(en) The history of the Eurovision Song Contest began with an idea by Sergio Pugliese, of the Italian television RAI and then began as the brainchild of Marcel Bezençon of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU-UER). The contest was based on Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival and was designed to test the limits of live television broadcast technology.

The first Contest was held on 24 May 1956, when seven nations participated. With a live orchestra, the norm in the early years, and simple sing-along songs on every radio station, the Contest grew into a true pan-European tradition.

In the beginning, it was obvious for the participants that they should sing in their country’s national language. However, as the Swedish entry in 1965, “Absent Friend”, was sung in English, the EBU-UER set very strict rules on the language in which the songs could be performed. National languages had to be used in all lyrics. Song writers across Europe soon tagged onto the notion that success would only come if the judges could understand the content, resulting in such entries as “Boom- Bang-A-Bang” and “La La La”. In 1973, the rules on language use were relaxed, and in the following year ABBA would win with “Waterloo”. Those freedom of language rules would be soon reversed in 1977, to return with apparent permanent status in the 1999 contest.

The voting systems used in the Contest have changed throughout the years. The modern system has been in place since 1975. Voters award a set of points from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally 12 to songs from other countries — with the favourite being awarded the now famous douze points.  Historically, a country’s set of votes was decided by an internal jury, but in 1997 five countries experimented with televoting, giving members of the public in those countries the opportunity to vote en masse for their favourite songs. The experiment was a success and from 1998 all countries were encouraged to use televoting wherever possible.

Nowadays members of the public may also vote by SMS. Whichever method of voting is used – jury, telephone or SMS – countries may not cast votes for their own songs.

The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s led to a sudden increase in numbers, with many former Eastern Bloc countries queuing up to compete for the first time. This process has continued to this day with more and more countries joining. For this reason, in 2004 the Semi-Final format was introduced by the EBU which turned into two Semi-Finals for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. Now all countries, except the ‘Big Five’ – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – together with the host country, must be in a Semi-Final top-10 to qualify for the Final.

In 2015, the Eurovision Song Contest celebrated its 60th anniversary. The BBC hosted a grand anniversary show in London, featuring over a dozen former participants. And to honour the country’s Eurovision Song Contest commitment for over 30 years, the organisers admitted Australia to participate for the first time ever.

Despite the ‘grand old lady’ being of respectable age, her pension is nowhere in sight, as the Eurovision Song Contest is still the most modern live TV entertainment spectacle in the world. 

Facts & Figures With a legacy of more than 60 years, which brought hundreds of hours of live television and nearly 1,500 songs from some 50 countries, the Eurovision Song Contest is a great source of historic facts and mind-blowing figures. On this ever-expanding page, we are sharing the most significant ones with you.

Figures – The Eurovision Song Contest started with just 7 participating countries in 1956. It was the only contest with 2 songs per country. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, more countries wanted to join in the 1990s. In 1993 and 1994, a then-record 25 countries took part. In 1996, a pre-qualification heat was organised to reduce 29 participants to 23, while host country Norway automatically qualified for the contest as 24th country. The challenge was solved in 2004, when a Semi-Final was introduced. Growing interest lead to the introduction of a second Semi-Final in 2008. As a result, a record number of 43 countries took part in 2008 for the first time.

Over 1,500 songs have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest (not including the 7 songs that didn’t make it in the 1996 pre-qualification round). In 2006, Ireland’s Brian Kennedy delivered the 1,000th entry to the contest, appropriately titled Every Song is a Cry for Love. If you would listen to all the songs without a break, you would be sitting up for nearly 72 hours.

In 2001, the largest audience ever attended the Eurovision Song Contest. Almost 38,000 people gathered at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium to witness the first-ever Estonian victory.

Ratings of the Eurovision Song Contest have varied greatly over the past decades. In 2016, some 204 million people saw at least one of the 3 shows in whole or in part.

With 7 victories, Ireland is the most successful country at the contest. Sweden won the contest 6 times, while Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom won 5 times.

Poland made the most impressive debut in 1994, when Edyta Gorniak came second with To Nie Ja, closely followed by Serbia’s victory in 2007. Although Serbia & Montenegro was represented twice before, it was the first time that Serbia took part as an independent country.

Norway could be found at the bottom of the scoreboard as many as eleven times. The unfortunates came last in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004 and in the Grand Final of 2012. Nevertheless, they also won 3 times, in 1985, 1995 and 2009.

Even though the Eurovision Song Contest took place 64 times, it has 67 winners. In 1969, 4 countries topped the scoreboard with an equal amount of points; the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands and France. Lacking rules to resolve tie situations, the EBU had to declare all 4 contestants as the winner. Thank goodness — tie rules were introduced shortly after.

2020 marked the first time the Contest had to be cancelled in 64 years. Uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe – and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and Dutch authorities – meant the live event could not continue as planned. The health of artists, staff, fans and visitors from Europe and the world was at the heart of the decision.

Facts. In 2015, the Eurovision Song Contest was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Longest Running Annual TV Music Competition.

ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winner. The Swedish pop band won the contest in 1974 and has enjoyed phenomenal success ever since, despite officially splitting up in 1983.

The most covered Eurovision Song Contest song is Domenico Mudugno‘s Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu, also known as Volare. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more.

Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest 3 times. In 1980 and 1987 he represented Ireland as performer and won both times, with Hold Me Now and What’s Another Year, in 1992 he wrote Linda Martin’s winning entry Why Me?

In 2014, Valentina Monetta took part for San Marino for the third time in a row and… qualified for the Grand Final! She participated in the 2017 contest for the fourth time!

in 2011, Lena, the winner of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, decided to defend her title on home ground – something only 2 people have done in the history of the contest.

Until 1998, each act was supported by a live orchestra and every country brought its own conductor. Noel Kelehan conducted the orchestra of 5 winners, in 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993 and 1996. Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linde conducting for a record 7 countries; Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Only 3 women conducted the orchestra at the Eurovision Song Contest. Nurit Hirsch conducted the Israeli entries of 1973 and 1978, Monica Dominique conducted the Swedish 1973 entry and Anita Kerr appeared in front of the orchestra for Switzerland in 1985.

German songwriter and composer Ralph Siegel is a true Eurovision addict. He took part a whopping 21 times. He did so most recently in 2014, granting San Marino their first qualification to the Grand Final. His 22nd participation was in 2017, having written the song for San Marino. He won once, in 1982, with the famous Ein Bißchen Frieden.

• Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest running recurring television broadcasts in the world
• Norway has ended last nine times! They came last in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997 and 2001
• In 2016 Ukraine won the Grand Final with the song “1944”, but only came second in their semi-final. Australia won the semi-final, but came 2nd in the Grand Final
• Luxembourg has won 5 times. But none of the 5 winners came from Luxembourg. Four were French and one (Vicky Leandros) Greek
• Norway won the contest in 1995 with the song “Nocturne”. It contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos
• Romania was expelled from Eurovision 2016 due to unpaid debt to EBU
• In 1969 there were four winners! They all had the same points, and back then there were no rules for a tie. If there’s a tie today, the country with points from most countries will win
• In 1974 the French President, Georges Pompidou, died during Eurovision week. The French broadcaster decided to withdraw from the contest. The funeral was held the day of the contest
• Portugal had to go through 49 contests to achieve their first victory in 2017
• The first scandal in Eurovision history occurred in 1957 where the Danish singers Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler kissed for 11 seconds in the end of the song. Generating a furious reaction
• Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s biggest music show
• Finland had to wait forty-four years since their debut in 1961 to achieve their first victory. They had only received three 12 points in the history of the contest up to the 2006 contest, and none since 1977
• The most covered Eurovision Song Contest song is Domenico Mudugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” from 1958, also known as Volare. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more
• Among the contestants who have had successful careers are ABBA (1974), Céline Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias. Dion won for Switzerland in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi
• Israel is the only winning country that didn’t participate the following year – They won in 1979 but didn’t participate in 1980 due to Israeli Memorial Day, Yom Hazikaron
• The longest running losers are the Cypriots, having never had a victory
• The Portuguese song from 1974 “E Depois Do Adeus” started a revolution in Portugal. The song was played on an independent radio station in Lisbon on 24 April, and was one of two secret signals which alerted the rebel captains and soldiers to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime
• It is not allowed to have more than six people on stage (including backup singers and dancers). Until Eurovision 1971 the limit was three
• In 2008 Russia won the Grand Final with the song “Believe”, but only came third in their semi-final
• Eurovision Semi-finals were introduced in 2004
• At the 1956-contest the scores of the voting have never been made public, leaving room for lots of speculation. Attempts to reconstruct the voting by interviewing jury members over the following five decades did not lead to any reliable outcome
• Spain’s cleverly titled, La La La from 1968 contained no fewer than 138 la’s
• Italy boycotted the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, saying that it was too old fashioned
• In 1978 Jordan showed some flowers instead of the Israeli entry on their screening of the show. When Israel went on to win they pretended it was Belgium
• The previous year’s winner hosts Eurovision but it’s so expensive that nations have pleaded poverty to get out of it. The countries who have opted out include the Netherlands, France, Monaco, and Luxembourg and the job went to the UK four times
• The youngest ever main artist was 11-year-old Nathalie Pâque from Belgium. She represented France in Eurovision 1989 with the song “J’ai Volé La Vie”. The oldest was 95-year-old Emil Ramsauer from the Swiss 2013-band “Takasa”
• In the first ever Eurovision Song Contest (1956), Luxembourg asked Switzerland to vote on its behalf. And the winner was: Switzerland!
• In 2011 Azerbaijan won the Grand Final with the song “Running Scared”, but only came second in their semi-final. Greece won the semi-final, but came 7th in the Grand Final
• The youngest ever winner was 13-year-old Sandra Kim from Belgium who won Eurovision in 1986
• In 1981 the UK act Bucks Fizz stunned viewers with their Velcro rip-away skirts and within 48 hours, Velcro had sold out across the country
• Eurovision Song Contest is normally held every year in May. The earliest Eurovision date was in 1957, on 3rd March and the latest was in 1999 and 2010 when it was held on 29th May
• In 2004 there were 37 countries giving points, resulting in a very long voting procedure. The voting time was cut in 2006 where each spokesperson started to just announce the top three votes
• All Eurovision songs must not be longer than three minutes.
• In 2006 Ireland’s Brian Kennedy, who has sung duets with Van Morrison, became the 1000th act to sing on the Eurovision stage with Every Song Is A Cry For Love. He came tenth
• The largest number of nations to take part was 43 in 2008, 2011 and 2018
• Portugal holds the record of most points in a Grand Final. In 2017 Salvador Sobral won with record breaking 758 points with the song “Amar Pelos Dois”
• After the bearded lady Conchita Wurst won in 2014, a Russian politician said: “The result showed supporters of European integration their European future – a bearded girl”. Conchita’s response: “When an entire nation is scared that a young gay man with a beard who likes dressing up in women’s clothes is so able to sway opinion that he could bring the whole society to the brink, I can only take it as a compliment!”
• The Eurovision-friendly nation Australia has broadcast Eurovision Song Contest every year since 1983
• The 60th Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 had a record number of countries in the Grand Final: 27
• The percentage of viewers for Eurovision Song Contest has been higher in Australia than in some of the competing nations
• Live animals are banned from stage at Eurovision
• Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted the 1970 contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure
• There have been five barefoot winners in Eurovision history: Sandie Shaw (1967), Sertab Erener (2003), Dima Bilan (2008), Loreen (2012) and Emmelie De Forest (2013)
• In the years 1966 – 1972 and 1978 – 1998 the rules stated that each country had to sing in one of their national languages. Single words or phrases in other languages were allowed
• Eurovision Song Contest always begins with the fanfare “Prélude du Te Deum” composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier
• Russia withdrew from Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv because the Russian artist Yulia Samoylova was banned from entering Ukraine
• Austria boycotted the 1969-contest in Madrid because Spain at that time was ruled by Francisco Franco
• Belarus was expelled from Eurovision 2021. The submitted song had lyrics with political undertones mocking the Belarusian pro-democracy movement
• Titles of songs have included Boom Bang-a-bang (UK, 1969), A-Ba-Ni-Ba (Israel, 1978), Bana Bana (Turkey, 1989) and Bourn Badaboru (Monaco, 1967)
• Morocco has participated in Eurovision Song Contest. But only once. It was in 1980 and they ended second-last. Morocco only received points from Italy
• The first Eurovision that was broadcast in color, was the 1968 contest at the Royal Albert Hall
• Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast across five continents
• When Ukrainian singer Ruslana won Eurovision in 2004, she was rewarded with a seat in Parliament
• United Kingdom gave zero points to ABBA in 1974
• Riverdance was first performed during the interval act of Eurovision Song Contest 1994. One of the most popular interval acts in the history of the contest
• In 2015 Finland’s song “Aina Mun Pitää” only runs for 1 minute and 27 seconds. The shortest song in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest
• Russia’s entry “A Million Voices” from 2015 became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points
• Ireland holds the record of most victories in Eurovision Song Contest: Seven victories! The six of these victories was in the 80s and 90s: 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996
• In 2009 Georgia decided to send the song “We Don’t Wanna Put In” to the contest in Moscow, but because of a controversy about the lyrics in the song, EBU banned the song from participating, if the lyrics was not changed. Georgia refused to change the lyrics, and withdrew from the contest
• Serbia participated the first time as an independent country in 2007 and won the contest the same year.
• From 1956 to 1998 all the songs were accompanied by a live orchestra. From 1999 and onwards the orchestra was dropped, so the entries could use recorded backing track during their performances
• Eurovision 2021 took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two countries were not able to perform live: Australia due to travel restrictions and Iceland due to a positive test among the performers
• 95 percent of the Danish viewing public saw the 2001 contest on TV – the highest percentage in Europe
• In 1956, every participating country could enter with two songs. The Netherlands were the first country to sing a song on Eurovision with “De vogels van Holland” (the birds of the Netherlands).

