50 Fun Facts About Eurovision Song Contest

Which organisation has run the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956?

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has organised the contest since the first edition in 1956; the word 'Eurovision' itself was coined by journalist George Campey in the Evening Standard in 1951.

Eurovision was modelled on an Italian song competition held since 1951 in which town?

Eurovision was modelled on the Sanremo Music Festival, held in the Ligurian town of Sanremo since 1951; RAI manager Sergio Pugliese proposed a Europe-wide version.

In which Swiss city was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in 1956?

The first contest was staged at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano on 24 May 1956, hosted by Lohengrin Filipello; Switzerland, the host, won it.

Who won the very first Eurovision in 1956, singing 'Refrain' for the host country?

Swiss singer Lys Assia won the 1956 contest with 'Refrain'; the jury vote was held behind closed doors and only the winner was announced.

How many countries competed in the first contest in 1956?

Seven countries competed in 1956: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland, each entering two songs.

Which two countries were tied on a record seven Eurovision wins each at the end of 2025?

Ireland and Sweden each had seven wins at the end of 2025, Ireland's between 1970 and 1996 and Sweden's between 1974 and 2023; France, Luxembourg, the UK and the Netherlands had five each.

Which country has competed in Eurovision more times than any other, missing only one edition?

Germany has taken part in every contest except 1996, when it was eliminated in an audio pre-qualifying round; it has won twice, with Nicole in 1982 and Lena in 2010.

The theme played over the EBU ident before every Eurovision broadcast is the prelude to which piece?

The prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum, composed around 1690, is the Eurovision network's signature tune and opens every contest broadcast.

How long may a competing Eurovision song last?

Competing songs may last three minutes or less; the limit is written into the contest rules and entries are edited down to fit it.

What is the maximum number of performers allowed on stage for a Eurovision entry?

Each entry may have at most six performers on stage, a limit introduced in 1971, the first year groups were allowed to compete.

Under the points system, what is the maximum score one country can award another?

The top mark is 12 points, the famous 'douze points', given to each country's favourite entry; the 1–8, 10 and 12 scale has been used since 1975.

In which year was the contest cancelled for the only time in its history?

The 2020 contest in Rotterdam was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic; a non-competitive special, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, was broadcast instead.

Which five countries automatically qualify for the final as the contest's biggest financial contributors?

The 'Big Five' of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK go straight to the final as the EBU's largest funders; the host country also skips the semi-finals.

Which country qualified for every Eurovision final it entered from 2004 through 2025?

Ukraine won on only its second appearance, in 2004.

In which year did semi-finals first appear at Eurovision?

A single semi-final was introduced in Istanbul in 2004 and a second was added in 2008; in the 1990s the overflow was handled by relegating the worst-placed countries.

In which year did four countries tie for first place and were all declared winners?

In 1969 in Madrid, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and France all finished on 18 points and, with no tie-break rule in place, were declared joint winners.

Which of these was one of the four joint winners in 1969?

Lulu sang 'Boom Bang-a-Bang' for the UK in Madrid in 1969 and shared first place with Spain, the Netherlands and France; Cliff Richard had finished second for the UK the year before.

ABBA won Eurovision for Sweden in 1974 in which English seaside town?

ABBA won with 'Waterloo' at the Brighton Dome on 6 April 1974; the title uses Napoleon's 1815 defeat as a metaphor for surrendering to love.

Céline Dion won Eurovision in 1988 representing which country?

Céline Dion represented Switzerland with 'Ne partez pas sans moi' and won in Dublin in 1988 by a single point over the UK's Scott Fitzgerald.

Which future superstar came fourth for Spain in 1970?

Julio Iglesias sang 'Gwendolyne' for Spain in Amsterdam in 1970 and finished fourth; Olivia Newton-John also came fourth, for the UK in 1974.

Which winning song holds the record for sales, over six million singles?

'Save Your Kisses for Me', the UK's 1976 winner by Brotherhood of Man, sold over six million singles worldwide; ABBA's 'Waterloo' sold over five million.

Which is the only Eurovision entry ever to win a Grammy Award?

Domenico Modugno's 'Nel blu, dipinto di blu' (Volare), third for Italy in 1958, won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the first Grammy Awards and topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Who was the first performer to win Eurovision twice, in 1980 and 1987?

Johnny Logan won for Ireland with 'What's Another Year' in 1980 and 'Hold Me Now' in 1987, then wrote Linda Martin's 1992 winner 'Why Me?', giving him three wins in all.

With which two songs did Sweden's Loreen win Eurovision in 2012 and 2023?

'Euphoria' and 'Tattoo' made her the second two-time winner after Johnny Logan, and 'Euphoria' became the most downloaded Eurovision song of its era.

Which country had finished last a record 12 times by the end of Eurovision 2025?

Norway shares four 'nul points' finishes with Austria, and has also won three times, most recently with Alexander Rybak in 2009.

Which country had finished second a record 16 times by the end of Eurovision 2025?

The UK's five wins came in 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981 and 1997.

Which is the only country to have won Eurovision three years in a row?

Ireland then won again in 1996, four wins in five years.

Riverdance began life as what at the 1994 contest in Dublin?

