Mary Spiteri’s entry in 1992’s Eurovision brought Malta the highest position we’d ever gotten up until that point, 3^rd place.

Held in Malmö, Sweden the coveted first place was claimed by Ireland’s Linda Martin with her hit song Why Me? At 41 years old, Martin was (and still is) the oldest woman ever to win Eurovision.

On Spiteri’s end, her song was a beautiful and passionate ballad that combined angelic, soft notes while also highlighting the power and strength that Spiteri was more than capable of providing.

It was definitely easy to see why she got so high on the final scoreboard – even if many will argue that her real win was robbed on the night.

1998: The One That We All Love, Chiara Comes Third

It took eight years before Malta got another spot in the top three. Here, Chiara made her Eurovision debut with The One That I Love, which perfectly highlighted why she is the Maltese Queen of power ballads.

Even though she only came third, Chiara does still hold the achievement of being the most successful Eurovision contestant to not win the Contest, behind Germany’s Katja Ebstein and the German band Wind.

In Chiara’s defence here, she ended up losing out on the top spot to Eurovision idol Dana International with Diva.

The Israeli singer’s win to this day is considered a perfect example of Eurovision flair and style – with Diva being an extremely fondly appreciated song, even holding the title of being one of Eurovision’s greatest hits.

2002: Ira’s 7^th Wonder Comes Only 12 Points Away From First Place

Can you imagine how nerve-wracking and nail-biting a Eurovision voting night is when there is only a douze pointe between first and second place? Imagine no more because this is what Ira Losco’s Eurovision debut experienced.

By the end of the night, Latvia’s Marie N was crowned the winner while Ira Losco brought home Malta’s first-ever second place with the song 7^th Wonder.

Easily, this is Malta’s very first shot at getting the top spot – and the closest we have ever gotten. To this day, 7^th Wonder remains a song where many can argue that Malta’s win was robbed and it would be justified given the close margin between first and second place.

2005: ‘I’ll Be Your Angel’, Chiara Takes Home Second Place

Malta’s last spot in the top three was sixteen years ago but 2005 brought Chiara back to Eurovision for her second time and she once more impressed audiences by topping the scoreboard at 2^nd place.

Once more, Chiara’s powerful vocals were on full display with Angel, another song that is fondly remembered by Maltese. It is clear that Chiara seriously upped her game in her return to the Song Contest, despite that Greece took home the crown.

Helena Paparizou’s My Number One was a fiery and fun hit with audiences, winning the contest with 230 points compared with Chiara’s 192 points. As amazing as Chiara’s song was, Helena’s win was easily very deserved.

This was Greece’s first-ever win in the Eurovision after 31 years of participation in the Contest beforehand – making us hopeful that Destiny might just bring home the crown.

If we look at Eurovision as a whole, Malta has never had a problem with talent or strong competitors.

Rather, if we look at the entries Malta has been competing with over the years, their strength of performance and staging have adapted far faster than us – even if we haven’t stopped trying our best.

Looking at these almost wins and even some of our other entries in general, the problem rarely is that the song itself is bad – it is the fact that the competition just keeps getting stronger and understands international audiences more clearly.

As such, looking ahead to 2021’s Eurovision, it is time to see whether Malta has finally properly closed the gap and taken advantage of watching Eurovision for all these decades or whether we still have a lot to learn.

Which of these do you think should have won their Eurovision Song Contest?