**

History of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson) was first held in 1956. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954 through its Eurovision transmission network, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) commissioned an international song competition, from an idea proposed by Sergio Pugliese and developed by Marcel Bezençon, and originally based on the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy.

69 contests have been held since its first edition, and 1,754 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage as of 2025. The contest has seen numerous changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of relegation in the 1990s, and subsequently semi-finals in the 2000s, as a response to growing numbers of interested participants. The rules of the contest have also seen multiple changes over the years, with the voting system and language criteria being modified on several occasions.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international televised music competition in the world, as determined by Guinness World Records, and around 40 countries now regularly take part each year. Several other competitions have been inspired by Eurovision in the years since its formation, and the EBU has also created a number of complimentary contests which focus on other aspects of music and culture. The 2020 edition of the contest was the first to be cancelled, as no competitive event was able to take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Competing overview (History by Year)

1950s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city,	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Lugano 1956. Final: Thursday, 24 May, 1956, 20:00 CET	RTSI/SRG SSR: Teatro Kursaal, Lugano, Switzerland	7[a]	7[a]	–	Switzerland: Lys Assia — “Refrain” (Géo Voumard, Émile Gardaz).  French
Frankfurt 1957. Final: Sunday, 03 March, 1957, 20:00 CET	HR/ARD: Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks, Frankfurt am Main, Germany	10	10	–	The Netherlands: Corry Brokken — “Net als toen” (Guus Jansen, Willy van Hemert). Dutch
Hilversum 1958. Final: Wednesday, 12 March, 1958, 20:00 CET	NTS/NOS: AVRO Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands	10	10	–	France: André Claveau — “Dors, mon amour” (Hubert Giraud, Pierre Delanoë). French
Cannes 1959. Final:  Wednesday, 11 March, 1959, 20:00 CET	RTF: Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France	11	11	–	The Netherlands: Teddy Scholten — “Een beetje”(Dick Schallies, Willy van Hemert). Dutch

1960s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
London 1960. Final: Tuesday, 29 March, 1960, 20:00 CET	BBC: Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom	13	13	–	France: Jacqueline Boyer — “Tom Pillibi” (André Popp, Pierre Cour). French
Cannes 1961. Final: Saturday, 18 March, 1961, 20:00 CET	RTF: Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France	16	16	–	Luxembourg: Jean-Claude Pascal — “Nous les amoureux” (Jacques Datin, Maurice Vidalin). French
Luxembourg 1962. Final:Sunday, 18 March, 1962, 20:00 CET	CLT/RTL: Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	16	16	–	France: Isabelle Aubret — “Un premier amour” (Claude-Henri Vic, Roland Valade). French
London 1963. Final: Saturday, 23 March, 1963, 20:00 CET	BBC: BBC Television Centre, London, United Kingdom	16	16	–	Denmark: Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann — “Dansevise” (Otto Francker, Sejr Volmer-Sørensen). Danish
Copenhagen 1964. Final: Saturday, 21 March, 1964, 20:00 CET	DR: Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark	16	16	–	Italy: Gigliola Cinquetti — “Non ho l’età” (Nicola Salerno, Mario Panzeri). Italian
Naples 1965. Final: Saturday, 20 March, 1965, 20:00 CET	RAI: Sala di Concerto della RAI, Naples, Italy	18	18	–	Luxembourg: France Gall — “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” (Serge Gainsbourg). French
Luxembourg 1966. Final: Saturday, 05 March, 1966, 20:00 CET	CLT: Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	18	18	–	Austria: Udo Jürgens —”Merci, Chérie” (Udo Jürgens, Thomas Hörbiger). German, French
Vienna 1967. Final: Saturday, 08 April, 1967, 20:00 CET	ÖRF: Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg, Vienna, Austria	17	17	–	United Kingdom: Sandie Shaw — “Puppet on a String” (Bill Martin, Phil Coulter). English
London 1968. Final: Saturday, 06 April, 1968, 20:00 CET	BBC: Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom	17	17	–	Spain: Massiel — “La, la, la” (Manuel de la Calva, Ramón Arcusa (Dúo Dinámico)). Spanish
Madrid 1969. Final: Saturday, 29 March, 1969, 20:00 CET	TVE: Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain	16	16	–	Spain: Salomé — “Vivo cantando” (María José de Cerato, Aniano Alcalde). Spanish; United Kingdom: Lulu — “Boom Bang-a-Bang” (Alan Moorhouse, Peter Warne). English; The Netherlands: Lenny Kuhr — “De troubadour” (David Hartsema, Lenny Kuhr). Dutch; France: Frida Boccara — “Un jour, un enfant” (Émile Stern, Eddy Marnay). French

1970s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Amsterdam 1970. Final: Saturday, 21 March, 1970, 20:00 CET	NOS: RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam, Netherlands	12	12	–	Ireland: Dana — “All Kinds of Everything” (Derry Lindsay, Jackie Smith). English
Dublin 1971.  Final: Saturday, 03 April, 1971, 20:00 CET	RTÉ: Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, Ireland	18	18	–	Monaco: Séverine — “Un banc, un arbre, une rue” (Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, Yves Dessca). French
Edinburgh 1972. Final: Saturday, 25 March, 1972, 20:00 CET	BBC: Usher Hall, Edinburgh, United Kingdom	18	18	–	Luxembourg: Vicky Leandros — “Après toi” (Leo Leandros, Klaus Munro, Yves Dessca). French
Luxembourg 1973. Final:  Saturday, 07 April, 1973, 20:00 CET	CLT: Nouveau Théâtre, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	17	17	–	Luxembourg: Anne-Marie David — “Tu te reconnaîtras” (Claude Morgan, Vline Buggy). French
Brighton 1974. Final: Saturday, 06 April, 1974, 20:00 CET	BBC:  The Dome, Brighton, United Kingdom	17	17	–	Sweden: ABBA — “Waterloo” (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson). English
Stockholm 1975. Final: Saturday, 22 March, 1975, 20:00 CET	SR: St. Eriks Mässan Alvsjö, Stockholm, Sweden	19	19	–	The Netherlands: Teach-In — “Ding-a-dong” (Dick Bakker, Will Luikinga, Eddy Ouwens). English
The Hague 1976. Final Saturday, 03 April, 1976, 20:00 CET	NOS: Nederlands Congresgebouw, The Hague, Netherlands	18	18	–	United Kingdom: Brotherhood of Man — “Save Your Kisses for Me” (Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, Martin Lee). English
London 1977. Final: Saturday, 07 May, 1977, 21:00 CEST[b]	BBC: Wembley Conference Centre, London, United Kingdom	18	18	–	France: Marie Myriam — “L’oiseau et l’enfant” (Jean-Paul Cara, Joe Gracy). French
Paris 1978.  Final: Saturday, 22 April, 1978, 21:00 CEST	TF1: Palais des Congrès, Paris, France	20	20	–	Israel: Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta — “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” (א-ב-ני-בי) (Nurit Hirsh, Ehud Manor). Hebrew
Jerusalem 1979. Final Saturday, 31 March, 1979, 20:00 CET	IBA: Binyanei Ha’ouama Centre, Jerusalem, Israel	19	19	–	Israel: Milk and Honey — “Hallelujah” (הללויה) (Kobi Oshrat, Shimrit Orr). Hebrew

 1980s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
The Hague 1980. Final: Saturday, 19 April, 1980, 21:00 CEST	NOS: Nederlands Congresgebouw, The Hague, The Netherlands	19	19	–	Ireland: Johnny Logan — “What’s Another Year” (Shay Healy). English
Dublin 1981. Final: Saturday, 04 April, 1981, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: Simmonscourt Pavillion, Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland	20	20	–	United Kingdom : Bucks Fizz — “Making Your Mind Up” (Andy Hill, John Danter). English
Harrogate 1982. Final: Saturday, 24 April, 1982, 21:00 CEST	BBC: Harrogate Conference Centre, Harrogate, United Kingdom	18	18	–	Germany:  Nicole — “Ein bißchen Frieden” (Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger). German
Munich 1983. Final: Saturday, 23 April, 1983, 21:00 CEST	BR/ARD: Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, Munich, Germany	20	20	–	Luxembourg:  Corinne Hermès — “Si la vie est cadeau” (Jean-Pierre Millers, Alain Garcia). French
Luxembourg 1984. Final: Saturday, 05 May, 1984, 21:00 CEST	CLT/RTL: Théâtre Municipal, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	19	19	–	Sweden:  Herrey’s — “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley” (Torgny Söderberg, Britt Lindeborg). Swedish
Gothenburg 1985. Final: Saturday, 04 May, 1985, 21:00 CEST	SVT: Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden	19	19	–	Norway:  Bobbysocks! — “La det swinge” (Rolf Løvland). Norwegian
Bergen 1986. Final: Saturday, 03 May, 1986, 21:00 CEST	NRK: Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway	20	20	–	Belgium: Sandra Kim — “J’aime la vie” (Jean-Paul Furnémont, Angelo Crisci, Rosario Marino Atria). French
Brussels 1987. Final: Saturday, 09 May, 1987, 21:00 CEST	RTBF: Palais de Centenaire, Brussels, Belgium	22	22	–	Ireland: Johnny Logan — “Hold Me Now” (Johnny Logan). English
Dublin 1988. Final: Saturday, 30 April, 1988, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: Simmonscourt Pavillion of the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland	21	21	–	Switzerland: Céline Dion — “Ne partez pas sans moi” (Nella Martinetti, Atilla Şereftuğ). French
Lausanne 1989. Final: Saturday, 06 May, 1989, 21:00 CEST	SRG SSR: Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland	22	22	–	Yugoslavia: Riva — “Rock Me” (Rajko Dujmić, Stevo Cvikić). Serbo-Croatian, English

