29th finalist

The number of entries in a final of the Nation Song Contest is capped at 28, there are however certain rare instances of a final containing 29 entries, usually as compensation for a host mistake. Achieving last place in such an edition, IE getting a lower position than the lowest possible position, is considered a dubious honor, and grants the nation in question full membership in the exclusive 29th Place Club.

On one occasion, the amount of finalists has gone even past 29, resulting in a final of 30 entries.

Nation Song Contest 20
In the preceding edition, Reignland voted incorrectly and their votes could not be counted in the final score. A 12-point reduction was handed out as punishment, which brought Reignland down from a prequalifying position. After massive protests from the Reignlandic delegation, Reignland was allowed to be prequalified for NSC 20 along with the top 6 of NSC 19.

29th place was achieved by Ugaly.

Nation Song Contest 24
In semifinal 1, a tie occured between two entries at 10th place. Halfway through the semifinal results, the host found out that the tie had been broken incorrectly, after already announcing Begonia, the correct 11th placed nation, as a qualifier. St. Lotus was given their rightful place in the final and Begonia was allowed to keep their qualification, resulting in 12 qualifiers from the same semifinal and 29 entries in the final.

29th place is disputed between Swelatie, who was originally declared last and received the fewest points, and Giggshood, who failed to vote and came last by reduction.

Nation Song Contest 26
In Nation Song Contest 18, a host mistake caused a few points in the final to be left out of the totals. This wasn't uncovered until a few editions later, and recovery of the lost points showed that Spila was supposed to have been prequalified in NSC 19, but just missed out due to the mistake. When the Spilian delegation discovered this, they requested to be reimbursed in the upcoming edition of NSC 26, and were added as a 7th prequalifier.

29th place was achieved by Reignland.

Nation Song Contest 39
The scenario of NSC 24 was repeated, when it was noticed after the semifinal results that Calypso had incorrectly lost the tie to Ugaly at 10th place of semifinal 1.

29th place was achieved by Dalisska.

Nation Song Contest 46
Spila, who was prequalified, failed to vote in the semifinals, opening a spot for an extra qualifier in semi 1 (Aleksandrija). During the middle of the semifinal results, Spila's votes arrived, after their spot had been filled. Spila's votes weren't counted, but they were allowed back into the final as a 29th entry.

Soon after the results, another non-voter, United Islands, who had received enough points to qualify from semi 2, but lost it out due to the reduction, turned up to explain that the absence had been caused by unfortunate circumstances beyond the nation's control. Out of sympathy, the nation got their score reinstated and was allowed to qualify as a rare 30th finalist.

29th place was achieved by both Blondania and Sillycone Valley in a tie. No 30th place was achieved.

Nation Song Contest 50
In the final of NSC 49, the waiting list jury votes had an unsolvable three-way tie for three points between Alinta, Fervorosia and Yaponesia, all with a single 12-pointer from waiting list voters. By random selection, Alinta received those three points, boosting them to joint 7th place with Zoidiac in the final results. Due to the withdrawal of Spila, who reached 5th place in NSC 49, a prequalifying spot for NSC 50 would have to be given to one of the nations at 7th place. Alinta had the tie-breaking advantage, but this caused debate since their 7th place was a result of how the waiting list tie had been broken, a situation without any clear rules that would've kept Zoidiac as the sole 7th placed nation if the tie-breaking had been done by various other suggested methods. Because of this, both Alinta and Zoidiac would be allowed to prequalify for NSC 50.

29th place was achieved by Reignland for the second time.

Nation Song Contest 54
Celinas, participating in semifinal 2, accidentally included prequalified finalists in their semifinal votes, rendering them unusable. The nation had a short chance to correct the mistake, but failed to do it before the deadline had passed and the qualifiers had been revealed. Celinas had clearly received enough points to qualify before receiving their 75% reduction, and thus opened a spot for Cydoni-Gibberia instead. After protests from their delegation, Celinas were accepted into the final by the host, citing a misleading presentation as being partially responsible for the mistake. This qualification was conditional however, as the points Celinas received in the final would be reduced by 10%.

29th place was achieved by Greenfroze.

Nation Song Contest 74
In the rest jury of semifinal 2, a tie occured between Tír an Abhainn and Ugaly at the qualifying position. Tír an Abhainn had received points from one more nation, the primary criteria in a tie-break, but Ugaly had also received a 6 point bonus for voting in the rest jury of semifinal 1. Thus when applying tie-breaking rules, both nations would have the same amount of voters if counting those bonus points (Ugaly being the winner of any further tie-breaking based on sets of points). This resulted in both nations qualifying, as a rule concerning the bonus points' status in a tie-break had not been properly established at the time.

29th place was achieved by Greenfroze for the second time.

Nation Song Contest 77
In a mix-up during the semifinal results, Kingdom of Erås was announced as a qualifier from semifinal 1, done through the rest jury. This position actually belonged to Serenate & Clair, as late votes in the main panel had knocked them out of a top 10 position, confusing the host. The mistake was discovered before the result announcements were over and Serenate & Clair received their rightful position in the final, adding up to 29 finalists.

29th place was achieved by Orangualia.

Nation Song Contest 87
In the previous edition, there was an error in the Waiting List votes, which didn't include SR Indiria's votes who have voted. If their votes were counted Fervorosia would have taken Serenate & Clair's 6th place, and prequalifying spot. However the votes were not changed but both nations received a prequalifying spot.

29th place was achieved by ...