Riverdance was the interval act at the Point Theatre in Dublin in 1994; the seven-minute piece led by Michael Flatley and Jean Butler grew into a full stage show.

Which country was the first to win on its debut appearance as an independent nation, in 2007?

Serbia won in Helsinki in 2007 with Marija Šerifović's ballad 'Molitva', its first entry after the split from Montenegro in 2006.

Portugal waited a record 53 years for its first win, which came in 2017 with which singer?

Salvador Sobral won in Kyiv in 2017 with 'Amar pelos dois', written by his sister Luísa; his 758 points set a record winning total.

Alexander Rybak's 'Fairytale' set what record in 2009?

'Fairytale' scored 387 points in Moscow in 2009, the highest winning total under the 1975–2015 voting system; Rybak had also won his semi-final by a wide margin.

Finland's only Eurovision win came in 2006 with 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' by which monster-masked rock band?

Lordi ended a 45-year Finnish losing streak, having risen to fame in 2002 with 'Would You Love a Monsterman?'.

Conchita Wurst won Eurovision for Austria in 2014, in Copenhagen, with which song?

Rise Like a Phoenix gave Austria its second win and its first since 1966, a gap of 48 years.

Dana International, the contest's first trans winner, won for Israel in 1998 with which song?

'Diva' won for Israel in Birmingham in 1998; Dana International's victory was Israel's third, after 'A-Ba-Ni-Bi' in 1978 and 'Hallelujah' in 1979.

Bucks Fizz won Eurovision for the UK in 1981 with 'Making Your Mind Up' and a routine famous for what?

Men ripping off the women's outer skirts revealed much shorter mini-skirts; the group had been formed in January 1981 purely to enter the contest.

Katrina and the Waves won Eurovision for the UK in 1997 with which song?

'Love Shine a Light' won in Dublin in 1997 with 227 points; it was written by the band's guitarist Kimberley Rew, who also wrote 'Walking on Sunshine'.

Who was the first UK entrant to win Eurovision, in 1967?

Sandie Shaw won in Vienna in 1967 with 'Puppet on a String', performing barefoot as was her trademark; Lulu followed as a joint winner in 1969.

Which Italian rock band won in 2021 with 'Zitti e buoni'?

Måneskin won in Rotterdam in 2021 with 'Zitti e buoni', Italy's first victory since 1990; the band had come second on Italy's X Factor in 2017.

Duncan Laurence's 2019 winner 'Arcade' later became the first Eurovision winner since 1976 to do what?

'Arcade' entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021 after going viral on TikTok, the first Eurovision winner on that chart since Brotherhood of Man's 'Save Your Kisses for Me' in 1976.

The 2022 contest was won by 'Stefania', performed by which folk-hip-hop group?

Kalush Orchestra won in Turin in 2022 with 'Stefania' on a record 439 televote points; Ukraine could not host in 2023 because of the Russian invasion, so the UK staged the contest on its behalf.

Which UK city hosted the 2023 contest on behalf of the previous year's winner?

Liverpool hosted the 2023 contest on Ukraine's behalf, the UK's ninth time as host and the city's first; Loreen won that night with 'Tattoo'.

Switzerland's Nemo, who won Eurovision 2024 with 'The Code', was the first winner to be openly what?

Nemo was the first openly non-binary winner, taking Switzerland's third victory after 1956 and 1988 with 'The Code' in Malmö in 2024.

Nemo's win took the 2025 contest to which city, the host country's third time staging it?

Basel staged the 2025 contest at St. Jakobshalle, Switzerland's third time hosting after Lugano in 1956 and Lausanne in 1989.

Who won Eurovision 2025 for Austria with 'Wasted Love'?

JJ, the countertenor Johannes Pietsch, won in Basel in 2025 with 'Wasted Love', Austria's third victory after Udo Jürgens in 1966 and Conchita Wurst in 2014.

Australia first competed at Eurovision in which year, invited as a 'one-off' for the 60th edition?

Australia debuted in Vienna in 2015, invited as a one-off guest for the 60th contest, and Guy Sebastian finished fifth; SBS was invited back the following year.

Which is the only Arab state ever to have entered Eurovision, competing once in 1980?

Morocco entered once, in The Hague in 1980, with Samira Bensaïd's 'Bitaqat Hub', which finished 18th; Israel, winner of the two previous contests, sat out that year.

Who won Eurovision for Belgium in 1986 at the age of 13?

Sandra Kim won in Bergen in 1986 with 'J'aime la vie' aged 13, the youngest winner ever; a later rule set a minimum age of 16 for performers.

Until 1998, what accompanied every competing act at Eurovision?

A live orchestra accompanied the acts until 1998, the last year the host provided one; backing tracks had been permitted since 1973 and from 1999 the orchestra became optional.

In which year was the rule requiring countries to sing in a native language abolished?

The native-language rule was dropped in 1999, after which most winners were sung in English; it had also been suspended between 1973 and 1976, when ABBA won with 'Waterloo' in English.

Which Irish winner of Eurovision 1970 later ran twice for president of Ireland and served as an MEP?

Dana went into politics; Ukraine's 2004 winner Ruslana likewise became a member of parliament and a figure in the Orange Revolution.