1990s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Zagreb 1990. Final: Saturday, 05 May, 1990, 21:00 CEST	JRT/RTZ: Koncertna Dvorana Vatroslav Lisinski, Zagreb, Yugoslavia	22	22	–	Italy: Toto Cutugno — “Insieme: 1992” (Toto Cutugno). Italian
Rome 1991. Final: Saturday, 04 May, 1991, 21:00 CEST	RAI: Studio 15 de Cinecittà, Rome, Italy	22	22	–	Sweden: Carola — “Fångad av en stormvind” (Stephan Berg). Swedish
Malmö 1992. Final: Saturday, 09 May, 1992, 21:00 CEST	SVT: MalmöMässan, Malmö, Sweden	23	23	–	Ireland: Linda Martin — “Why Me” (Johnny Logan). English
Millstreet 1993. Final: Saturday, 15 May, 1993, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, Ireland	25	25	7	Ireland: Niamh Kavanagh — “In Your Eyes” (Jimmy Walsh). English
Dublin 1994. Final: Saturday, 30 April, 1994, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland	25	25	–	Ireland: Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan — “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” (Brendan Graham). English
Dublin 1995. Final: Saturday, 13 May, 1995, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland	23	23	–	Norway: Secret Garden — “Nocturne” (Rolf Løvland, Petter Skavlan). Norwegian [Contains one word in French]
Oslo 1996. Final: Saturday, 18 May, 1996, 21:00 CEST	NRK: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway	23	23	29	Ireland: Eimear Quinn — “The Voice” (Brendan Graham). English
Dublin 1997. Final: Saturday, 03 May, 1997, 21:00 CEST	RTÉ: The Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland	25	25	–	United Kingdom: Katrina and the Waves — “Love Shine a Light” (Kimberley Rew). English
Birmingham 1998. Final: Saturday, 09 May, 1998, 21:00 CEST	BBC: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, United Kingdom	25	25	–	Israel: Dana International — “Diva” (דיווה) (Svika Pick, Yoav Ginai). Hebrew
Jerusalem 1999. Final: Saturday, 29 May, 1999, 21:00 CEST	IBA: Usshishkin Hall of the International Convention Centre, Jerusalem, Israel	23	23	–	Sweden: Charlotte Nilsson — “Take Me to Your Heaven” (Lars Diedricson, Marcos Ubeda). English

2000s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Stockholm 2000. Final: Saturday, 13 May, 2000, 21:00 CEST	SVT: Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden	24	24	–	Denmark: Olsen Brothers — “Fly on the Wings of Love” (Jørgen Olsen). English
Copenhagen 2001. Final: Saturday, 12 May, 2001, 21:00 CEST	DR: Parkenstadion, Copenhagen, Denmark	23	23	–	Estonia:Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL — “Everybody” (Ivar Must, Maian-Anna Kärmas). English
Tallin 2022. Final: Saturday, 25 May, 2002, 21:00 CEST	ETV/ERR: Saku Suurhall, Tallinn, Estonia	24	24	–	Latvia: Marie N — “I Wanna” (Marija Naumova, Marats Samauskis). English
Riga 2003. Final: Saturday, 24 May, 2003, 21:00 CEST	LTV: Skonto Olympic Hall, Riga, Latvia	26	26	–	Turkey: Sertab Erener — “Everyway That I Can” (Demir Demirkan, Sertab Erener). English
Istanbul 2004. Semi-Final: Wednesday, 12 May, 2004, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 15 May, 2004, 21:00 CEST	TRT: Abdi Ipekci Sport Center, Istanbul, Turkey	36	24	22	FI: Ukraine: Ruslana — “Wild Dances” (Ruslana Lyzhychko, Alexandr Ksenofontov). English, Ukrainian SF: Serbia and Montenegro: Željko Joksimović and Ad-Hoc Orchestra — “Lane moje” (Željko Joksimović, Leontina Vukomanović).  Serbian
Kyiv 2005. Semi-Final: Thursday, 19 May, 2005, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 21 May, 2005, 21:00 CEST	NTU: Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Ukraine	39	24	25	FI – Greece: Helena Paparizou — “My Number One” (Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou). English SF: Romania: Luminița Anghel and Sistem — “Let Me Try” (Cristian Faur). English
Athens 2006. Semi-Final: Thursday, 18 May, 2006, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 20 May, 2006, 21:00 CEST	ERT: Olympic Indoor Hall, Athens, Greece	37	24	23	FI: Finland: Lordi — “Hard Rock Hallelujah” (Mr Lordi). English SF: Finland: Lordi — “Hard Rock Hallelujah” (Mr Lordi). English
Helsinki 2007. Semi-Final: Thursday, 10 May, 2007, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 12 May, 2007, 21:00 CEST	YLE: Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland	42	24	28	FI: Serbia: Marija Šerifović — “Molitva” (Молитва) (Vladimir Graić, Saša Milošević Mare). Serbian SF: Serbia: Marija Šerifović — “Molitva” (Молитва) (Vladimir Graić, Saša Milošević Mare). Serbian
Belgrade 2008. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 20 May, 2008, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 22 May, 2008, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 24 May, 2008, 21:00 CEST	RTS/PTC: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia	43	25	SF1: 19  SF2: 19	FI: Russia: Dima Bilan — “Believe” (Dima Bilan, Jim Beanz). English SF1: Greece: Kalomira — “Secret Combination” (Konstantinos Pantzis, Poseidonas Giannopoulos). English SF2: Ukraine: Ani Lorak — “Shady Lady” (Philipp Kirkorov, Karen Kavaleryan). English
Moscow 2009. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 14 May, 2009, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 16 May, 2009, 21:00 CEST	C1R/RTR: Olimpiysky Arena, Moscow, Russia	42	25	SF1: 18 SF2: 19	FI: Norway: Alexander Rybak — “Fairytale” (Alexander Rybak). English SF1: Iceland: Yohanna — “Is It True?” (Óskar Páll Sveinsson, Tinatin Japaridze, Christopher Neil). English SF2: Norway: Alexander Rybak — “Fairytale” (Alexander Rybak). English

 2010s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Oslo 2010. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 25 May, 2010, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 27 May, 2010, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 29 May, 2010, 21:00 CEST	NRK: Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway	39	25	SF1: 17 SF2: 17	FI: Germany: Lena — “Satellite” (Julie Frost, John Gordon). English SF1: Belgium: Tom Dice — “Me and My Guitar” (Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen). English SF2: Turkey: maNga — “We Could Be the Same” (Yağmur Sarıgül, Ferman Akgül, Özgür Can Öney, Efe Yılmaz, Cem Bahtiyar – Evren Özdemir, Yağmur Sarıgül, Ferman Akgül, Fiona Movery Akinci). English
Düsseldorf 2011. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 10 May, 2011, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 12 May, 2011, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 14 May, 2011, 21:00 CEST	NDR/ARD: Düsseldorf Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany	43	25	SF1: 19 SF2: 19	FI: Azerbaijan: Ell and Nikki — “Running Scared” (Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman, Iain James Farquharson). English SF1: Greece: Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike — “Watch My Dance” (Giannis Christodoulopoulos, Eleana Vrachali). Greek, English SF2: Sweden: Eric Saade — “Popular” (Fredrik Kempe). English
Baku 2012. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 22 May, 2012, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 24 May, 2012, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 26 May, 2012, 21:00 CEST	İTV: Crystal Hall, Baku, Azerbaijan	42	26	SF1: 18 SF2: 18	FI: Sweden: Loreen — “Euphoria” (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström). English SF1: Russia: Buranovskiye Babushki — “Party for Everybody” (Viktor Drobysh, Timofei Leontiev, Olga Tuktaryova, Mary Susan Applegate). Udmurt, English SF2: Sweden: Loreen — “Euphoria” (Thomas G:son, Peter Boström). English
Malmö 2013. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 14 May, 2013, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 16 May, 2013, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 18 May, 2013, 21:00 CEST	SVT: Malmö Arena, Malmö, Sweden	39	26	SF1: 16  SF2: 17	FI: Denmark: Emmelie de Forest — “Only Teardrops” (Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard). English SF1: Denmark: Emmelie de Forest — “Only Teardrops” (Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard). English SF2: Azerbaijan: Farid Mammadov — “Hold Me” (John Ballard, Ralph Charlie, Dimitris Kontopoulos). English
Copenhagen 2014. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 06 May, 2014, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 08 May, 2014, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 10 May, 2014, 21:00 CEST	DR: B&W Hallerne, Copenhagen, Denmark	37	26	SF1: 16 SF2: 15	FI: Austria: Conchita Wurst — “Rise Like a Phoenix” (Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas). English SF1: The Netherlands: The Common Linnets — “Calm After the Storm” (Ilse DeLange, JB Meijers, Rob Crosby, Matthew Crosby, Jake Etheridge). English SF2: Conchita Wurst — “Rise Like a Phoenix” (Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas). English
Vienna 2015. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 19 May, 2015, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 21 May, 2015, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 23 May, 2015, 21:00 CEST	ÖRF: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria	40	27	SF1: 16 SF2: 17	FI: Sweden: Måns Zelmerlöw — “Heroes” (Anton Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb). English SF1: Russia: Polina Gagarina — “A Million Voices” (Gabriel Alares, Joakim Björnberg, Katrina Noorbergen, Leonid Gutkin, Vladimir Matetsky).  English SF2: Sweden: Måns Zelmerlöw — “Heroes” (Anton Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb). English
Stockholm 2016. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 10 May, 2016, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 12 May, 2016, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 14 May, 2016, 21:00 CEST	SVT: Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden	42	26	SF1: 18 SF2: 18	FI: Ukraine: Jamala — “1944” (Jamala). Crimean Tatar, English SF1: Russia: Sergey Lazarev — “You Are the Only One” (Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard, Ralph Charlie). English SF2: Dami Im — “Sound of Silence” (Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci). English
Kyiv 2017. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 09 May, 2017, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 11 May, 2017, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 13 May, 2017, 21:00 CEST	UA:PBC/NTU: International Exhibition Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine	42	26	SF1: 18 SF2: 18	FI: Portugal: Salvador Sobral — “Amar pelos dois” (Luísa Sobral). Portuguese SF1: Portugal: Salvador Sobral — “Amar pelos dois” (Luísa Sobral). Portuguese SF2: Bulgaria: Kristian Kostov — “Beautiful Mess” (Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Bo Persson, Alex Omar, Alexander V. Blay). English
Lisbon 2018. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 08 May, 2018, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 10 May, 2018, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 12 May, 2018, 21:00 CEST	RTP: Lisbon Arena, Lisbon, Portugal	43	26	SF1: 19  SF2: 18	FI: Israel: Netta — “Toy” (Doron Medalie, Stav Beger). English [Contains several words in Hebrew] SF1: SF2:
Tel Aviv 2019. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 14 May, 2019, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 16 May, 2019, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 18 May, 2019, 21:00 CEST	IPBC/Kan: Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Center), Tel Aviv, Israel	41	26	SF1: 17 SF2: 18	FI: The Netherlands: Duncan Laurence — “Arcade” (Duncan Laurence, Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy, Will Knox). English SF1: Israel: Netta — “Toy” (Doron Medalie, Stav Beger). English SF2: Norway: Alexander Rybak — “That’s How You Write a Song” (Alexander Rybak).  English

