History Of The Eurovision Song Contest

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The

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

() was first held in 1956, originally conceived through a desire to unite European countries through cross-border television broadcasts following World War II, and in doing so to test the capabilities of international broadcast technology. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) commissioned an international song competition, from an idea developed by Sergio Pugliese and

Marcel Bezençon Marcel Bezençon (; 1 May 1907 – 17 February 1981) was a Swiss journalist, media executive and the director of the European Broadcasting Union between 1954 and 1970. In 1955, he conceived the idea of the Eurovision Song Contest, based on the fa ...

and originally based on the Italian

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

. 66 contests have been held since its first edition, and over 1,600 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage Eurovision has seen many changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

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 An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

and language criteria being modified on several occasions. Eurovision has been identified as the longest-running annual international televised music competition in the world, as determined by ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'', and over 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 of the contest was the first to be cancelled, as no competitive event was able to take place due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Competition overview

Contest themes and slogans

An individual slogan has been associated with each edition of the contest since 2002, except in 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.

Origins

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed in 1950, when British broadcaster

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

hosted a conference with 23 organisations at the Imperial Hotel in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, 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 ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' 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 The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

, 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 Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

, France, followed by a tour of

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. Further events were broadcast over the following days, including the

Palio di Siena The Palio di Siena (; known locally simply as ''Il Palio''), from Latin pallium, plural form: Palii, is a horse race that is held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the ...

, an

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

meet in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, a parade by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

passing Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and live transmission of football matches from the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, the first time the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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

, Director-General of the

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (german: Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft; french: Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision; it, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione; rm, Societad Svizra da Radio e Televisiun; SRG ...

(SRG SSR), serving as the committee's first President, and Rene McCall, deputy director of the

...
, and Jean d'Arcy, Director of the French broadcaster

Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF; ''French Radio and Television Broadcasting'') was the French national public broadcaster television organization established on 9 February 1949 to replace the post-war "''Radiodiffusion Française''" ...

(RTF), serving as Vice Presidents. This committee met in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

in January 1955, and approved two new projects for further study: a European song competition, initially proposed by Sergio Pugliese from the Italian broadcaster

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

, 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 , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

under the Presidency of the

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...

Sir

Ian Jacob Lieutenant General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob (27 September 1899 – 24 April 1993), known as Ian Jacob, was a British Army officer, who served as the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and was later a distinguished ...

, 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 Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

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

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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and (RSI). The contest, origin ...

was the first edition of the contest, organised by

Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (; RSI, abbreviated as RTSI until 28 February 2009) is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programs in Italian f ...

(RTSI) and held on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in

. 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, with only solo artists permitted to perform. Seven countries entered the inaugural contest, with entries received from , , , , , the and . 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 Lys Assia (born Rosa Mina Schärer; 3 March 1924 – 24 March 2018) was a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Assia was born in Rupperswil, Aargau, and began her stage career as a dancer, but changed to singing in 1940 ...

was crowned the contest's first winner, with the song "

Refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

". 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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the second edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (HR) on behalf of ARD, the contest, originally known as the (English: Euro ...

was the second edition of the contest, organised by

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ARD. Studios Do ...

(HR) on behalf of ARD and held on 3 March 1957 at the Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. 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 , and the , 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 Cornelia Maria "Corry" Brokken (3 December 1932 – 31 May 2016) was a Dutch singer, television presenter and jurist. In 1957, she won the second edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Net als toen", representing the Netherlands. ...

with the song "

Net als toen "Net als toen" (; "Just like then") is a love song written in Dutch by Willy van Hemert, composed by Guus Jansen and performed by Corry Brokken in 1957 as the Netherlands' entry and runaway winner of the pan-European Eurovision Song Contest, whi ...

Domenico Modugno (1958), Bestanddeelnr 909-4001

The

Eurovision Song Contest 1958 The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NTS), the contest, originally known as the (English: Grand Prix of the Eu ...

was the third edition of the contest, organised by

Nederlandse Televisie Stichting The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (; NOS ; English: Dutch Broadcasting Foundation) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports progra ...

(NTS) and held on 12 March 1958 at the

AVRO Studios AVRO Studios is a building complex and national heritage site in Hilversum, where the radio and TV studios and the head office of the Dutch public broadcasting system, Dutch public broadcasting association AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or ...

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. 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 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 "Dors, mon amour" (; "Sleep, My Love") is a love song written in French by Hubert Giraud, composed by Pierre Delanoë and performed in 1958 by André Claveau as France's entry and the winner of the pan-European Eurovision Song Contest, gaining o ...

