Sweden’s Loreen has earned more than most Eurovision winners, but she’s a long way from ‘Waterloo’

“Eurovision can catapult a singer into fame, and a catchy Eurovision song can provide a huge income for the lucky winner. This is reflected in their potential Spotify earnings, with some winners earning millions from a single song,” said a spokesperson for the casino and entertainment site Mr. Gamble.

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Loreen has already earned royalties of nearly $250,000 (£191,137) from streaming via sites such as Spotify
SPOT,
+1.19%,
which Mr. Gamble used to track plays for each contestant and past winners to determine potential postperformance earnings, based on the average rate per stream across the big streaming services.

As for the methodology, each Eurovision song’s streams were tracked on on the music streaming site, with the number of plays calculated and multiplied by $0.004, the average Spotify royalty earnings, and then converted into GBP earnings (MarketWatch converted amounts into U.S. dollars for the purpose of this article). 

The singer, who was the bookmakers’ favorite, and who also won the contest in 2012 with “Euphoria,” has logged 60.5 million Spotify streams, with “Tattoo” now the ninth-most-streamed winning Eurovision song ever, according to the Mr. Gamble website.

Based on the average number of streams for every prior winning song — 44.4 million — Mr. Gamble said Eurovision winners can expect to earn around $177,615 from streaming royalties. “This means Sweden’s, Italy’s and Norway’s entrants have already earned more than the average Eurovision winner since the Grand Final on Saturday.”

Alongside “Tattoo,” Italy’s “Due Vite” by Marco Mengoni, “Queen of Kings” by Norway’s Alessandra, “Cha Cha Cha” by Finland’s Käärijä and “Solo” by Poland’s Blanka are the most-streamed songs this year, earning over $750,432. Italy’s song has been streamed 50.5 million times, followed by 47.7 million for Norway’s and 23.9 million for the Finnish tune.

Collectively, the Eurovision songs for all 37 contestants have earned more than $1.2 million, based on 304.1 million streams, by Mr. Gamble’s count. 

For Sweden, though, Loreen has done a bit more than bring home a trophy and put her now-seven-time-winning country on the musical map again. Her victory also means Sweden will host Eurovision 2024, marking 50 years since the contest’s most successful winner of all time, Abba, performed the disco hit “Waterloo” in 1974.

Of course, not everyone was happy with the judge’s Saturday decision, which sparked anger and conspiracy theories, with the audience- and jury-voted winners having diverged.

Mr. Gamble calculated the song contest’s top 10 most streamed songs of all time, with the 2019 Dutch winner “Arcado” by Duncan Laurence streamed 944 million times to date, earning nearly $3.72 million. Italy’s 2021 winner, by rock band Måneskin, is second with 389 million plays, earning $1.53 million to date.

And the Swedish greats Abba are at No. 4, with “Waterloo” logging 242,201,529 streams. The song’s estimated earnings, according to Mr. Gamble, are roughly $957,173 to date.

But then one has to factor in that streaming services were not a glint in the entertainment industry’s eye in the 1970s, and the band may only have more to earn as its music keeps finding new fans. The Abba Voyage virtual London concert featuring the original four has sold over a million tickets since its launch last year. A global tour is now planned.

For now, Loreen, also a Eurovision winner in 2012, is millions of streams behind her supergroup Swedish forebears. But one can almost hear the 39-year-old intone: “I feel like I win when I lose.”