2020s

Edition. Year – Date	Host broadcaster(s). Venue – Host city	Countries			Winner: Performer(s) – Song. Songwriter(s). Language
		Total	In Final	In Semi-Final
Rotterdam2020. (Cancelled) First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 12 May, 2020, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 14 May, 2020, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 16 May, 2020, 21:00 CEST	NPO/NOS/AVROTROS: Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands	41	26	SF1: 17 SF2: 18	FI: No winner. Contest cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic SF1:No winner. Contest cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic SF2: No winner. Contest cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Rotterdam 2021. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 18 May, 2021, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 20 May, 2021, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 22 May, 2021, 21:00 CEST	NPO/NOS/AVROTROS: Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands	39	26	SF1: 16 SF2: 17	FI: Italy: Måneskin —”Zitti e buoni” (Damiano David, Ethan Torchio, Thomas Raggi, Victoria De Angelis). Italian SF1: Malta: Destiny—”Je me casse” (Amanuel Dermont, Malin Christin, Nicklas Eklund, Pete Barringer). English SF2: Gjon’s Tears —”Tout l’univers” (Gjon Muharremaj, Nina Sampermans, Wouter Hardy, Xavier Michel). French
Turin 2022. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 10 May, 2022, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 12 May, 2022, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 14 May, 2022, 21:00 CEST	RAI: PalaOlimpico, Turin, Italy	40	25	SF1: 17 SF2: 18	FI: Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra — “Stefania” (Стефанія) (Ihor Didenchuk, Ivan Klimenko, Oleh Psiuk, Tymofii Muzychuk, Vitalii Duzhyk). Ukrainian SF1: Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra — “Stefania” (Стефанія) (Ihor Didenchuk, Ivan Klimenko, Oleh Psiuk, Tymofii Muzychuk, Vitalii Duzhyk). Ukrainian SF2: Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs — “Hold Me Closer” (Cornelia Jakobsdotter, David Zandén, Isa Molin). English
Liverpool 2023. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 09 May, 2023, 21:00 CEST; Second Semi-Final: Thursday, 11 May, 2023, 21:00 CEST; Grand Final: Saturday, 13 May, 2023, 21:00 CEST	BBC: Liverpool Arena, Liverpool	37	26	SF1: 15 SF2: 16	FI: Sweden — “Tattoo” (Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Lorine Talhaoui, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son). English SF1: Finland: Käärijä — “Cha Cha Cha” (Jere Pöyhönen, Johannes Naukkarinen, Aleksi Nurmi, Jukka Sorsa). Finnish SF2: Australia: Voyager — “Promise” (Alex Canion, Ashley Doodkorte, Daniel Estrin, Scott Kay, Simone Dow). English
Malmö 2024. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 07 May, 2024, 21:00 CEST; Thursday, 09 May, 2024, 21:00 CEST; Saturday, 11 May, 2024, 21:00 CEST	SVT: Malmö Arena, Malmö	37	26/25[c]	SF1: 15 SF2: 16	FI: Switzerland — “The Code” (Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, Linda Dale, Nemo Mettler).English SF1: Croatia: Baby Lasagna — “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” (Marko Purišić). English SF2: Israel: Eden Golan — “Hurricane” (Avi Ohayon, Keren Peles, Stav Beger). English, Hebrew
Basel 2025. First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 13 May, 2025, 21:00 CEST; Thursday, 15 May, 2025, 21:00 CEST; Saturday, 17 May, 2025, 21:00 CEST	SRG SSR: St. Jakobshalle, Basel	37	26	SF1: 15 SF2: 16	FI: Austria — “Wasted Love” (Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, Linda Dale, Nemo Mettler). English SF1: Ukraine: Ziferblat — “Bird of Pray” (Valentyn Leshchynskyi, Daniel Leshchynskyi, Fedir Khodakov). Ukrainian, English SF2: Israel: Yuval Raphael — “New Day Will Rise” (Keren Peles). English, French, Hebrew
70th.First Semi-Final: Tuesday, x May, 2026, 21:00 CEST; Thursday, x May, 2026, 21:00 CEST; Saturday, x May, 2026, 21:00 CEST	ÖRF: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna	35	25	SF1: 15 SF2: 15	FI: SF1: SF2:
72nd
73rd
74th

Notes.

Contest themes and slogans. An individual slogan has been associated with each edition of the contest since 2002, with the exception of 2009. This slogan is decided by the host broadcaster and is then used to develop the contest’s visual identity and design. This slogan is typically used by the producers in planning and formulating the show’s visual identity, and is channelled into the contest’s stage design, the opening and interval acts, and the “postcards”: short videos interspersed between the entries which usually highlight the host country, and in many cases introduce the competing acts. The slogan of the 2023 contest, “United by Music”, was announced on 14 November 2023 to be retained for future editions of the event. For the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland, the host broadcaster SRG SSR introduced a motto for that year’s event, “Welcome Home”, which was included in addition to the “United by Music” slogan within the visual identity and design.

Year	Host city	Slogan
2002	Tallinn	A Modern Fairytale (Moodne muinasjutt)
2003	Riga	A Magical Rendez-vous
2004	Istanbul	Under the Same Sky (Aynı Gökyüzü Altında)
2005	Kyiv	Awakening (Пробудження)
2006	Athens	Feel the Rhythm (Νιώσε Το Ρυθμό)
2007	Helsinki	True Fantasy (Todellista fantasiaa)
2008	Belgrade	Confluence of Sound (Ушће звука)
2010	Oslo	Share the Moment (Del øyeblikket)
2011	Düsseldorf	Feel Your Heart Beat! (Fühl’ dein Herz schlagen)
2012	Baku	Light Your Fire! (Öz məşəlini alovlandır!)
2013	Malmö	We Are One!
2014	Copenhagen	#JoinUs
2015	Vienna	Building Bridges (Brücken bauen)
2016	Stockholm	Come Together
2017	Kyiv	Celebrate Diversity (Святкуймо розмаїття)
2018	Lisbon	All Aboard! (Todos a Bordo!)
2019	Tel Aviv	Dare to Dream (הָעֵזו לחלום)
2020 2021	Rotterdam	Open Up[d]
2022	Turin	The Sound of Beauty (Il suono della bellezza)
2023	Liverpool	United by Music (Об’єднані музикою)
2024-Present	Malmö	United by Music[e]

Origins. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed in 1950, when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) hosted a conference with 23 organisations at the Imperial Hotel in Torquay, England, with the aim of establishing cooperation on creative endeavours and setting a foundation for the exchange of television programmes across borders. “Eurovision” as a term in telecommunications was first used by British journalist George Campey in the Evening Standard in 1951, when he referred to a BBC programme being relayed by Dutch television; the EBU’s Eurovision transmission network was subsequently founded in 1954, at the time formed of a series of microwave links across Europe.

In the years following the formation of the EBU a number of big events were transmitted via their infrastructure, including the coronation of Elizabeth II, which was broadcast in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, in addition to the United Kingdom. In September 1953, an EBU meeting in London resulted in a series of international exchange programmes organised the following year, entitled the “European Television Season”, and relayed live across Europe through the Eurovision network. The first of these programmes was shown on 6 June 1954, showing coverage of the Narcissus Festival held in Montreux, Switzerland, followed by a tour of Vatican City. Further events were broadcast over the following days, including the Palio di Siena, an athletics meet in Glasgow, a parade by the Royal Navy passing Queen Elizabeth II, and live transmission of football matches from the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland, the first time the FIFA World Cup was accompanied by live television coverage.

Following this summer season of programmes, the EBU formed a “Programme Committee” to investigate new initiatives for cooperation between broadcasters each year, with Marcel Bezençon, Director-General of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), serving as the committee’s first President, and Rene McCall, deputy director of the BBC, and Jean d’Arcy, Director of the French broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF), serving as Vice Presidents. This committee met in Monte Carlo in January 1955, and approved two new projects for further study: a European song competition, initially proposed by Sergio Pugliese from the Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), and a contest of amateur entertainers; the latter idea was eventually discarded. On 19 October 1955, at the annual General Assembly of the EBU, held in the Palazzo Corsini in Rome under the Presidency of the Director-General of the BBC Sir Ian Jacob, the EBU agreed to the organising of the song contest, under the initial title of the European Grand Prix, and accepted a proposal by the Swiss delegation to host the event in Lugano in the spring of 1956. A planning sub-group was formed to establish the rules of the competition, headed by Eduard Hass of SRG SSR, which used the Italian Sanremo Music Festival as a basis for their work, with several amendments and additions made to better reflect this new international version.

1950s. The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the contest, organised by Radio svizzera italiana (RSI) on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and held on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland. The regulations for this first contest allowed one participating broadcast organisation from each country to submit two songs of between 3 and 3½ minutes in length, the only edition to permit more than one song per country. Each country was strongly encouraged to hold a national contest to select their competing entries. Seven countries entered the inaugural contest, with entries received from Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Voting in this first contest was held behind closed doors: two jury members from each country situated at the venue ranked the competing songs, including those of their own country. Switzerland’s Lys Assia was crowned the contest’s first winner, with the song “Refrain”. Only the overall winner of the contest was announced at its conclusion, and the full results have never been made public. No known video footage of the event is known to survive beyond newsreel of the winning reprise; audio of most of the contest however does exist.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the second edition of the contest, organised by Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) on behalf of ARD and held on 3 March 1957 at the Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks in Frankfurt, West Germany. Early rules established that a different broadcaster would take on the task of organising the contest each year, and Germany was selected to host the 1957 event. Ten countries entered this second contest, with the seven original broadcasters joined by Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom, with each country submitting one song for consideration. Taking inspiration from the Festival of British Popular Songs, organised by the BBC in August 1956 which included a scoreboard and voting by regional juries, the contest organisers decided to incorporate these ideas into the pan-European contest, allowing viewers at home to follow the voting procedure. A new voting system was introduced in tandem, with a jury of ten members in each country casting a single vote for their favourite song; jury members from one country could not vote for the song of their own country, a rule which still applies to the present day. The Netherlands was voted the winner, represented by Corry Brokken with the song “Net als toen”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third edition of the contest, organised by Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS) and held on 12 March 1958 at the AVRO Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. This marked the first time that the winning country of the previous edition was given the honour of hosting, setting a precedent that continues to be observed. The United Kingdom decided not to compete in this edition, however Sweden made its debut, keeping the total number of competing countries at ten. A new rule limiting the duration of each competing entry to 3 minutes was introduced, prompted by the previous year’s contest when the Italian entry lasted for over 5 minutes. France gained its first win in the contest, represented by André Claveau and “Dors, mon amour”. Despite only placing third, Italy’s “Nel blu, dipinto di blu”, popularly known as “Volare” and performed by Domenico Modugno, would go on to greater commercial success than the winning song, hitting number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and being recorded by various artists over the years, with combined sales of over 22 million copies worldwide. 

The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the contest, organised by Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) and held on 11 March 1959 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. 11 countries competed in this edition, which saw the United Kingdom returning to the contest along with new entrants Monaco, while Luxembourg decided to withdraw. The Netherlands’s Teddy Scholten was crowned the winner with the song “Een beetje”, becoming the first country to win the contest twice. This contest also marked the only time that the top three entries were given a reprise performance, with the United Kingdom’s Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson and France’s Jean Philippe also performing for a second time at the broadcast’s conclusion.