". Despite only placing third, Italy's " Nel blu, dipinto di blu", popularly knows as "Volare" and performed by

Domenico Modugno Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...

, would go on to greater commercial success than the winning song, hitting number one on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and being recorded by various artists over the years, with combined sales of over 22 million copies worldwide. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1959 The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European B ...

was the fourth edition of the contest, organised by

(RTF) and held on 11 March 1959 at the

Palais des Festivals Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace ** Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in ...

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. 11 countries competed in this edition, which saw the United Kingdom returning to the contest along with new entrants , while Luxembourg decided to withdraw. The Netherlands's

Teddy Scholten Dorothea Margaretha "Teddy" Scholten (née van Zwieteren; 11 May 1926 – 8 April 2010) was a Dutch singer and television presenter. She is known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song "Een beetje", representing the Netherlands ...

was crowned the winner with the song "

Een beetje "n Beetje" (; "A little bit"), spelled in full as "Een beetje", is a song written in Dutch by Willy van Hemert, composed by Dick Schallies and performed by Teddy Scholten as the ' entry and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959. The song was ...

", 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 Pearl Lavinia Carr (2 November 1921 – 16 February 2020) and Edward Victor "Teddy" Johnson (4 September 1919 – 6 June 2018) were English husband-and-wife entertainers who gained their highest profile during the 1950s and early 1960s. Early d ...

and France's

Jean Philippe Jean Philippe Gargantiel (, 27 November 1930 – 7 January 2022) was a French singer who represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959. He returned to the contest in 1962 representing Switzerland. He was the first artist to compete fo ...

also performing for a second time at the broadcast's conclusion.

1960s

The

Eurovision Song Contest 1960 The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom, and hosted by British television presenter and actress Catherine ...

was the fifth edition of the contest, organised by the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

(BBC) and held on 25 March 1960 at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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. 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 sent its first entry. France recorded their second contest win, with

Jacqueline Boyer Jacqueline Boyer (, born Eliane Ducos, 23 April 1941) is a French singer and actress. She is also the daughter of performers Jacques Pills and Lucienne Boyer. In 1960, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Tom Pillibi", with m ...

taking the title with "

Tom Pillibi "Tom Pillibi" is a song written in French by Pierre Cour, composed by André Popp and performed in 1960 by Jacqueline Boyer as 's entry and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960, gaining other versions including covers by other Eurovisio ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1961 The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Once again, the contest was held in the French seaside city of Cannes, having also hosted the . Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and ho ...

was the sixth edition of the contest, organised by RTF and held on 18 March 1961 at the

. 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 , and . Luxembourg became the fourth country to win the Eurovision title, with French singer

Jean-Claude Pascal Jean-Claude Villeminot (24 October 1927 – 5 May 1992), better known as Jean-Claude Pascal (), was a French comedian, actor, singer and writer. Early life He was born in Paris into a family of wealthy textile manufacturers. His mother, ...

giving the Grand Duchy their first win with "

Nous les amoureux "Nous les amoureux" (; "We, the Lovers" or "Us Lovers") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in French for by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal. The song was performed fourteenth on the night (following 's Dario ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1962 The Eurovision Song Contest 1962 was the 7th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Nous les amoureux" by Jean-Claude Pascal. The contes ...

was the seventh edition of the contest, organised by

Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France and ...

(CLT) and held on 18 March 1962 at the Grand Auditorium de RTL,

Villa Louvigny Villa Louvigny is a building in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg, that served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, the forerunner of RTL Group. It is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute quarte ...

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. 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 Isabelle Aubret (; born Thérèse Coquerelle; 27 July 1938) is a French singer best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 with the song "Un premier amour". Early life Thérèse Coquerelle was born in Lille, France, on 27 July ...

was crowned the winner with "

Un premier amour "Un premier amour" (; "A First Love") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1962, sung in French by Isabelle Aubret representing . The song was performed ninth on the night, following the ' De Spelbrekers with " Katinka" and prec ...

", giving France its third victory in five years. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1963 The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporat ...

was the eighth edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 23 March 1963 at the

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...

. 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 Grethe Ingmann and Jørgen Ingmann were Danish singers and musicians. Together they won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 1963, and went on to represent Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "Dansevise" ("Dancing tune") with musi ...

emerged victorious with "

Dansevise "Dansevise" (; ) was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, which took place on 23 March in London. It was performed in Danish by husband and wife duo Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, representing . This was the first entry performed by ...

