The story
Since 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest is Europe's favourite TV show. After more than five decades featuring some 1,100 songs, the contest has become a modern classic, strongly embedded into Europe's collective mind. Read on to find out how it all started over half a century ago...
In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest celebrated its 50th anniversary by picking the best entry to date. READ MORE »
READ MORE FACTS & FIGURES »
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Who?
All contestants • Semi-Final 1 • Semi-Final 2 • Grand Final • News • Hosts • Organisers • Fans • Official App
When & Where?
Tickets • Arena • About Vienna • Calendar
How?
Watch!
Didn't see the 2011 Shows properly or want to see them again and again? Watch them again our WebTV!
The story
After 56 years, the database with Eurovision Song Contest facts and figures, stories and anecdotes is huge! A true, die-hard fan knows how many points Luxembourg got in 1980 (56), who came last in 1972 (Malta, with 48 points) and how many times the Netherlands got 12 points in 1996 (once, from Austria).
Because no one can expect you to become a living Eurovision Song Contest encyclopedia, Eurovision.tv takes you through the contest's history in fast forward. It's all you need to know before you dive into the rich history of the Eurovision Song Contest...
How it all begun
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed on 12th February 1950 by 23 broadcasting organisations from Europe and the Mediterranean at a conference in Devon, United Kingdom. It was on the 6th of June, 1954, that Montreux became the venue for the first transmission by the EBU's Eurovision Network of the Narcissus Festival and its flower-bedecked procession floats.
"Did you know that not only stars like ABBA, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias took part, but also dance act Riverdance thanks its fame to the Eurovision Song Contest?"
The first Eurovision viewers eagerly watched on four million television sets in homes, bars, and shop windows in Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Ambitious project
In 1955, the EBU came up with the idea of an international song contest whereby countries, represeted by their respective public broadcasters, would participate in one television show, to be transmitted simultaneously in all represented nations.
This was conceived during a meeting in Monaco in 1955 by Marcel Bezençon, a Frenchman working for the EBU. The competition was based upon the Italian Festival di Sanremo, held for the first time in 1951, and was also seen as a technological experiment in live television: in those days, it was a very ambitious project to join many countries together in a wide-area international network.
Satellite television did not exist yet at that time, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network. Le Grand-Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne was born!
The successes
Without interruption, the Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956, which makes it one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. In 2003, the first ever Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place, while the Eurovision Song Contest celebrated her 50th anniversity 2005. Viewers picked ABBA's Waterloo as best ever Eurovision Song Contest song.
2008 running saw a record of 43 represented countries, as Azerbaijan and San Marino joined the family.
The competition has been broadcast throughout Europe, but also in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States, even though these countries do not participate. In 2010, the format will be launched outside of Europe so that various other parts of the world will be introduced to the concept behind the show.
After winning...
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We have ten more finalists!
Tonight in the second two hour show of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast live from...
Read more16 May 2013 at 22:56
362 comments -
We have our first ten finalists!
Tonight in the first two hour show of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, broadcasted LIVE from...
Read more14 May 2013 at 22:55
374 comments -
Second Semi-Final: Reactions from the ten winners
A short while ago, ten countries emerged victorious as qualifiers from the Second Semi-Final of...
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28 comments -
First Semi-Final: Reactions from the ten winners
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Winners of the 2000s - What happened to them?
For the last in our series of articles about previous winners, we look at the 2000s where many new...
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43 comments -
Winners of the 1990s - What happened to them?
In the latest of our series of articles about past winners, we now take a look into what happened to...
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Winners of the 1980s - What happened to them?
You've seen the winners of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s where we went from black and white to colour,...
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Winners of the 1970s - What happened to them?
We've looked at the winners of the 50s and 60s to see what happened to them and now we take a peek...
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Winners of the 1960s - What happened to them?
In the second of a series of articles we take a look at the winners from the 1960s and what happened...
Read more23 Jul 2011 at 20:45
14 comments -
Winners of the 1950s - What happened to them?
As the first in a series of articles, we will take a brief delve into the archives and look at the...
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2 comments
Winners on map
Check out all the countries that have won the Eurovision Song Contest. Click on the place marks for more information on the winners.
- Latest winner has a TV icon
- Countries in blue have won the Eurovision Song Contest 1 time
- Countries in yellow have won the Eurovision Song Contest up to 3 times
- Countries in red have won the Eurovision Song Contest more than three times
View Eurovision Song Contest Winners of all times in a larger map
Host Cities on map
Check out where the previous Eurovision Song Contests have taken place and click for more details!
- Latest Host City is in Purple
- Cities in blue have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest
- Cities in yellow have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest twice
- Cities in red have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest more than two times