1960s. The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the contest, organised by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and held on 29 March 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom. Dutch broadcaster NTS declined the opportunity to stage the event for the second time in three years, leading the EBU to approach the BBC to host the event as the previous year’s runner-up. The number of competing countries grew to 13, as Luxembourg returned and Norway sent its first entry. France recorded their second contest win, with Jacqueline Boyer taking the title with “Tom Pillibi”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the sixth edition of the contest, organised by RTF and held on 18 March 1961 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. France became the first country to host two contests, with the Palais des Festivals having also hosted the 1959 event. This was also the first contest to be held on a Saturday night, which has now become the standard time-slot for the contest’s final. A record 16 countries competed in this year’s event, with debut entries from Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia. Luxembourg became the fourth country to win the Eurovision title, with French singer Jean-Claude Pascal giving the Grand Duchy their first win with “Nous les amoureux”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1962 was the seventh edition of the contest, organised by Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (CLT) and held on 18 March 1962 at the Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. For the first time there was no change in the countries competing, with the same line-up seen as in 1961. A new voting system was implemented at this contest, with each country now giving 3, 2 and 1 points to the top three songs as determined by the combined votes of the assembled jury. France’s Isabelle Aubret was crowned the winner with “Un premier amour”, giving France its third victory in five years.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 23 March 1963 at the BBC Television Centre in London, United Kingdom. France’s RTF had declined the offer to stage the contest once again, and the BBC stepped in to host the contest for the second time. A modification of the voting system used in 1962 was adopted, with countries now giving 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points for their favourite songs. In a close fought contest for first place between Denmark and Switzerland, Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann emerged victorious with “Dansevise” for Denmark, giving the Scandinavian country their first victory on the final vote.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth edition of the contest, organised by Danmarks Radio (DR) and held on 21 March 1964 at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sweden were forced to withdraw due to industrial action by the Swedish Musicians’ Union, however as Portugal made its debut appearance the total number of competing countries remained at 16. Another modification of the voting system now saw each country giving 5, 3 and 1 points to the top 3 songs based on the total of all votes cast by jury members, with each jury member having three votes to distribute among the songs; if all members voted for only two songs, these would get 6 and 3 points, and if all members voted for the same song it would get 9 points. This event marked the first time that the contest was interrupted by a protester, when a man demonstrating against the right-wing dictatorships of Spain and Portugal and the inclusion of these countries in the contest entered the stage holding a banner stating “Boycott Franco and Salazar”, before being quickly removed as cameras cut to a shot of the scoreboard. No footage of this protest remains however as, like the 1956 contest, no video footage of the contest is known to exist, but footage of the opening sequence and the winning reprise, as well as audio recordings are known to survive. Italy’s Gigliola Cinquetti scored a landslide victory with the song “Non ho l’età”, gaining almost three times as many points as the United Kingdom in second place and giving Italy its first Eurovision win.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the tenth edition of the contest, organised by Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) and held on 20 March 1965 at the Sala di Concerto della RAI in Naples, Italy. A record 18 countries competed in this anniversary event, with Sweden making its return and Ireland making its debut. With the contest being picked up by the Eastern Europe Intervision network and broadcast in countries such as the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and East Germany for the first time, the 1965 contest was the biggest yet with an estimated global audience of 150 million viewers. Sweden’s entry caused some controversy when their entry was performed in English, rather than in their national language Swedish; as there was no rule in place to dictate in what language a country could perform this was allowed despite protest from other competing countries. Luxembourg won for the second time, with French chanteuse France Gall performing “Poupée de cire, poupée de son”.  It was the first time that a pop song had won the contest, which would become an international hit for Gall, and would have an influence on the type of songs entered into the contest in years to come.

Ahead of the 1966 contest, the EBU invited broadcasters to submit proposals on ideas they believed should be introduced in future editions. This was prompted by concerns from CLT on their ability to stage the next event. Some ideas in common among several broadcasters included: the introduction of semi-finals to reduce the number of competing acts, with some also suggesting that competing countries should be split on a geographic or linguistic basis; music experts having a 50% stake in the result to enable more of an emphasis being placed on musical quality; and a tightening of the rules on language and submission cut-off, with the creation of an executive supervisor role in order to oversee the contest and raise production standards. Further proposals on changes to the contest included holding the event over multiple locations, with performances and hosting duties split across two or three different competing countries; this proposal was rejected following concerns raised that musical quality and consistency would suffer in a contest held across multiple locations and with multiple orchestras, and that the risk of technical failure would also increase by using multiple venues. The EBU went on to adopt a number of the suggestions raised, with the following contest featuring music experts in the national juries, and the implementation of a language rule stipulating that songs must be performed in one of the national languages of the participating country. Other changes, such as semi-finals and splitting countries by set criteria, would subsequently be revisited in decades to come.

Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the eleventh edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 5 March 1966 at the Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. This marked Luxembourg’s second contest as host broadcaster, using the same venue as that in 1962. This contest saw the first performance by a black artist at Eurovision, when Milly Scott represented the Netherlands. Udo Jürgens secured Austria’s first win with “Merci, Chérie”; this was Jürgens’ third attempt at victory, having previously finished 6th in 1964 and 4th in 1965.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the twelfth edition of the contest, organised by Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) and held on 8 April 1967 at the Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, Austria. Denmark withdraw from this contest, reducing the number of competing countries to 17. The scoring system last used in 1961, with ten members casting a single vote for their favourite, was reintroduced, with at least half of the jury members in each country required to be less than 30 years old. A number of other innovations introduced for the first time at this contest, such as shots of the green room during the voting process and each country’s broadcaster appointing an official representative, have since become integral parts of the present-day contest. The United Kingdom’s Sandie Shaw won the contest with “Puppet on a String” in a landslide victory, with the UK gaining more than twice as many votes as the runner-up Ireland to gain its first Eurovision title.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the thirteenth edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 6 April 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. This was the first edition of the contest to be produced in colour. A tight voting sequence saw Spain and the United Kingdom vie for first place by the end, with the votes of the final juries being decisive in favour of Spain’s Massiel by just one vote.[92] Spanish broadcaster TVE had originally selected Joan Manuel Serrat as its representative, but when he demanded to sing “La La La” in Catalan in the contest, TVE replaced him with Massiel who sang the song in Spanish and ultimately won the contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the fourteenth edition of the contest, organised by Televisión Española (TVE) and held on 29 March 1969 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain. 16 countries entered this year’s contest, with Austria refusing to take part due to the Spanish dictatorship. A tight voting sequence saw France, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in contention for first place, when with the votes of the final jury, all four countries finished on an equal number of points. With no rules in place to break a tie for first place all four countries were declared victors, the only time that more than one country has won in a single year. As four medals had fortunately been struck for the prize-giving, Spain’s Salomé, the UK’s Lulu, the Netherlands’ Lenny Kuhr and France’s Frida Boccara were all able to receive their prize ahead of a reprise of all four winning songs: “Vivo cantando”, “Boom Bang-a-Bang”, “De troubadour”, and “Un jour, un enfant” respectively. The result meant that France gained a new record fourth win in the contest, with the Netherlands recording its third win, and both Spain and the United Kingdom earning their second wins; Spain also became the first country to achieve two wins in a row. 

1970s. The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the fifteenth edition of the contest, organised by Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Congrescentrum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A draw was held to determine the host country of this contest following the four-way tie for first place in 1969, which chose the Netherlands as hosts over France, as Spain and the United Kingdom declined to take part in the draw due to having hosted recent contests. Widespread dissatisfaction with the result of the 1969 contest led to the withdrawals of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal, with Austria and Denmark also declining to participate in response, leaving only 12 countries to compete in Amsterdam, the lowest number of participants since 1959. A tie-break rule was introduced for the first time to ensure there would be no further joint winners: in the result of a tie for first place the artists of the countries involved would perform again, and the juries in all other remaining countries would determine the winner by a show of hands; if that too resulted in a tie then the countries would share the title. A number of innovations which have since become regular features of the contest were first implemented in this year, originally as a way to extend the broadcast due to the low number of participating entries. These include an extended opening film sequence highlighting the host country, and short film clip “postcards” highlighting the participants or host country which were placed between the competing songs. Ireland, which would go on to win more times than any other country, recorded its first win here, with Dana taking the contest with “All Kinds of Everything”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth edition of the contest, organised by Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and held on 3 April 1971 at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. A number of changes to the contest saw groups allowed for the first time, with a maximum of six performers on stage; previously only one or two principal vocalists had been permitted with support from a maximum of three supporting artists. A new voting system was also introduced for this contest, implemented to ensure that there would be a clear-cut winner and to avoid countries receiving nul points: two jurors from each country, one below the age of 25 and the other above, ranked all songs except that of their own country on a scale of one to five. All countries were now obligated to provide a music video of their entry and to broadcast all entries ahead of the contest via a preview show. With these changes, the countries which had sat out in 1970 felt able to return, and 18 participants in total were present, the biggest contest since 1966, with Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Portugal returning and Malta making its debut. Monaco recorded their first and only win, with French singer Séverine victorious for the principality with “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the seventeenth edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 25 March 1972 at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Monaco’s Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC) had initially expressed interest in hosting, however no suitable venue in Monaco was available in time for the contest. After Spain’s TVE and Germany’s ARD, having come second and third the previous year, and France’s ORTF had turned down the opportunity to host, the BBC offered once again to step in, taking the contest outside of London and England for the first time, to the Scottish capital. The same 18 countries from 1971 were again present, and the same voting system was implemented. The contest was broadcast in 28 countries, and for the first time was available live in Asia, with viewers able to watch the show in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand. Luxembourg earned their third contest win, represented by the Greek singer Vicky Leandros with “Après toi”; it was Leandros’ second attempt at Eurovision, having previously come 4th for Luxembourg in 1967.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the eighteenth edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 7 April 1973 at the Nouveau Théâtre in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Israel made its first appearance, becoming the first non-European nation to enter the contest, while Austria and Malta both withdrew, bringing the total participating nations to 17. Coming less than a year after the Munich massacre, security was unusually tight in light of Israel’s debut, with the venue sealed off by the authorities and the Israeli delegation being isolated in their hotel and surrounded by armed guards when not required at the venue; the audience had also been warned not to stand during the show at the risk of being shot. This year marked the first abolition of the language rule, allowing participants the freedom to choose the language in which they wished to perform: several countries capitalised on this, with Finland and Sweden performing in English, while Norway performed in both English and French. Pre-recorded backing tracks were also permitted for the first time, however all vocals were still required to be performed live and any instruments featured on the track had to be seen on stage. Luxembourg won the contest for the second year in a row, with the French singer Anne-Marie David giving Luxembourg its fourth win with “Tu te reconnaîtras”; Luxembourg thus became the first country to win two outright back-to-back victories, Spain having won in both 1968 and 1969 but sharing the latter title.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the nineteenth edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 6 April 1974 at The Dome in Brighton, United Kingdom. Luxembourg’s CLT turned down the offer to host the contest for a second year in a row, and Spain’s RTVE as runner-up in 1973 had also rejected hosting duties; an offer by Israel’s IBA was turned down due to their limited technical capabilities, and in the end the BBC threw its hat into the ring once again to take on the contest for the fifth time. 17 countries competed in total, with Greece making its debut appearance; France withdrew a number of days before the event following the death of the President of France Georges Pompidou, in a mark of respect as his funeral was arranged for the day of the contest. The voting system was modified once again to bring back the system last used in 1970, with 10 jury members casting a single vote for their favourite song. Sweden’s ABBA were declared the winners of the contest with “Waterloo”, giving Sweden its first Eurovision title. ABBA’s win in the contest would propel them to worldwide fame, with an estimated 380 million records sold across their career, with “Waterloo” alone selling five million copies and becoming one of the contest’s most successful winning songs.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the twentieth edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Radio (SR) and held on 22 March 1975 at the Stockholmsmässan in Stockholm, Sweden. A then-record 19 countries took part in this edition, which saw Greece withdrawing, France and Malta returning, and Turkey making its debut entry. SR had initially been hesitant in staging the contest due to the expense that came with it, and had wanted all competing countries to share the costs, however these cost sharing plans were not implemented in time for the ’75 event. The Stockholm event also saw demonstrations by left-wing activists who opposed the high costs of hosting the event. A new voting system was introduced at this contest, which has been the basis for the rewarding of points at all future contests: each country’s jury awarded 12 points to their top placed song, 10 points to their second placed, and then 8 to 1 points for those ranked third to tenth. The Netherlands was the first country to win the contest under this new system, with Teach-In achieving a fourth Dutch Eurovision win with “Ding-a-dong”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the twenty-first edition of the contest, organised by NOS and held on 3 April 1976 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, Netherlands. The previous year’s host Sweden, in response to the protests during the 1975 event and fearful of the costs involved in staging the event should they win again, decided to withdraw, joining Malta and Turkey, however with Austria and Greece returning a total of 18 countries took to the stage for the Netherlands’ third contest as hosts. Partly in response to the concerns raised by the Swedish broadcaster, all competing countries were now required to contribute to the costs of running Eurovision, with the value of the contribution fee dependent on the country’s viewership and population. The United Kingdom earned its third Eurovision victory, courtesy of Brotherhood of Man and “Save Your Kisses for Me”, which would go on to sell over six million records worldwide, more than any other winning song in the history of the contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the twenty-second edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 7 May 1977 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, United Kingdom. Originally scheduled to take place on 2 April, a strike by BBC cameramen and technicians forced a five-week delay. The language rule was re-introduced at this contest, meaning that songs could only be performed in one of the national languages of the country it represented. 18 countries took part in the London contest, with Sweden returning and Yugoslavia withdrawing; an attempt was also made by Tunisia to take part in the contest for the first time, however this eventually did not materialise, despite being drawn to perform fourth on stage. France set a new record in recording its fifth Eurovision win, with Marie Myriam taking the contest with “L’Oiseau et l’Enfant”, in what would become France’s last victory to date.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the twenty-third edition of the contest, organised by TF1 and held on 22 April 1978 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France. A new record of 20 countries competed in France’s third showing as host, with Denmark and Turkey returning, the former making its first appearance since 1966. Israel won the contest for the first time, represented by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta with the song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”. Israel’s win proved problematic for a number of non-competing broadcasters who were airing the event, particularly those in the Arab world with limited recognition of Israel, and many broadcasters ended the transmission of the event early when it became clear that Israel would win.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the twenty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and held on 31 March 1979 at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem. 19 countries took part, with Turkey, who had initially intended to participate and had already selected their act, withdrawing at a late stage following pressure from Arab nations who objected to a predominantly Muslim nation taking part in Israel. A tight result saw Israel and Spain vie for first place, with Spain leading by only one point going into the final vote, which was Spain’s own; by giving the hosts 10 points they awarded Israel its second victory in a row, handing the victory to Milk and Honey and the song “Hallelujah”.