" for Denmark, giving the Scandinavian country their first victory on the final vote. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1964 The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Dansevise" by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. Organised by the Eu ...

was the ninth edition of the contest, organised by

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

(DR) and held on 21 March 1964 at the

Tivoli Concert Hall Tivoli Concert Hall ( da, Tivolis Koncertsal) is a 1,660-capacity concert hall at Tivoli (Copenhagen), Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. The building, which was designed by Frits Schlegel and Hans Hansen (architect), Hans Hansen, was built be ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Sweden were forced to withdraw due to

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

by the Swedish Musicians' Union, however as 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

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

er, when a man demonstrating against the right-wing dictatorships of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and the inclusion of these countries in the contest entered the stage holding a banner stating "Boycott

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

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 Gigliola Cinquetti (; born Giliola Cinquetti on 20 December 1947) is an Italian singer, songwriter, and television presenter. Life and career Gigliola Cinquetti was born into a wealthy family in Verona. From the ages of 9 to 13, she studied and ...

scored a landslide victory with the song "

Non ho l'età "Non ho l'età (per amarti)" (Italian for "I'm not old enough (to love you)"), usually given as just "Non ho l'età" (), was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, held in Copenhagen. It was performed in Italian by Gigliola Cinquet ...

", 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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the tenth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Naples, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "Non ho l'età" by Gigliola Cinquetti. Organised by the European ...

was the tenth edition of the contest, organised by

Radiotelevisione italiana RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...

(RAI) and held on 20 March 1965 at the

Sala di Concerto della RAI RAI's production center in Naples ( it, Centro di produzione Rai di Napoli) is one of four regional television and radio production centers belonging to the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The center is located in Naples in southern Italy, while ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. A record 18 countries competed in this anniversary event, with Sweden making its return and making its debut. With the contest being picked up by the Eastern Europe

Intervision network The International Radio and Television Organisation (official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision or OIRT (before 1960 International Broadcasting Organization (IBO), official name in French: ''Organi ...

and broadcast in countries such as the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

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 Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French ''yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. Between 1973 and 1992, s ...

performing "

Poupée de cire, poupée de son "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (; English: "Wax doll, rag doll") is a song written by Serge Gainsbourg and recorded by French singer France Gall. It is best known as the Luxembourgian winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, hel ...

". It was the first time that a

pop song Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

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. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1966 The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. O ...

was the eleventh edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 5 March 1966 at the Grand Auditorium de RTL,

. This marked Luxembourg's second contest as host broadcaster, using the same venue as that in 1961. This contest saw the first performance by a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

artist at Eurovision, when

Milly Scott Marion Henriëtte Louise Molly (born 29 December 1933), known professionally as Milly Scott, is a Dutch singer and actress of Surinamese origin, best known for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966. She is recognised as the fir ...

represented the Netherlands.

Udo Jürgens Udo Jürgens (born Jürgen Udo Bockelmann; 30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014) was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close ...

secured Austria's first win with "

Merci, Chérie "Merci, Chérie" (; "Thank you, darling") was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, performed for by Udo Jürgens with lyrics in German and partially in French. It is an earnest ballad in which the singer, as he leaves her, than ...

"; this was Jürgens' third attempt at victory, having previously finished 6th in 1964 and 4th in 1965. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1967 The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the 12th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song " Merci, Chérie" by Udo Jürgens. Organised by the European Br ...

was the twelfth edition of the contest, organised by

Österreichischer Rundfunk ('Austrian Broadcasting Corporation'; ORF) is an Austrian national public broadcaster. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Aus ...

(ORF) and held on 8 April 1967 at the Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. 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 In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically have ...

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 Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...

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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the with the song " Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite havi ...

was the thirteenth edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 6 April 1968 at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. This was the first edition of the contest to be produced in

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

. 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 María de los Ángeles Felisa Santamaría Espinosa (born 2 August 1947), professionally known as Massiel, is a Spanish pop singer. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song "La, la, la", beating the British pop singer Cliff Richard' ...

by just one vote.

