Spain | Gala Eurovisión Televote Ends - First Three Songs Selected

Following the Operación Triunfo final on December 19th 2018, one minute snippets of all seventeen potential Gala Eurovisión songs were revealed and the public vote opened - allowing fans to vote for their three favourites. At 23:59 on January 2nd 2019 voting officially closed and the top three in the public vote became the first three songs to be featured in Gala Eurovisión - the Spanish National Final due to take place later on this month.

The three highest scorers and therefore advancing via public vote are:

1. María - "Muérdeme"

María placed 8th in Operación Triunfo 2018 after being evicted in Gala 10. Despite this, upon the snippet releases, her track 'Muérdeme' quickly became the fan favouite - taking on a huge lead at the start of the vote and then being at the top ever since. Nobody has been able to catch María in the public vote, with her tropical banger being described as the 'Lo Malo' of 2019 - but will the Spanish public continue to support her at Gala Eurovisión? You can listen to the 1 minute snippet of 'Muérdeme' via RTVE's official twitter channel in the tweet below.

2. Noelia - "Hoy vuelvo a reír otra vez"

Perhaps even more surprising is Noelia, who is comfortably the second favourite in the poll despite leaving Operación Triunfo in Gala 7, placing 11th out of 16. She impressed us on the show with her huge voice - taking on some huge songs including a touching tribute to Aretha Franklin with her belter 'Respect' and also an incredible rendition of 'Stone Cold' by Demi Lovato. Fittingly, she also took on 'La Tormenta' originally sung by Pastora Soler who represented Spain back in 2012 with 'Quedate Conmigo'. Whilst María's track is being likened to summer stomper 'Lo Malo', Noelia's power ballad 'Hoy vuelvo a reír otra vez' is being called the second coming of Pastora and it is safe to say that if Spanish audiences opt for another ballad that Noelia is the right decision. Check out her minute-long-snippet here:

3. Natalia - "La clave"

Third in the televote and also making it through is finalist Natalia with pop song 'La clave'. She was one of our favourites from the very start and ended in third position despite her cover of 'The Scientist' by Coldplay being probably our favourite performance of the series! Natalia has consistently shown that she is more than just a singer - she is both an artist and a performer - and has given us some amazing performances on the Operación Triunfo stage. Her potential Eurovision song - 'La clave' - is very on trend, sounding very commercial and like something you would hear on the radio. We can definitely already see Natalia impressing Europe with some fantastic choreography to go alongside the bop which sounds very similar to the music by recent British pop sensation Anne-Marie.

The public have decided the first three Gala Eurovisión entries and now it is up to RTVE and their professional jury to decide on the rest of the national final lineup - previously stating that they would choose up to another seven songs to take the full list to ten. Unexpectedly, Operación Triunfo winner Famous - who has from the start been passionate about wanting to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest - only placed fourth with his song 'No puedo más' despite chants after his victory of 'Famous to Eurovision'.

A date for Gala Eurovisión has yet to be confirmed however it is rumoured to be on Wednesday 30th January - meaning that if this is correct, it is expected Spain will be the third country to confirm their entry for Eurovision 2019 (unless any internal selection has a surprise release!).

Did your favourite make it through? Let us know in the comments below or via our social media which you can find on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube! Make sure to follow us for the latest Eurovision news, national selection updates & exclusive video content!