A SONG penned by a Glasgow man has been dubbed “most likely to triumph” at this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest.

But it is not thanks to their choice of singer or stage performance.
Russia’s entry You Are The Only One, written by John Ballard, and France’s song I Have Searched For You both contain at least two of the most “successful” words in the contest’s history.

The Press Association has analysed the titles of every song that has come first, second or third since Eurovision began in 1956 (179 songs in total).

The most frequently-used word, after the definite and indefinite article (“the” and “a”), is “love”.

“Me”, “I” and “you” are the next most popular.

The top 20 also includes less predictable words such as “little” “let” and “yes”.

If the past trends continue, Russia and France stand the best chance of a strong finish in this year’s contest, which takes place in Stockholm on Saturday.

John, 64, who Drumchapel, but has lived in Sweden since the 1970s has already experienced considerable success in pop music, as one of the primary song writers and producers of the Swedish pop band Ace of Base, who sold 30 million albums worldwide.

In 2013 his song for the entry in the Eurovision song contest for Azerbaijan, Farid Mammadov’s Hold Me, came second, and a song he wrote for Russia in 2014 came seventh.

As a young man, Ballard performed on the folk scene in Scotland and the UK, playing with performers such as Billy Connolly and Matt McGinn before relocating to Sweden.

The UK’s entry, You’re Not Alone by Joe & Jake, does not contain any of the top 20 words – although “not” has turned up a few times, most recently in 2012’s third-place song by Serbia, Love is Not an Object.

Words a little further down the list include “child”, “rock”, “blue” and – the songwriters’ favourite “la”.

Some of the oddest words to appear in the titles of Eurovision’s highest-placed songs include “wax”, “gravity”, “birdie” and, perhaps most peculiar of all, “terminal”.

It would not be Eurovision without some eccentric words appearing on the list, of which “diggi-loo” is possibly the most bizarre.

The song Diggi-loo Diggi-ley, by the Swedish group Herrey’s, won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1984.