1980s. The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the twenty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by NOS and held on 19 April 1980 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, Netherlands. Israel, having won the previous year, had initially agreed to host the contest, however due to the cost of hosting the event for a second year in a row, IBA eventually declined to host the event. After a number of other broadcasters, including the BBC, appeared reluctant to stage the event, NOS stepped in on the understanding that they could host a scaled-back production, using the same venue as in 1976. The 19 April date proved problematic for Israel as it conflicted with Yom HaZikaron, and after failed attempts to move the date Israel ultimately pulled out, the first and only time that the previous year’s winning country was unable to defend its title. Monaco also withdrew from the contest, however the number of competing countries remained steady at 19, with Turkey returning and Morocco making its debut entry, becoming the first African country to compete in the contest. Johnny Logan recorded the first of his three Eurovision wins in The Hague, giving Ireland its second victory with the song “What’s Another Year”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the twenty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 4 April 1981 at the RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland. 20 countries competed in total, with Cyprus making its debut appearance, Israel and Yugoslavia returning, and Morocco and Italy withdrawing, the latter for the first time since the contest was formed. A worldwide audience of around 500 million viewers was expected, with some 30 countries taking the broadcast across Europe, Asia and North Africa. The voting came down to a close contest between Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany, and the UK gained its fourth victory by a 4-point margin over Germany. Bucks Fizz, specially formed for the contest, would have great success in the following years, and their Eurovision winning song “Making Your Mind Up” would go on to become a Europe-wide hit.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the twenty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 24 April 1982 at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Harrogate, United Kingdom. 18 countries competed in total, with France and Greece withdrawing. French broadcaster TF1 in withdrawing criticised the contest’s musical quality and describing it as a “monument to drivel”, where as Greece, which would have performed second on the night, was forced to pull out a few weeks before the contest when it was discovered that its intended entry had been previously released and based on a Greek folk song. Germany dominated the voting and would win with the biggest margin yet seen under the current system (61 points), as well as gaining a new record number of 12 points, with 9 juries placing them top. Nicole became the first German act to win the contest, 26 years after their first entry, and during the winning reprise would perform her winning entry “Ein bißchen Frieden” in English, French, Dutch and the original German.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the twenty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) on behalf of ARD and held on 23 April 1983 at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, West Germany. 20 countries were present at Germany’s second contest has hosts, with returns from Italy, Greece and France, with the latter represented by a new broadcaster, Antenne 2, following a public outcry over the previous year’s absence, however Ireland withdrew for the first time due to a financial crisis at broadcaster RTÉ. Luxembourg recorded its fifth outright win after a close vote over Israel, Sweden and Yugoslavia, with the French singer Corinne Hermès cementing the Grand Duchy as one of the contest’s most successful countries with “Si la vie est cadeau”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1984 was the twenty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by RTL and held on 5 May 1984 at the Théâtre Municipal in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 19 countries in total took part, with Ireland returning and Israel declining to participate as the date of the contest clashed with Yom HaZikaron, with Greece also withdrawing at a late stage after broadcaster ERT decided that their potential songs were too low quality for the event. Désirée Nosbusch, chosen as the hostess for the event, became the youngest person to compère the contest, at only 19 years old.^] 10 years after ABBA had earned Sweden its first Eurovision win, Herreys gave the Scandinavian country its second, taking the contest with “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the thirtieth edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and held on 4 May 1985 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden. With over 8,000 spectators present in the arena, the 1985 event was the largest yet held, and was the first contest to be broadcast live via satellite. 19 countries were again present, with Israel and Greece returning but Yugoslavia and the Netherlands withdrawing, the latter for the first time; in both cases the contest clashed with national memorial days, with the Remembrance of the Dead held in the Netherlands and in Yugoslavia the anniversary of the death of President Josip Broz Tito. A close-fought contest in the voting between Norway, Germany and Sweden saw the perennial losers victorious for the first time: Norway had previously come last on six occasion, more than any other country, leading to great celebrations in the arena when Bobbysocks! were crowned the winners with “La det swinge”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the thirty-first edition of the contest, organised by Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) and held on 3 May 1986 at the Grieghallen in Bergen, Norway. 20 countries competed in total: the Netherlands and Yugoslavia returned after a year’s absence and Iceland made its debut appearance. Italy had decided to opt-out of this year’s event, while Greece withdrew at a late stage due to the contest coinciding with Holy Saturday. In a landmark event the 500th song to grace the Eurovision stage was performed at this contest, courtesy of Luxembourg’s Sherisse Laurence and “L’Amour de ma vie”. This contest also saw one of the first open representations of a member of the LGBT community, when members of the Norwegian drag group the Great Garlic Girls accompanied the home nation’s singer Ketil Stokkan. Belgium scored its first and only victory to date, with Sandra Kim becoming the contest’s youngest ever winner, at only 13 years old, with the song “J’aime la vie”; Kim had previously told producers before the contest that she was 15 years old, and when the truth was revealed the Swiss delegation, who had come second, protested and petitioned for Belgium to be disqualified to no avail.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the thirty-second edition of the contest, organised by Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) and held on 9 May 1987 at the Palais de Centenaire in Brussels, Belgium. Belgium had at that point waited longer than any other country to host its first contest, 31 years after their debut entry. Since the contest’s formation two broadcasters had been responsible for choosing Belgium’s entries, with French-language RTBF and Dutch-language Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) alternating every other year. Initially BRT had wanted to co-produce the first Belgian contest with RTBF, the broadcaster which had won the previous year, however disagreements quickly arose between the two organisations, and so RTBF organised the contest on its own, with BRT selecting the Belgian entry. 22 countries entered the contest, a new record, with Italy and Greece making a return and joining the 20 countries from the previous year. Johnny Logan, the winner of the 1980 contest, returned for Ireland and became the first artist to record two wins in the contest with “Hold Me Now”, and in doing so giving Ireland its third contest win.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the thirty-third edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 30 April 1988 at the RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland. This was Ireland’s third contest, which fell in the same year as the millennium of Dublin’s founding.^[183] The same group of countries from 1987 entered, however Cyprus was forced to withdraw at a late stage when it was discovered that their entry had previously competed in the Cypriot national selection in 1984. The RTÉ production team made a great effort to modernise the contest and attract a younger audience, with a modern stage commissioned, the largest yet seen, which featured two giant video walls, and the first ever use of a computerised scoreboard. In one of the closest contests yet seen, Switzerland emerged victorious by only a single point over the United Kingdom, with a then-unknown Céline Dion earning Switzerland its second victory with “Ne partez pas sans moi”. Although her Eurovision-winning song was not commercially successful, Dion would later become one of the world’s best-selling artists, having sold over 200 million records throughout her career.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the thirty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by Télévision suisse romande (TSR) on behalf of SRG SSR and held on 6 May 1989 at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland. This marked the second Eurovision to be held in Switzerland, 33 years after the inaugural contest was held in the Alpine country. With Cyprus returning, the final contest of the 1980s equalled the record of 22 competing countries set in 1987. A modification to the tie-break rule was implemented this year: a count-back would now occur for the countries which were tied for first place, with the country with the most 12 points being declared the winner, with further comparisons against 10 points and lower also conducted if required to break the tie. Two of the competing acts created controversy in the run-up to the contest due to their young age, with France’s Nathalie Pâque and Israel’s Gili Netanel becoming the youngest ever participants in contest history at 11 and 12 years old respectively. Yugoslavia recorded their only win in the contest, when Riva took victory with “Rock Me.

1990s. The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the thirty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by Radiotelevizija Zagreb (RTZ) on behalf of Jugoslovenska radio-televizija (JRT) and held on 5 May 1990 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. In response to the Israeli and French singers in 1989, the EBU introduced a new age rule, barring anyone below the age of 16 on the day of the contest from competing; this rule means that Sandra Kim, the contest’s youngest winner at 13 years old, remains so in perpetuity. Italy’s Toto Cutugno became the first winner of the decade, giving Italy its second win with Insieme: 1992, an ode to the planned formation of the European Union in 1992.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the thirty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by RAI and held on 4 May 1991 at Studio 15 di Cinecittà in Rome, Italy. This was the second edition of the contest to be held in Italy, and was presented by the two previous Italian winners, Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno. The contest was originally planned to be held in Sanremo, the site of the Sanremo Music Festival which was the inspiration for Eurovision, however following the outbreak of the Gulf War, RAI decided to move the contest to the Italian capital to better ensure the security of the foreign delegations. The Netherlands once again withdrew as the contest fell on the Remembrance of the Dead memorial, but Malta made its first appearance in the contest since 1975, keeping the contest participants at 22; Germany also made its first appearance as a unified country following German reunification in October 1990. The closest ever final result was recorded, with Sweden and France both finishing with the same number of points; Sweden was subsequently declared the winner when, in the only ever use of the tie-break rule in contest history, a count-back revealed that Sweden had collected more 10 points than France, after both countries had collected the same number of 12 points. Carola therefore became the third Swedish act to win the contest with “Fångad av en stormvind” in her second participation in the contest, having previously come third in 1983.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the thirty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 9 May 1992 at the Malmö Isstadion in Malmö, Sweden. A new record 23 countries entered the contest, with the Netherlands making its return. This contest would mark the last appearance of Yugoslavia, having already begun the process of breaking up and now representing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Ireland’s Linda Martin emerged the winner with the Johnny Logan-penned “Why Me?”, giving Ireland its fourth win and Logan his third as both performer and songwriter; it was Martin’s second contest appearance, having previously come second for Ireland in 1984. With the United Kingdom and Malta taking second and third, this was the first contest to have solely English-language songs feature in the top 3. 

