Strong opening for Yuval Raphael: The song that will represent Israel in Eurovision 2025, New Day Will Rise, was revealed on Sunday night. The next day, the first full day the song was available on streaming platforms, it received 135,000 streams from around the world – including about 58,000 from Israel. Rafael’s song became the most-streamed song on Spotify in Israel on March 10, surpassing the opening numbers of the two previous songs: Eden Golan’s “Hurricane” and Noa Kirel’s “Unicorn.”
As of this writing, Israel is in third place in the Eurovision victory betting – below Sweden and Austria. It started the night of the song’s reveal in seventh place, but jumped after it was revealed. Reactions around the world ranged from enthusiasm for the “moving ballad” to Eurovision fans who defined New Day Will Rise as a “mediocre and boring song” that was “written by Chat Jiffyti” and pales in comparison to Hurricane, they said.