• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 29 March 1969 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: Teatro Real (El Real), Madrid, 🇪🇸 Spain
• Presenter (s): Laura ‘Laurita’ Valenzuela
• Musical Director: Augusto Algueró
• Director: Ramón Díez
• Executive Producer: —
• Executive Supervisor: Clifford Brown
• Multicamera Director: Ramón Díez
• Host broadcaster: Televisión Española (TVE)
• Interval Act: “La España diferente” film
• Participants – Number of entries: 16 [🇧🇪 Belgium (14ª), 🇫🇷 France (14ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (14ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (14ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (14ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (14ª), 🇬🇧United Kindom (12ª), 🇲🇨Monaco (11ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (13ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (10ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (9ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (9ª),  Yugoslavia (9ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (6ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (5ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (11ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: 🇦🇹 Austria (12ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Ten-member juries distributed ten points among their favourite songs. Each participating country had 10 jury members, and each jury member could award one point to one song.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “Vivo Cantando” – Salomé – 🇪🇸 Spain (2ª), “Un Jour, Un Enfant” – Frida Boccara – 🇫🇷 France (4ª), “De Troubadour” – Lenny Kuhr – 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (3ª), “Boom Bang-a-bang” – Lulù – 🇬🇧 United Kindom (2ª)

About. The Spanish capital of Madrid hosted the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest after Massiel won the trophy in London the year before. Austria decided to stay home so the number of participants went down to 16 as no new countries entered.

Tie for first place. For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the outcome of the voting resulted in a tie for first place. Four countries gained 18 points each: France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Since there was no solution for this situation, all four countries were declared winners. Luckily, there were four medals available to the four winning singers – the four medals were originally intended for the winning singer and three winning songwriters.

About the winners. The four winners differed a lot from one another: France had a haunting ballad performed by Frida Boccara, the Netherlands sent in Lenny Kuhr with a guitar, Spain and Salomé performed the energetic “Vivo Cantando” where as the star from the United Kingdom, Lulu, the uptempo “Boom Bang a Bang”. However, having four winners caused a lot of criticism from the media and several TV-stations re-considered participating in the following Eurovision Song Contest.

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – translate – Language	Points	rank
01	Yugoslavia JRT	Ivan & 4M (Ivan & M’s, Иван & 3М)	Pozdrav svijetu (Поздрав свијету, Greetings to the world) Serbo-Croatian	005	13
02	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Romuald	Cathérine French	007	11
03	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Salomé	Vivo cantando (I live singing) Spanish	018	01
04	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Jean-Jacques	Maman, maman (Mum, mum) French	011	06
05	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Muriel Day & The Lindsays	The wages of love English	010	07
06	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Iva Zanicchi	Due grosse lacrime bianche (Two big white tears) Italian	005	13
07	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Lulu	Boom bang-a-bang English	018	01
08	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NTS	Lenny Kuhr	De troubadour (The troubadour) Dutch	018	01
09	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	Tommy Körberg	Judy, min vän (Judy, my friend) Swedish	008	09
10	🇧🇪 Belgium BRT	Louis Neefs	Jennifer Jennings Dutch	010	07
11	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Paola del Medico	Bonjour, bonjour (Hello, hello) German	013	05
12	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Kirsti Sparboe	Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli (Wow, wow, wow, how happy I’ll be) Norwegian	001	16
13	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Siw Malmkvist	Prima ballerina German	008	09
14	🇫🇷 France ORTF	Frida Boccara	Un jour, un enfant (A day, a child) French	018	01
15	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Simone de Oliveira	Desfolhada portuguesa (Portuguese husking) Portuguese	004	15
16	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Jarkko & Laura	Kuin silloin ennen (Like in those times) Finnish	006	12

Participation map

Participating countries   Countries that participated in the past but not in 1969

ESC 1969 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results: 

The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Madrid, Spain, following the country’s victory at the 1968 contest with the song “La, la, la” by Massiel. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE), the contest was held at the Teatro Real on Saturday 29 March 1969 and was hosted by Spanish television presenter and actress Laurita Valenzuela.

Sixteen countries took part in the contest with Austria deciding not to participate this year.

