In the six decades of the Eurovision Song Contest, trying to get a disparate bunch of voters from all corners of the continent to decide whether a Bavarian folk tune should come out on top of a Russian synth-fest or a British pop song is surely asking these poor folk to deliberate between not just apples and pears, but everything else in the fruit basket - including, quite literally, a bunch of grapes in 1997, courtesy of an enthusiastic Greek entry (check on YouTube if you don't believe me!)
And yet, somehow, all forces aligned five years ago to give one young man the highest number of votes EVER in the history of the contest. Not only that, but he won with the highest ever margin between him and the runner-up Iceland.
Not bad for a 23-year-old originally from Belarus. His name: Alexander Rybak. His country for the contest: Norway. The song: Fairytale, composed by his own fair hand, a typically foot-stomping, upbeat, folksy ballad set apart from the pack by an annoyingly catchy refrain on the fiddle.
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With 'Fairytale', Alexander garnered a stonking 387 points out of a possible 492. His album 'Fairytales' charted in nine European countries, including a number one spot in both Norway and Russia.
Where is he now? Still composing and releasing records, most recently a Christmas album a couple of years ago. Last year, he composed an entry for Norway's national competition Melodi Grand Prix, which chooses the country's Eurovision entry. 'I'm With You' came fourth.
Of course, Eurovision purists point out that, with so many more countries in the competition in recent years, getting a high number of points has become easier.
So, if we look at percentage points instead, the most successful ever winner was Luxembourg's Anne-Marie David in 1973 with 'Tu te reconnaîtras', earning 129 points out of a possible 160, hence garnering 80.625% of the vote.
Second to them, and the only other entry to earn over 80% of the vote was ... hurrah... Britain's very own Brotherhood of Man in 1976, who won with 80.392%.
Which is yet another good omen for Britain's entry this year, Molly, with 'Children of the Universe'.
What's your favourite ever Eurovision entry - perhaps one of these?
The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final 2014 is on Saturday 10 May at 8pm on BBC1.