Eurovision 2012: Euphoric Swede Beats Grannies

Bookies' favourite Loreen, singing trance pop number Euphoria won this year's annual Eurovision with a convincing lead in the final tally.

The former Swedish Idol contestant (she came fourth in 2004) scored a mammoth 372 votes, leaving Russia's granny group  Buranovskiye Babushki way behind in second place with 259 points.

Last minute betting ahead of the European event saw the gap between Loreen and the grannies shrink, as a BetAsia pundit noted that the Swede's vocals tend to be "not pitch perfect" while the Russian nanas were scoring high on "cute factor".

The bookies' got the top three correct, with their third favourite, Serbia's  Želko Joksimović scoring 214 for his over-the-top orchestrated ballad Nije Ijubav Stvar - to land third in the competition.

Loreen's win is the fifth for Sweden at Eurovision (their first win being with Abba in 1974) and ties them with the UK, France and Luxembourg for the second highest amount of wins. Ireland hold the record for most wins, having taken out the competition seven times.

This year's biggest upset  was the measly tally for the UK's Engelbert Humperdinck, his Scott Walkeresque torch song Love Will Set You Free scoring just 12 points, to end second last.

Only Norway's entry scored lower - another Nordic trance number, it seems the 'Viking trance voting bloc' went all the way with Sweden.

Overall it was another night where camp triumphed over decent tunes. Turkey's Can Bonomo distracted with their heavy eyeliner and cape dancing (creating a boat out of the swishing cloaks at one point), Lithuania's Donny Montell sang Love Is Blind while blindfolded and Moldova's Pasha Perfini injected some '20s swing into his entry.

In true Eurovision style, Ireland's Jedward performed as if they were in a camp sci-fi opera - it was the former X Factor twins second go at the competition and they managed to finish even lower than last year's eighth position, finishing at 20th place.

There was no room for the quality '60s pop soul of Italy's Nina Zilli, her Out Of Love was an early favourite but ended up ninth. And bona fide pop star, the French Indonesian singer Angunn placed 22nd for France with her whistle-refrained Echo (You And I).

The night was dominated by ballads - of the rock, pop, trance and power varieties. Loreen's win however, may see next year's Eurovision hopefuls get their trance on. And, who knows, maybe in another decade or two we'll hear some dubstep ballads.