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style h ...

had originally been announced as the Spanish representative, but when he wanted to sing in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, Spain's dictator

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

demanded that he perform "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

" in Castillian, resulting in his replacement by Massiel. A Spanish documentary in 2008 claimed that, in an attempt to avoid civil unrest seen in other parts of Europe and to boost Spain's standing globally, Franco had ordered agents to attempt to manipulate the votes of the other countries' juries to secure a Spanish win at the contest. The documentary goes on to suggest that the United Kingdom's

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, who had been tipped for victory before the contest with "

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

", should have been the winner. However the effectiveness of any potential bribery has been disputed, and others, including Massiel, have accused the documentary creators and broadcaster of manufacturing the scandal. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1969 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 with the song "La, la, la" by Massiel. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

was the fourteenth edition of the contest, organised by

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

(TVE) and held on 29 March 1969 at the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace of Madrid, Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing a ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. 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 Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

, the Netherlands'

Lenny Kuhr Helena Hubertina Johanna "Lenny" Kuhr (born 22 February 1950) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Career In 1967, she started a singing career in the Netherlands, performing songs in the French chanson tradition. In 1969, she represented the Neth ...

and France's

Frida Boccara Danielle Frida Hélène Boccara (29 October 1940 – 1 August 1996) was a Moroccan-born French singer of Italian descent, who performed and recorded in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, English, Italian, German, Dutch and Russ ...

were all able to receive their prize ahead of a reprise of all four winning songs: "

Vivo cantando "Vivo cantando" (; "I Live Singing") is a song recorded by Spanish singer Salomé. The song was written by María José de Cerato and Aniano Alcalde, and it was produced by Augusto Algueró. It is best known as the at the Eurovision Song Cont ...

", " Boom Bang-a-Bang", "

De troubadour "De troubadour" ("The troubadour"), sung in Dutch by Lenny Kuhr representing the , was – together with "Boom Bang-a-Bang", "Un jour, un enfant", and "Vivo cantando" from, respectively, the , , and – one of the four winners of the Eurovision ...

", and "

Un jour, un enfant "Un jour, un enfant" (; "A Day, a Child") is one of four winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, this one being sung in French by Frida Boccara representing . The other three winners were Salomé representing with "Vivo cantando", Lu ...

" 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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the ...

was the fifteenth edition of the contest, organised by

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (; NOS ; English: Dutch Broadcasting Foundation) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports program ...

(NOS) and held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Congrescentrum in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. 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 and 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 "All Kinds of Everything" is a song written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith; as performed by Dana Rosemary Scallon, Dana, it won the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 representing . "All Kinds of Everything" marked a return to the ballad (music), ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1971 The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana Rosemary ...

was the sixteenth edition of the contest, organised by

Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...

(RTÉ) and held on 3 April 1971 at the Gaiety Theatre in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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 The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the , and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set fr ...

'': 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 A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

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 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 "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (; "A Bench, a Tree, a Street") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 performed in French language, French by French people, French singer Séverine (singer), Séverine, representing . The song is a ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1972 The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the 17th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporat ...

was the seventeenth edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 25 March 1972 at the

Usher Hall The Usher Hall is a concert hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,200 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Monaco's

Télé Monte-Carlo TMC (; originally short for Télé Monte-Carlo) is a Franco– Monégasque general entertainment television channel, owned by the French media holding company Groupe TF1. History The oldest private channel in Europe, TMC dates back to 1954, i ...

(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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Luxembourg earned their third contest win, represented by the Greek singer

Vicky Leandros Vasiliki Papathanasiou ( el, Βασιλική Παπαθανασίου; born 23 August 1949), generally known as Vicky Leandros ( el, Βίκυ Λέανδρος, links=no), is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, music ...

with " Après toi"; it was Leandros' second attempt at Eurovision, having previously come 4th for Luxembourg in 1967. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1973 The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the Euro ...

was the eighteenth edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 7 April 1973 at the Nouveau Théâtre in

. 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 The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

, 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 Anne-Marie David (born 23 May 1952) is a French singer. She has represented both Luxembourg and France at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning in 1973 and placing third in 1979. Career David was born and raised in Casablanca, French Protecto ...

giving Luxembourg its fourth win with "

Tu te reconnaîtras "Tu te reconnaîtras" (; "You'll Recognize Yourself"), sung in French by French singer Anne-Marie David representing , was the winning song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 – the first time a country won the contest two years in successi ...