At the close of voting, four countries were controversially declared joint-winners: the United Kingdom with “Boom Bang-a-Bang” by Lulu, Spain with “Vivo cantando” by Salomé, the Netherlands with “De troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr, and France with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara. It was the first time in the history of the contest that a tie had occurred, and as there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners. France’s win was their fourth, thus making it the first country to win the contest four times. The Netherlands’ win was their third. Spain and the United Kingdom each won for the second time, with Spain becoming the first country to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice in a row.

1.Location. The venue selected to host the 1969 contest was the Teatro Real, an opera house located in Madrid. The theatre reopened in 1966 as a concert theatre and the main concert venue of the Spanish National Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. The stage featured a metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist Amadeo Gabino.

2.Format. The surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dalí was responsible for designing the publicity material for the 1969 contest.

It was the first time that the contest resulted in a tie for first place, with four countries each gaining 18 votes. Since there was at the time no rule to cover such an eventuality, all four countries were declared joint winners. This caused an unfortunate problem concerning the medals due to be distributed to the winners as there were not enough to go round, so that only the singers received their medals on the night: the songwriters, to some disgruntlement, were not awarded theirs until some days later. It was the second contest to be filmed and transmitted in colour, even though TVE did not have colour equipment at the time. It had to rent colour TV cameras from the ARD German network. In Spain itself the broadcast was seen in black and white because the local transmitters did not support colour transmissions. The equipment for archiving the broadcast did not arrive in time, so TVE only had a black and white copy of the contest, until a colour copy was discovered in the archives of the NRK.

3.Participating countries. Austria was absent from the contest, officially because they could not find a suitable representative, but it was rumoured that they refused to participate in a contest staged in Franco-ruled Spain. Wales wanted to debut with Welsh language broadcaster BBC Cymru, and also made a national selection called Cân i Gymru, but in the end it was decided they would not participate in the competition – their participation was rejected because Wales is not a sovereign state. Only the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the United Kingdom.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra. These are listed below.

3.2.Returning artists. 

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Siw Malmkvist	🇩🇪 Germany	1960 (for 🇸🇪 Sweden)
Romuald	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1964 (for 🇲🇨 Monaco)
Simone de Oliveira	🇵🇹 Portugal	1965
Kirsti Sparboe	🇳🇴 Norway	1965, 1967
Louis Neefs	🇧🇪 Belgium	1967

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1969: 

• National Selections in 1969:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1969 (song selection) [b]	Louis Neefs – “Jennifer Jennings”
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1969)	Jarkko & Laura – “Kuin silloin ennen“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Madrid	Siw Malmkvist – “Primaballerina“
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1969)	Muriel Day and the Lindsays – “The Wages of Love”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1969	Lenny Kuhr – “De troubadour“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1969	Kirsti Sparboe – “Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1969	Simone de Oliveira – “Desfolhada portuguesa“
🇪🇸 Spain	(Spanish Selection 1969) (song selection)  [c]	Salomé – “Vivo cantando“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1969	Tommy Körberg – “Judy, min vän“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1969 (song selection) [d]	Lulu – “Boom Bang-a-Bang”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1969	Ivan and 4M – “Pozdrav svijetu” (Поздрав свијету)

• Internal Selections in 1969: 

3.5.Connections:

4.Voting. Although neither jury made any errors in their announcements, scrutineer Clifford Brown asked both the Spanish and the Monegasque juries to repeat their scores. No adjustments were made to the scoring as a result of the repetition.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	Yugoslavia	5			1							1					3
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	7	1			3				1		1			1
	🇪🇸 Spain	18	1	2		3	1					3		1	3	2	2
	🇲🇨 Monaco	11			2			4		2	2	1
	🇮🇪 Ireland	10							1	1	1		3		1			3
	🇮🇹 Italy	5	1			1	1										1	1
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	18	2	4				3		1	5				1		1	1
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	18		2		1		3				1	4	1		6
	🇸🇪 Sweden	8								1				3			1	3
	🇧🇪 Belgium	10			2				3	1			2	2
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	13	2				3		2			1		1	2			2
	🇳🇴 Norway	1									1
	🇩🇪 Germany	8	3		2							1		1		1
	🇫🇷 France	18		1		2	4		4	2	1		1		1		2
	🇵🇹 Portugal	4			2							1				1
	🇫🇮 Finland	6		1	1		1			1				1	1

4.1.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1969 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.

