st Eur: 16th
	Rodolfo Chikilicuatre - "Baila el Chiki-chiki"
	Bequiffed fictional comedy character and inventor of the vibrator-guitar, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, is accompanied by a pair of similarly haired female dancers (one of whom occasionally breaks down) as he performs a somewhat sparsely produced "reggaeton" number, the chorus for which reduces the Baila el Chiki-Chiki into its constituent moves: 1) brikindans, 2) crusaito, 3) maiquelyason, 4) robocop. In no time at all you'll be dancing along to the song we placed 7th in our all time Top 10.