"; 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. ABBA - TopPop 1974 5

The

Eurovision Song Contest 1974 The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporati ...

was the nineteenth edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 6 April 1974 at The Dome in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. 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 making its debut appearance; France withdrew a number of days before the event following the death of the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

, 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 ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song " Waterloo" by ABBA. Organised by the European Broadcasting Un ...

was the twentieth edition of the contest, organised by

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

(SR) and held on 22 March 1975 at the

Stockholmsmässan Stockholm International Fairs ( sv, Stockholmsmässan) is a large exhibition facility that arranges trade fairs in Stockholm, Sweden. History The idea of starting a trade fair in Stockholm started with brothers Börje and Folke Claeson in 1942. ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. A then-record 19 countries took part in this edition, which saw Greece withdrawing, France and Malta returning, and 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 A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...

achieving a fourth Dutch Eurovision win with "

Ding-a-dong "Ding-a-dong" (original Dutch title: "Ding dinge dong", as it was introduced in the titles when broadcast) was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. It was sung by Teach-In, representing the , and was written by Di ...

Eurovision Song Contest 1976 rehearsals - United Kingdom - Brotherhood of Man 20

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 The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. 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 Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initia ...

and "

Save Your Kisses for Me "Save Your Kisses for Me" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, performed for the by Brotherhood of Man in The Hague, Netherlands. The lyrics and music were written by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, and Martin Lee, the latter two ...

", 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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organise ...

was the twenty-second edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 7 May 1977 at the

Wembley Conference Centre Wembley Conference Centre was a conference centre in Wembley Park, London, England, that existed from 1977 to 2006, located next to Wembley Arena. History In the later 1970s, modern multi-purpose halls began opening in British towns and cities. ...

. Originally scheduled to take place on 2 April, a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

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 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 Marie Myriam (born Myriam Lopes, 8 May 1957, Luluabourg, Belgian Congo, (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) is a French singer of Portuguese descent. Career Representing France, she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977 with '' L'oise ...

taking the contest with " L'Oiseau et l'Enfant", in what would become France's last victory to date. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song " L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the Europea ...

was the twenty-third edition of the contest, organised by TF1 and held on 22 April 1978 at the Palais des Congrès in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. 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 Izhar Cohen ( he, יזהר כהן; born March 13, 1951) is an Israeli singer who won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. Biography Izhar Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in Givatayim, to a family of singers of Yemenite-Jewish desc ...

and the

Alphabeta Alphabeta were a group of Israeli singers who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 with Izhar Cohen. The singers were Reuven Erez, Lisa Gold-Rubin, Nehama Shutan, Esther Tzuberi, and Itzhak Okev. The winning song was ''A-Ba-Ni-Bi''. Israel ...

with the song "

A-Ba-Ni-Bi "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" ( he, label=Hebrew script, א-ב-ני-בי; bet-language language game for the word ''aní'', meaning "I" in Hebrew) was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, performed for by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta. Descripti ...

". Israel's win proved problematic for a number of non-competing broadcasters who were airing the event, particularly those in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by th ...

was the twenty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by the

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...

(IBA) and held on 31 March 1979 at the International Convention Centre in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. 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 ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...

1980s

Eurovision Song Contest 1980 - Johnny Logan 4 (cropped)

The

Eurovision Song Contest 1980 The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...

was the twenty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by NOS and held on 19 April 1980 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in

. 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 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 "What's Another Year" was Irish singer and composer Johnny Logan's first Eurovision Song Contest winning song, achieving success in the 1980 edition of the contest, as well as 's second Eurovision victory. Composed by Shay Healy (who also wr ...

". The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the twenty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

and held on 4 April 1981 at the

RDS Simmonscourt The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

. 20 countries competed in total, with 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 "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz. It was the winner of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, representing the , and was composed by Andy Hill and John Danter. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut si ...

" would go on to become a Europe-wide hit. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1982 The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Harrogate, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz. Organised by the ...

was the twenty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 24 April 1982 at the

Harrogate Convention Centre Harrogate Convention Centre is a convention and exhibition centre in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. History Previously named Harrogate International Centre it was renamed Harrogate Convention Centre in April 2017. The centre has been ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

. 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 Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Euro ...

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 "Ein bißchen Frieden" (; "A Bit of Peace") is a German-language song, written by prolific German Eurovision-writing duo Ralph Siegel (music) and Bernd Meinunger (lyrics) for the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, held in Harrogate, United Kingdo ...

" in English, French, Dutch and the original German. The

Eurovision Song Contest 1983 The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" by Nicole. Despite their first vic ...

was the twenty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

(BR) on behalf of ARD and held on 23 April 1983 at the

Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, also known by its sponsorship name of Audi Dome, is an indoor arena located in Sendling-Westpark, Munich, Germany. It was initially named after the president of the Bavarian State Sport Association. The 6,700-seat hall open ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. 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 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 Ap ...