5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS1	Willy Kralik
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Paule Herreman
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
🇫🇮 Finland	TV-ohjelma 1, Yleisohjelma	Aarno Walli
🇫🇷 France	Deuxième Chaîne ORTF	Pierre Tchernia	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ	Gay Byrne
	RTÉ Radio	Kevin Roche
🇮🇹 Italy	Secondo Programma	Renato Tagliani
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Télé-Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	Pierre Tchernia
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Pim Jacobs	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Sverre Christophersen [a]
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	I Programa	Henrique Mendes
🇪🇸 Spain	Primera Cadena	José Luis Uribarri
	Radio Nacional	Miguel de los Santos
🇸🇪 Sweden	Sveriges TV, SR P3	Christina Hansegård	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	David Gell	–
	BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2	Pete Murray	–
Yugoslavia	Televizija Beograd	Serbo-Croatian: Miloje Orlović
	Televizija Zagreb	Serbo-Croatian: Mladen Delić
	Televizija Ljubljana	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
Brazil	TV Tupi	Unknown	–
Chile	Canal 9	Unknown	–
🇨🇿 CZECHOSLOVAKIA	ČST	Unknown	–
East Germany	Deutscher Fernsehfunk	Unknown	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	RTV	Unknown	–
Mexico	TBC	Unknown	–
🇵🇱 POLAND	TVP	Unknown	–
Puerto Rico	TBC	Unknown	–
🇷🇴 ROMANIA	TVR	Unknown	–
Soviet Union	CT USSR	Igor Kirillov	–
Tunisia	RTT	Unknown	–

6.Notes.

• [a] Sverre Christophersen was the commentator during the broadcast, however the connection between Madrid and Oslo was disabled slightly midway through the broadcast. Janka Polanyi entered as a temporary commentator before NRK used the commentary from the Swedish feed. Just before the voting began, NRK managed to regain the connection, thus Christophersen was back as commentator.
• [b] Louis Neefs was internally selected to represent Belgium at Eurovision 1969. The song “Jennifer Jennings” that Louis performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with six songs.
• [c] Salomé was internally selected to represent Spain at Eurovision 1969. The song “Vivo cantando”  that Salomé performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with ten songs. Each of the songs were performed both by Salomé and another artist.
• [d] Lulu was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1969. Lulu presented one song a week for six weeks on the BBC1 TV series Lulu. She performed all six songs on A Song for Europe 1969, and the public could vote via postcards. The result was announced one week later.

7.Trivial. 

• 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; Did you know…Austria boycotted the 1969-contest in Madrid because Spain at that time was ruled by Francisco Franco; Did you know…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); Did you know…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.
• Austria stayed home for political reasons, so the number of participants went down to 16 as no new countries entered.
• Salvador Dali designed the stage in 1969.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1968 • Eurovision Song Contest 1969 • Eurovision Song Contest 1970 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Yugoslavia ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ Spain (winner) ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Ireland ⦁ Italy ⦁ United Kingdom (winner) ⦁ The Netherlands (winner) ⦁ Sweden ⦁ Belgium • Switzerland ⦁ Norway ⦁ Germany ⦁ France (winner) ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Finland
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Ivan and 4M ⦁ Romuald ⦁ Salomé (winner) ⦁ Jean Jacques ⦁ Muriel Day and the Lindsays ⦁ Iva Zanicchi ⦁ Lulu (winner) ⦁ Lenny Kuhr (winner) ⦁ Tommy Körberg ⦁ Louis Neefs • Paola del Medico ⦁ Kirsti Sparboe ⦁ Siw Malmkvist ⦁ Frida Boccara (winner) ⦁ Simone de Oliveira • Jarkko and Laura
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Pozdrav svijetu” (Поздрав свијету) ⦁ “Catherine” ⦁ “Vivo cantando” (winner) ⦁ “Maman, maman” ⦁ “The Wages of Love” ⦁ “Due grosse lacrime bianche” ⦁ “Boom Bang-a-Bang” (winner) ⦁ “De troubadour” (winner) ⦁ “Judy, min vän” ⦁ “Jennifer Jennings” • “Bonjour, Bonjour” ⦁ “Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli” ⦁ “Primaballerina” ⦁ “Un jour, un enfant” (winner) ⦁ “Desfolhada portuguesa” • “Kuin silloin ennen“