The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the thirty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 15 May 1993 at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Ireland. It remains the only Irish production of the contest to be held outside of Dublin and, as a small town of only 1,500 people, Millstreet became the smallest Eurovision host to date, although the Green Glens Arena was able to hold up to 8,000 spectators. Changes in Europe in the 1990s were first reflected at this contest, with several new countries formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and breakup of Yugoslavia wishing to compete for the first time. In order to accommodate this growing number, the first Eurovision pre-selection took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 3 April, Kvalifikacija za Millstreet; seven countries competed for three places at the contest, with the former Yugoslav states Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia emerging the winners and joining 22 countries which had taken part in Malmö, with only Yugoslavia absent, banned from competing following UN sanctions. In order to better manage the participating countries in years to come, a relegation system was introduced, which saw the bottom-placed countries missing out the following year and replaced by new and returning countries. A two-horse race soon developed in the voting between the United Kingdom and Ireland, with the final jury crucial in giving victory to the hosts: Niamh Kavanagh became the first Irish act to win on home soil with “In Your Eyes”, their second consecutive win and a record-equalling fifth win in total.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the thirty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. RTÉ thus became the first broadcaster to host two consecutive contests. Seven countries joined the contest for the first time, replacing the bottom six countries from Millstreet, and Italy which withdrew voluntarily; Luxembourg, one of those countries relegated, subsequently failed to return the following year, and their 1993 entry would remain their last for 31 years. Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, which had failed to qualify from Kvalifikacija za Millstreet the previous year, joined new entries from Lithuania, Poland and Russia in debuting, competing alongside the top 18 countries from Millstreet. Riverdance, which would go on to become one of the world’s most successful dance productions, made its debut in this edition as the interval act; originally a seven-minute performance, it would later be expanded into a full show which would go on to be performed at over 450 venues worldwide and be seen by over 250 million people. Satellite links were used during the voting at this contest, which enabled the jury spokespersons to be seen in vision for the first time. Ireland secured its third consecutive win, a feat yet to be replicated, and earned a record-breaking sixth win courtesy of Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids”; Poland secured the best-ever showing yet seen for a debut country, when Edyta Górniak placed second.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the fortieth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. RTÉ had concerns about staging the contest for a third consecutive year, and the BBC submitted an offer to take on the event, as well as proposing a joint production in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland; ultimately RTÉ decided to produce the contest solo, hosting its third consecutive contest, which remains a record, with the Point Theatre becoming the first venue to host two contests in a row. The number of competing countries was reduced to 23, with the bottom seven countries from 1994 relegated and the five countries relegated at Millstreet in 1993 returning. Norway scored its second contest victory with the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden and the song “Nocturne”; some criticism arose following its victory that, as a mainly instrumental number containing only 24 words in total, the winning song should not have been eligible for the song contest, to no avail.

he Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the forty-first edition of the contest, organised by NRK and held on 18 May 1996 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. A new qualifying system was introduced at this contest, principally to appease Germany, one of the contest’s biggest financial backers, which otherwise would have been relegated, which saw all countries, except the host nation, competing in an audio-only qualifying round. 29 countries submitted entries for this qualifying round, with all competing nations and Norway voting and deciding the 22 countries which would advance to the final and join Norway as the host country and previous year’s winner. Germany however would be one of the seven countries to be eliminated, along with Hungary, Denmark, Russia, Israel, Romania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in what would have been their debut entry. For the first and only time to date, the voting was conducted using virtual reality technology, with the graphics for the scoreboard superimposed over the contest’s ‘blue room’. Ireland secured its record seventh win, with Eimear Quinn providing its fourth win in five years with “The Voice”. As in previous contests the most commercially successful contest entry would be one of the losing songs, with the UK’s “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” by Gina G becoming an international hit, reaching the top 20 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and eventually being nominated for a Grammy Award; it also remains the last UK entry to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the forty-second edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. 25 countries competed in the third contest held at the Point Theatre, with a new relegation system implemented to reduce the number of competing entries: the number of points each country earned in the last four contests was used to calculate an average score for each country, and the countries with the lowest average were made to sit out for a year. Israel withdrew voluntarily due to the contest conflicting with Yom HaShoah, giving a reprieve to Bosnia and Herzegovina which would have otherwise been relegated; Italy also made a brief return after a four-year absence, in what would be their last entry for fourteen years. The first use of televoting was implemented at this contest on a trial basis, with the points from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom being determined by the viewing public rather than an assembled jury. Full backing tracks were also now permitted without restriction, allowing songs to be performed without live music if desired, although live vocals were still required. The United Kingdom emerged victorious for the fifth time, 16 years after their last win, with Katrina and the Waves and “Love Shine a Light”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the forty-third edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. 25 countries were featured in the eighth contest held in the UK, a new record, with Macedonia making its debut appearance. Following the successful trial in 1997 televoting took place in the majority of countries for the first time at this contest. The first result widely determined by the viewing public saw Israel, the UK and Malta vie for first place, with Israel’s Dana International declared victorious with the final result, giving Israel its third win with “Diva”. Dana International, the contest’s first trans performer, had emerged a controversial figure in Israel following her selection for the contest, with criticism being levied by conservative sections of Israeli society and death threats being received from fanatical factions.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the forty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by IBA and held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem, Israel. 23 countries took part in Israel’s second contest as hosts, with Lithuania returning after a 5-year absence. It was the first contest not to feature an orchestra, which had become an optional requirement this year, a change which IBA had utilised in an effort to cut costs. This change, which proved controversial, meant that all entries would be accompanied by a backing track for the first time, a decision which former winner Johnny Logan claimed had turned the contest into “karaoke”. The language rule was also relaxed once again, which allowed artists the option to perform in any language, with many now choosing to sing in English. The “Big Four” group of countries was formed at this contest, a rule which saw the contest’s largest financial backers, Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, now being exempt from relegation and able to participate every year. The contest became a close race between Sweden and Iceland, with Charlotte Nilsson earning Sweden’s fourth contest win with “Take Me to Your Heaven”. Following the winning reprise the broadcast was concluded by all participating artists assembling on-stage to perform “Hallelujah”, the Israeli winning song from 1979, as a tribute to the victims of the then-ongoing war in the Balkans. 

2000s. The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the forty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 13 May 2000 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. 24 countries competed in the contest, with Latvia making its first appearance. The first contest of the new millennium was held before the biggest crowd yet seen in its history, with over 13,000 spectators witnessing the show in the arena, and it was the first contest to be broadcast live via the internet. Denmark secured its second win, its first since 1963, represented by the Olsen Brothers with the song “Fly on the Wings of Love”. Russia, which had placed second, petitioned for the song’s disqualification for the partial use of a vocoder, which was rejected by the EBU.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the forty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by DR and held on 12 May 2001 at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. A retractable roof was specially constructed over the football stadium for the contest, and with 38,000 spectators it became the biggest live audience ever seen at Eurovision, a record which still stands. 23 countries competed in total, and the relegation system was again altered, by removing the average score comparison and bringing back the system used in 1994 and 1995 of relegating the bottom-placed countries, with the Big Four being exempt no matter their placing. Estonia was declared the winner, represented by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL with “Everybody”. With its victory, Estonia became the first country from the former Eastern Bloc to win the contest, sparking an eight-year chain of victories for new countries, and Aruba-born Benton became the first black artist to win the contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the forty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by Eesti Televisioon (ETV) and held on 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia. 24 countries participated in the first contest to be held behind the former Iron Curtain. The Marcel Bezençon Awards, a series of additional prizes honouring some of the best songs and artists in each contest’s final as voted for by the accredited press, commentators and composers, were first awarded at this contest and have been subsequently featured at every contest since, traditionally handed out backstage shortly before the grand final. Latvia earned its first title, only two years after their first entry, represented by Marie N and “I Wanna”. Latvia had originally been relegated due to its poor performance in Copenhagen, but was given a reprieve when Portugal decided to withdraw voluntarily.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the forty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by Latvian Television (LTV) and held on 24 May 2003 at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia. 26 countries took part in the contest, with Ukraine joining the contest for the first time. This would become the last contest to be held over a single evening, with an announcement in January 2003 that from 2004 a semi-final would be introduced: the top 10 countries from the 2003 event alongside the “Big Four” would qualify automatically for the final in 2004, with all other countries competing in the semi-final for 10 qualification places. Turkey gained its first Eurovision win, with Sertab Erener victorious in one of the closest contests ever seen, as “Everyway That I Can” triumphed with only three points separating the top three countries.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the forty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and held on 12 and 15 May 2004 at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. A record 36 countries competed in the first contest held under the new format, with the relegated countries from 2003 being joined by Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro in their debut appearances, with Monaco also making its first appearance after a 25-year absence. 22 countries entered the first Eurovision semi-final, with the top 10 joining the 14 automatic qualifiers in the final. Ukraine emerged the winner, in only their second contest appearance, represented by Ruslana and “Wild Dances”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the fiftieth edition of the contest, organised by the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) and held on 19 and 21 May 2005 at the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine. 39 countries competed in total, with debut entries from Moldova and Bulgaria, and a return from Hungary for the first time since 1998. Lebanon had also planned to make a debut appearance, however they withdrew at a late stage due to issues with competing alongside Israel. Greece’s Helena Paparizou became the winner of the anniversary edition of the contest with “My Number One”, the first win for Greece after 31 years of competition.

On 22 October 2005, a special competition was held to celebrate the contest’s 50th anniversary. Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest was organised by DR and held at the Forum Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, hosted by former Eurovision contestants Katrina Leskanich and Renārs Kaupers. 14 songs from Eurovision history, chosen by fans and the contest’s Reference Group, competed to determine the most popular song from the contest’s first 50 years. Broadcast live in 31 countries which had competed in Eurovision at that point, the combined votes of the viewing public and juries selected a winner over two rounds. The winning song, announced at the end of the show, was “Waterloo” by ABBA, the winning song from the 1974 contest for Sweden.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the fifty-first edition of the contest, organised by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and held on 18 and 20 May 2006 at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece. 37 nations competed in the contest, with the first appearance of Armenia. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to compete, but controversy over the winner of their national selection resulted in their late withdrawal.^[240] A new landmark was achieved at this contest with the performance of the 1,000th song in Eurovision history, when Ireland’s Brian Kennedy performed “Every Song Is a Cry for Love” in the semi-final. 45 years after first entering the contest, Finland secured its first win, represented by Lordi and “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the fifty-second edition of the contest, organised by Yleisradio (YLE) and held on 10 and 12 May 2007 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. A record 42 countries competed in the contest, which saw the debut entries from the Czech Republic, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia, the latter two as independent countries for the first time. 28 countries competed in the single semi-final, the biggest number of participants ever seen in a Eurovision show. Serbia became only the second country to win on its debut appearance, represented by Marija Šerifović and “Molitva”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the fifty-third edition of the contest, organised by the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and held on 20, 22 and 24 May 2008 at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. A new record 43 countries competed in the contest, with Azerbaijan and San Marino making their first appearances in the contest. A second semi-final was introduced at this contest, with all countries except the hosts and the “Big Four” now competing on one of the two semi-finals. Russia gained its first contest win, represented by Dima Bilan and the song “Believe”; it was Bilan’s second appearance in the contest, having previously come second for Russia in 2006.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the fifty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by Channel One (C1R) and held on 12, 14 and 16 May 2009 at the Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow, Russia. 42 countries competed, including Slovakia in its first appearance in 11 years.^] Georgia’s entry was embroiled in controversy, when it was accused of being critical of Russian leader Vladimir Putin following the recent Russo-Georgian War; after requests made by the EBU to change the lyrics were rejected, Georgia subsequently withdrew. Juries returned to the contest this year, with the points awarded in the final decided by an equal mix of jury and televoting; the qualifiers from the semi-finals however remained predominantly decided by televoting in this contest. Norway secured its third contest win, as Alexander Rybak earned a runaway victory with “Fairytale”; with 387 points, Rybak earned the highest points total yet seen in the contest, which remains the highest total under this system.