, 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 "Si la vie est cadeau" (; "If Life Is a Gift") by Jean-Pierre Millers (music) and Alain Garcia (lyrics) was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in French by French singer Corinne Hermès for . The song is a dramatic ballad ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1984 The Eurovision Song Contest 1984, the 29th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Si la vie est cadeau" by Corinne Hermes. Organised by t ...

was the twenty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 5 May 1984 at the Théâtre Municipal in

. 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 Désirée Nosbusch a.k.a. Désirée Becker (born 14 January 1965) is a Luxembourger actress and television presenter. She was born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg to a Luxembourgish father and Italian mother. In the 1980s she lived in Manhattan, ...

, 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 Herreys (), sometimes Herrey's or Herrey, is a Swedish pop group, consisting of the three brothers Per Herrey (born 9 August 1958), Richard Herrey (born 19 August 1964), and Louis Herrey (born 3 November 1966). They won the Eurovision Song Con ...

gave the Scandinavian country its second, taking the contest with "

Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 performed in Swedish by the trio of brothers Herrey's, representing . Lyrics were written by Britt Lindeborg, and the tune by Torgny Söderberg. It was produced by ...

The

Eurovision Song Contest 1985 The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys. Organised by the European ...

was the thirtieth edition of the contest, organised by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

(SVT) and held on 4 May 1985 at the

Scandinavium Scandinavium () is an indoor arena located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, and was inaugurated on 18 May 1971. Scandinavium has been selected as a championship arena at least fifty t ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. 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 A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

. 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 Remembrance of the Dead ( nl, Dodenherdenking) is held annually on May 4 in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since ...

held in the Netherlands and in Yugoslavia the anniversary of the death of President

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

. 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! Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

were crowned the winners with "

La det swinge "La det swinge" (; "Let it swing") is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on ...

". The

Eurovision Song Contest 1986 The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

was the thirty-first edition of the contest, organised by

Norsk rikskringkasting NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

(NRK) and held on 3 May 1986 at the

Grieghallen Grieg Hall ( no, Grieghallen) is a 1,500 seat concert hall located on Edvard Griegs' square in Bergen, Norway. Grieghallen was named in honor of Bergen-born composer Edvard Grieg, who served as music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. 20 countries competed in total: the Netherlands and Yugoslavia returned after a year's absence and 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 Holy Saturday ( la, Sabbatum Sanctum), also known as Great and Holy Saturday (also Holy and Great Saturday), the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday (in Portugal and Brazil), Saturday of the Glory, Sabado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter ...

. In a landmark event the 500th song to grace the Eurovision stage was performed at this contest, courtesy of Luxembourg's

Sherisse Laurence Sherisse Laurence (later known as Sherisse Stevens) is a Canadian singer and entertainer from Selkirk, Manitoba.Dave Kosonic, "Country pop and rock featured at Skyline". ''Toronto Star'', July 1, 1986. From 1978 to 1983 she hosted the show ''Cir ...

and "

L'amour de ma vie L'Amour may refer to: People * Louis L'Amour (1908–1988), American cowboy novelist * Michelle L'amour (born 1980), American neo-burlesque performer Other uses * L'Amour (album), ''L'Amour'' (album), a 1983 album by Lewis * L'Amour (film), ''L' ...

". This contest also saw one of the first open representations of a member of the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

, when members of the Norwegian drag group the

Great Garlic Girls Great Garlic Girls is a Norwegian drag group that has performed a number of drag shows since 1981. It was started by Morten Rudå, Olav Klingen, and Simen Sand. Up until 1992, the group consisted of Olav Klingen, Jonny Nymoen and Terje Schrød ...

accompanied the home nation's singer

Ketil Stokkan Ketil Stokkan (born 29 April 1956) is a Norwegian pop artist who has performed as solo artist as well as the singer in the Norwegian band Zoo. Stokkan was born in Harstad. In 1983 he participated in the Norwegian qualifying heat for Eurovisio ...

. 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 RTBF, Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) and held on 9 May 1987 at the Heysel Plateau, 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 Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, 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 (Johnny Logan song), Hold Me Now", a record Logan still holds to date, and in doing so giving Ireland its third contest win. Celine Dion Live 2017

The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the thirty-third edition of the contest, organised by

and held on 30 April 1988 at the

. This was Ireland's third contest, which fell in the same year as the Irish anniversary festivals, millennium of Dublin's founding. 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 Celine Dion, 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 the

(SRG SSR) and held on 6 May 1989 at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne,

. 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 (band), Riva took victory with "Rock Me (Riva song), Rock Me".

