Abba’s Waterloo wins Euro viewers' vote

ABBA's catchy "Waterloo" hit that won the European Song Contest 31 years ago has been voted the best song in the event's history by viewers across the continent.

The legendary Swedes didn't attend Saturday's jubilee show celebrating 50 years of glamour, glitz and catchy pop tunes.

Finishing second to 1974's "Waterloo" was the 1958 winning tune by Italy's Domenico Modugno. His serenade "Nel Blu di Pinto di Blu" is better known as "Volare."

Third was Ireland's Johnny Logan with the hit "Hold me Now" from 1987. Logan won the contest in 1980.

Viewers in 31 countries watched the show live from the Danish capital and cast their votes on the 14 entries by telephone and through telephone text messages the same way the winner is selected in the regular Eurovision contest.

The 14 original video recordings including many in scratchy black-and-white from the annual contests aired during the two-hour show. Some of the past performers appeared on stage at the end of the songs to the cheers, reports CNN.

According to the Independent, the shortlist of songs was chosen by fans from the competition's catalogue of winners at eurovision.tv. Ten of the nominees came from online votes while four extra songs were wild cards thrown into the mix.

The viewers' favourites

1: "Waterloo" by ABBA (1974) Sweden

2: "Volare" by Domenico Modugno (1958) Italy

3: "Hold me now" by Johnny Logan (1987) Ireland

4: "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou (2005) Greece

5: "Save Your Kisses For Me" by Brotherhood of Man (1976) UK

6: "Fly On The Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers (2000) Denmark

7: "Ein bisschen Frieden"by Nicole (1982) Germany

8: "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard (1968) UK

9: "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener (2003) Turkey

10: "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" by Cйline Dion (1988) Switzerland

P.T.