2010s. The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the fifty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by NRK and held on 25, 27 and 29 May 2010 at the Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway. 39 countries participated in total, with Georgia returning after a year’s absence. Several countries withdrew for this year due to the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, including Andorra which has yet to make a reappearance, with the crisis also impacting the production of the contest. The mix of jury and televoting seen in the 2009 final was extended into the semi-finals this year, each with an equal stake in determining the 10 qualifiers in each semi-final. Germany gained its second contest win, becoming the first “Big Four” country to win since its formation in 1999, with Lena the first German winner in 28 years with “Satellite”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the fifty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) on behalf of ARD and held on 10, 12 and 14 May 2011 at the Düsseldorf Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. 43 countries competed in the third contest held on German soil, equalling the record set in 2008; among the returning countries was Italy, making its first appearance since 1997, which automatically qualified for the final as a member of the newly expanded “Big Five”. Azerbaijan earned its first title, represented by Ell & Nikki and the song “Running Scared”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the fifty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by İctimai Television (İTV) and held on 22, 24 and 26 May 2012 at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. 42 countries competed in the contest; Armenia had originally applied to compete, but withdrew at a late stage due to security concerns related to the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The contest was also marked by concerns over Azerbaijan’s human rights record, as well as tensions with neighbouring Iran over the “anti-Islamic” nature of the contest. Sweden secured its fifth Eurovision title, represented by Loreen and “Euphoria”, which would go on to become a great commercial success following the contest, selling over two million copies worldwide.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the fifty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 14, 16 and 18 May 2013 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden. 39 countries competed in total, with Armenia returning after a year’s absence; among the withdrawing countries were Slovakia and Turkey, which have yet to make subsequent appearances in the contest, with the Turkish broadcaster TRT citing amendments to the contest rules in recent years, as well as espousing criticism of the LGBT nature of some performances, as reasons for their continued non-participation.^[263][264] Denmark won the contest for the third time, represented by Emmelie de Forest and “Only Teardrops”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the fifty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by DR and held on 6, 8 and 10 May 2014 at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark. Artists representing 37 countries competed in Denmark’s third contest as host, with Austria emerging as the victor to gain their second victory, their first in 48 years, with Conchita Wurst and “Rise Like a Phoenix”. The bearded drag queen’s victory proved controversial among some, particularly in Russia where several conservative voices voiced criticism of her win. Developments in Russia, particularly the introduction of a gay propaganda law and the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, were also present in the contest when audible booing could be heard during the Russian entry and voting.

In celebration of the contest’s sixtieth anniversary, the EBU organised a special concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, United Kingdom on 31 March 2015. Eurovision Song Contest’s Greatest Hits featured live performances from fifteen previous Eurovision acts from thirteen countries, video montages of past editions of the contest and footage of former entries, and a performance by the cast of Riverdance, originally conceived as the interval performance for the 1994 contest before being developed into a full production. A BBC production, the concert was recorded live and aired as a delayed broadcast on various dates that suited the individual participating broadcasters: the BBC and Ireland’s RTÉ were the first to broadcast the event, in a simulcast on 3 April 2015.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the sixtieth edition of the contest, organised by ORF and held on 19, 21 and 23 May 2015 at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. 39 countries were initially announced as appearing at the contest, the first held in Austria since 1967; Australia was later added as the 40th country, making its first appearance in what was billed as a one-off to celebrate the contest’s 60th anniversary. Australia would advance directly to the final, meaning 27 countries would compete in the largest final ever seen in the contest. Sweden earned its sixth contest victory, represented by Måns Zelmerlöw and “Heroes”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the sixty-first edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 10, 12 and 14 May 2016 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. 43 countries were initially announced as being represented at the contest, with Australia being invited to compete for a second time; Romania was subsequently barred from competing due to outstanding debts owed by the Romanian broadcaster TVR, leaving 42 countries to compete in Sweden’s sixth outing as hosts. The voting system was transformed for the first time in over 30 years at this contest: each country would now award two sets of points, representing the votes of each country’s jury and public separately. Ukraine recorded its second win in the contest, courtesy of Jamala with “1944”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the sixty-second edition of the contest, organised by the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and held on 9, 11 and 13 May 2017 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine. 43 countries applied to take part in the contest, however only 42 would subsequently take part in Ukraine’s second contest: Russia were unable to compete after Ukrainian authorities banned their selected performer Yuliya Samoylova from entering Ukraine due to illegally entering Crimea in 2015, with proposals for Samoylova to compete via satellite from Russia being rejected by the Russian broadcaster.^] Portugal earned its first Eurovision title, 53 years after first entering the contest, with Salvador Sobral earning the biggest points total ever seen in Eurovision history as “Amar pelos dois” gained 758 points.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixty-third edition of the contest, organised by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) and held on 8, 10 and 12 May 2018 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. 43 countries competed in this contest, matching the previous record, with Russia returning after its absence the previous year. This contest saw the performance of Eurovision’s 1,500th song, when former winner Alexander Rybak performed “That’s How You Write a Song” in the second semi-final for Norway. Israel gained its fourth Eurovision title, represented by Netta with “Toy”.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the sixty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) and held on 14, 16 and 18 May 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel. The third Israeli contest was marked by controversy on multiple fronts, with Orthodox religious leaders and politicians in Israel calling on the contest to not interfere with Shabbat, while other groups, including BDS, called for a boycott of the event in response to the country’s policies towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and in opposition to what some consider as “pinkwashing” by the Israeli government. 42 countries were initially announced as competing in this contest, with Australia having secured participation rights up to 2023. However, only 41 countries entered the contest when Ukraine subsequently withdrew: conflicts between the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC and the winner of its national selection Maruv led to the latter refusing to compete, resulting in its withdrawal after other acts from the selection also declined to partake. The Netherlands recorded its fifth Eurovision win and first in 44 years, courtesy of Duncan Laurence with “Arcade”, which would later become a sleeper hit in 2021, becoming the most-streamed Eurovision song on Spotify and the first since “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, eventually reaching the top 30 of the chart.

2020s. The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was scheduled to be held on 12, 14 and 16 May 2020 at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and organised by Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), NOS and AVROTROS. 41 countries applied to enter what would have been the Netherlands’ fifth contest as hosts, but in March 2020, for the first time in its history, the contest was cancelled due to the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions put in place by governments across Europe, which included lockdowns and travel restrictions. In its place, a special broadcast from Media Park in Hilversum, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, was held on what would have been the day of the final, in a celebration and showcase of the artists and songs that would have competed in the 2020 contest in a non-competitive format, as well as featuring performances by former Eurovision artists.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the sixty-fifth edition of the contest, held on 18, 20 and 22 May 2021 at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and organised by NPO, NOS and AVROTROS. Rotterdam was revealed as the host city of the 2021 contest during Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light. Many of the artists which had initially been selected to compete in 2020 were confirmed for their countries once again, however any song entered into the 2020 contest was ineligible for 2021 per the rules of the contest. Pre-recorded backing vocals were permitted for the first time in 2021 on a trial basis, announced as an effort to modernise and increase the sustainability of the contest. The same 41 countries which had originally planned to enter the 2020 contest were initially announced as competing again in this contest, however, a late withdrawal of Armenia and subsequent disqualification of the entry from Belarus brought the number of competing countries down to 39. Multiple contingency scenarios were devised in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from a normal, albeit less-crowded contest (which was the chosen option) to a fully-remote contest with participants performing via ‘live-on-tape’ recordings. Australia and Iceland were ultimately unable to perform at the contest live: the Australian delegation opted to use their ‘live-on-tape’ performance given logistical difficulties in travelling abroad as part of the country’s pandemic response; while Iceland competed using rehearsal footage following a COVID-19 outbreak among its delegation. Italy recorded its third Eurovision win, becoming the second “Big Five” country to win since its formation, as Måneskin ended a 31-year wait for victory with “Zitti e buoni”. Second-placed France and third-placed Switzerland also achieved their best results since 1991 and 1993 respectively. Måneskin’s win in the contest marked the band’s international breakthrough, with their releases entering numerous European and global weekly charts in the months following their victory.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the sixty-sixth edition of the contest, held on 10, 12 and 14 May 2022 at the PalaOlimpico in Turin, Italy and organised by RAI. 41 countries applied to take part in the contest, with Armenia and Montenegro submitting their first entries since 2019. Russia, which had initially appeared on the list, was subsequently barred from competing following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, resulting in 40 countries competing in Italy’s third outing as hosts. Ukraine recorded its third win in the contest, represented by Kalush Orchestra with “Stefania”, while the United Kingdom, which placed second, and Spain, which placed third, also achieved their best results since 1998 and 1995 respectively.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the sixty-seventh edition of the contest, held on 9, 11 and 13 May 2023 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, United Kingdom and organised by the BBC. Ukraine’s UA:PBC was initially given the opportunity to host following its victory the previous year, but due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion of the country, the BBC was chosen, as the runner-up, to host the contest on its behalf. 37 countries applied to take part in the ninth contest held in the UK, with several countries withdrawing for this year due to the effects of the global energy crisis. Substantial changes to the voting system were made for this contest, with full televoting returning to determine the qualifiers from the semi-finals, and viewers from non-participating countries being allowed to vote in all shows, with their votes being aggregated and awarded as one set of points from an “extra country” for the overall public vote. Loreen, the winner of the 2012 contest, returned for Sweden and became the second artist to record two wins in the contest with “Tattoo”, and in doing so giving Sweden a record-tying seventh contest win.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the sixty-eighth edition of the contest, held on 7, 9 and 11 May 2024 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden and organised by SVT. 37 countries applied to take part in the seventh contest held on Swedish soil, with Luxembourg making its first appearance since 1993. Romania, whose broadcaster TVR had been given additional time to finalise its plans, ultimately opted not to participate this year. The slogan of the previous year’s event in Liverpool, “United by Music”, was retained for 2024 and all future editions, thus ending the practice of individual slogans being created for each edition which had begun in 2002. Switzerland recorded its third victory and first in 36 years, courtesy of Nemo with “The Code”. This edition was beset by numerous controversies, most notably Israel’s participation amidst the Gaza war with protests and petitions calling for or against its removal, and audible booing during the Israeli entry and voting, as well as the disqualification of the Netherlands ahead of the final due to a backstage incident between its entrant Joost Klein and a production staff member, though the country retained its right to vote.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the sixty-ninth edition of the contest, held on 13, 15 and 17 May 2025 at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland and organised by SRG SSR. 38 countries initially registered to compete in the contest, with Montenegro returning after a two-year absence. Moldova, which had initially appeared on the list, subsequently withdrew due to economic reasons and the quality of its national selection, resulting in 37 countries partaking in the third edition held in Switzerland. Austria recorded its third victory, represented by JJ with “Wasted Love”.

Notes.