1990s

The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the thirty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by Yugoslav Radio Television, Jugoslovenska radio-televizija (JRT) and Hrvatska radiotelevizija, Radiotelevizija Zagreb (RTZ) and held on 5 May 1990 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 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

and held on 4 May 1991 at Cinecittà, Studio 15 di Cinecittà in

. This was the second edition of the contest to be held in Italy, and was presented by the two previous Italian winners,

and Toto Cutugno. The contest was originally planned to be held in Sanremo, the site of the

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

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 Häggkvist, 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. Linda Martin 2013 01 (crop 1)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the thirty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Television, SVT and held on 9 May 1992 at the Malmö Isstadion in Malmö,

. 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 Breakup of Yugoslavia, breaking up and now representing the Serbia and Montenegro, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Ireland's Linda Martin emerged the winner with the Johnny Logan-penned "Why Me? (Linda Martin song), 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

and held on 15 May 1993 at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet,

. 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 , and emerging the winners and joining 22 countries which had taken part in Malmö, with only Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia absent, banned from competing following United Nations Security Council Resolution 757, UN sanctions. In order to better manage the participating countries in years to come, a Promotion and relegation, 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 (Niamh Kavanagh song), 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

and held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in

. RTÉ thus became the first broadcaster to host two consecutive contests. Seven countries joined the contest for the first time, replacing the bottom 6 countries from Millstreet, and Italy which withdrew voluntarily; Luxembourg, one of those countries relegated, has yet to re-enter the contest. , , and , which had failed to qualify from ''Kvalifikacija za Millstreet'' the previous year, joined new entries from , and 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 (musician), 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. Eimear Quinn tijdens Het Grote Songfestivalfeest 2019

Eimear Quinn tijdens Het Grote Songfestivalfeest 2019

The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the fortieth edition of the contest, organised by

and held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in

. 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 (duo), Secret Garden and the song "Nocturne (Secret Garden 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. The 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,

. 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 entered in total, with all competing nations and Norway voting and deciding the 22 countries which would advance in the final. Germany however would be one of the seven countries to be eliminated, along with Hungary, Denmark, Russia, Israel, Romania and the North Macedonia, 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 'Chroma key, blue room'. Ireland secured its record seventh win, with Eimear Quinn providing its fourth win in five years with "The Voice (Eimear Quinn song), 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 ''

and eventually being nominated for a Grammy Award; it also remains the last UK entry to reach Lists of UK Singles Chart number ones, number one on the UK Singles Chart. The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the forty-second edition of the contest, organised by

and held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in

. 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 14 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". Dana International op Het Grote Songfestivalfeest 2019

Dana International op Het Grote Songfestivalfeest 2019

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the forty-third edition of the contest, organised by the

...
and held on 9 May 1998 at the Utilita Arena Birmingham, National Indoor Arena in Birmingham,

. 25 countries were featured in the eighth contest held in the UK, a new record, with 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 song), Diva". Dana International, the contest's first Transgender, 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 Israel Broadcasting Authority, IBA and held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Centre in

, 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 (Eurovision), 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 Perrelli, Charlotte Nilsson earning Sweden's fourth contest win with "Take Me to Your Heaven (song), Take Me to Your Heaven". Following the winning reprise the broadcast was concluded by all participating artists assembling on-stage to perform "

", the Israeli winning song from 1979, as a tribute to the victims of the then-ongoing Kosovo War, war in the Balkans.

2000s

The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the forty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Television, SVT and held on 13 May 2000 at the Ericsson Globe, Globe Arena in

. 24 countries competed in the contest, with 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 (broadcaster), DR and held on 12 May 2001 at the Parken Stadium in

. 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 were declared the winners, represented by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and Soul Militia, 2XL with "Everybody (Tanel Padar and Dave Benton song), Everybody". With their victory Estonia became the first country from the former Eastern Bloc to win the contest, sparking an 8-year chain of victories for new countries, and Aruba-born Benton became the first

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 Marija Naumova, Marie N and "I Wanna (Marie N song), I Wanna". Latvia had originally been relegated due to its poor performance in Copenhagen, however were given a reprieve when Portugal decided to withdraw voluntarily. Ruslana - Wild Dances

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the forty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) and held on 24 May 2003 at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia. 26 countries took part in the contest, with 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 , , and 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 UA:PBC, National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) and held on 19 and 21 May 2005 at the Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine. 39 countries competed in total, with debut entries from and , and a return from Hungary for the first time since 1998. had also planned to make a debut appearance, however they withdrew at a late stage due to issues with International recognition of Israel, 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, ''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'' was organised by DR (broadcaster), DR and held at the Forum Copenhagen in

, 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

, the winning song from the for Sweden. Marija Šerifović

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 O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall, Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece. 37 nations competed in the contest, with the first appearance of . Serbia and Montenegro had intended to compete, but controversy over the winner of their Evropesma, national selection resulted in their late withdrawal. A new landmark was achieved at this contest with the performance of the 1,000th song in Eurovision history, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy (singer), 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 , , and , 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 Radio Television of Serbia, Radio-televizija Srbije (RTS) and held on 20, 22 and 24 May 2008 at the Štark Arena, Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. A new record 43 countries competed in the contest, with and 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 (Dima Bilan 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 Russia, Channel One (C1R) and held on 12, 14 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Stadium (Moscow), 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 (Alexander Rybak song), 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,

. 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 Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 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 Meyer-Landrut, Lena the first German winner in 28 years with "Satellite (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 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 Merkur Spiel-Arena, 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 (Eurovision), Big Five". Azerbaijan earned its first title, represented by Ell & Nikki and the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki 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 Armenia–Azerbaijan relations, 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 (singer), Loreen and "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria", which would go on to become a great commercial success following the contest, selling over two million copies worldwide. ESC2014 - Austria 17 (crop)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the fifty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Television, SVT and held on 14, 16 and 18 May 2013 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö,

. 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. 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 (broadcaster), DR and held on 6, 8 and 10 May 2014 at the B&W Hallerne in

. 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 for her win. Developments in Russia, particularly the introduction of a Russian gay propaganda law, gay propaganda law and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, developments in Crimea, 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

on 31 March 2015. Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits, ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' featured live performances from fifteen previous Eurovision acts from thirteen countries, Montage (filmmaking), 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 before being developed into a full production. A

...
production, the concert was recorded live and aired as a Broadcast delay, delayed broadcast on various dates that suited the individual participating broadcasters: the BBC and Ireland's

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 (broadcaster), ORF and held on 19, 21 and 23 May 2015 at the Wiener Stadthalle in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. 39 countries were initially announced as appearing at the contest, the first held in Austria since 1967; 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 (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes". Salvador Sobral (Eurovision 2017)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the sixty-first edition of the contest, organised by Sveriges Television, SVT and held on 10, 12 and 14 May 2016 at the Ericsson Globe, Globe Arena in

. 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 Romanian Television, 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 (song), 1944". The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the sixty-second edition of the contest, organised by the Suspilne, 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 (singer), 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 Barzilai, Netta with "Toy (song), Toy". Duncan Laurence GFDress-048-20190517-EuroVisionary

Duncan Laurence GFDress-048-20190517-EuroVisionary

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the sixty-fourth edition of the contest, organised by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) and held on 14, 16 and 18 May 2019 at the 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 the Sabbath, while other groups, including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, BDS, called for a boycott of the event in response to the country's policies towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Gaza, and in opposition to what some consider "Pinkwashing (LGBT), 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 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 (song), 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, ''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 the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam,

and organised by Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organization), 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 in Europe, COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions put in place by governments across Europe, which included COVID-19 lockdowns, lockdowns and Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions. In its place, a special broadcast from Media Park (Hilversum), Media Park in

, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, ''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 the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam,

and organised by Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organization), 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. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple contingency scenarios were developed by the host broadcasters and the EBU, ranging from a normal, albeit Social distancing, less-crowded contest to a fully-remote contest – with participants performing via 'live-on-tape' recordings – to ensure that the contest could take place regardless of circumstance. 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 COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, 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 Pala Alpitour, PalaOlimpico in Turin,

and organised by

. 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 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 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 (rap group), Kalush Orchestra with "Stefania (song), 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, Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be the sixty-seventh edition of the contest, to be held on 9, 11 and 13 May 2023 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool,

and organised by the

...
. Ukraine's Suspilne, 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 2021–2022 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.

Notes

References

External links

Eurovision Song Contest: History by events
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest

Competition overview

Contest themes and slogans

Origins

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notes

References

Further reading

External links