Eurovision by year in which countries. When was the first Eurovision

Eurovision is a pop song competition held by the countries of the European Broadcasting Union. One representative from each member country of the union takes part in the competition. To participate you must submit an application. A live broadcast is used to demonstrate the completion of the competition. A representative of one country (or a team), participating in the competition, can perform one pop composition, which lasts no more than 3 minutes. According to the terms of the competition, no more than six artists can be on stage at the same time. The song that becomes the most popular is determined by voting, in which television viewers and a jury from all countries participating in the semi-finals and finals participate.

The first competition took place in 1956. Since then it has been held every year. It is the most popular (non-sporting) event in the world. The audience that the competition gathers is 600 million viewers. Eurovision, in addition to the member countries of the union, is shown in a number of countries around the world and the CIS, which are located outside the borders of Europe. 2000 was the first year when the singing competition began to be shown on the Internet. In 2006, there were 74 thousand online viewers.

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest provides big influence to the fame of the artists. The world learned about the legendary ABBA (1974) and Celine Dion (1988) thanks to the competition.

Rules. Basic provisions of Eurovision

Throughout the history of this song competition, the rules of participation have changed several times. Today's rules say that the participating country must select the performer in any way. The sound at the competition is live, the song is performed once. The sequence of performances is determined by drawing lots. After the performance last participant, voting takes place within 15 minutes. You cannot vote for a representative of your own country. In parallel with television viewers, a professional jury takes part in voting. The votes are summed up and the total score is displayed, which the participant receives.

Requirements for a song at Eurovision

The song must be new. The performance must be live. You are only allowed to use accompaniment recording. The language in which the song is written can be any.

Requirements for Eurovision participants

The participant must be at least 16 years old and of any nationality. The country's representative at the competition may not even be its citizen. Appearance the participant must be decent. A contract is concluded with the winner, under the terms of which he undertakes to attend all events held by the broadcasting union.

National Eurovision selections

There can only be one song per country. Only in 1956 two songs took part in the competition. Songs in countries are chosen by voting.

Television broadcasting and Eurovision venue

All EBU member countries can broadcast the competition. Changing anything in the broadcast is prohibited.

The winner country of the previous competition is chosen as the venue for the competition. Most of costs are borne by EMU. A few weeks after winning the competition, preparations begin for the next competition.

There have been cases of refusal to hold a competition. In 1972, Monaco refused to host the competition (there was no venue in the country). In 1974, Luxembourg refused because preparation required a lot of costs.

Most often, the singing competition took place in the UK. During the period from 1960 to 1988 - eight times.

Eurovision semi-final and final

These stages were introduced in 2004. Since 2001, the Big Four countries - Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain - have qualified for the finals regardless of the number of votes. In 2011, Italy joined them.

Eurovision voting

The voting system currently in place was first used in 1975. Each country awards points to the 10 countries it considers the best. The song that gets the most votes gets 12 points and then in descending order. Since 1998, following the example of five countries, all countries have introduced televoting for viewers. But the national jury still exists. Viewers vote using phone calls or SMS voting.

Announcement of Eurovision votes

The announcement of the results occurs in ascending order, ending with the highest score - 12. According to the latest rules, the queue for announcing the voting results is determined by drawing lots.

Equal number of points at Eurovision

There were cases during the competition when participants received the same number of votes. Then the winner was determined by the number of countries that voted for this participant, regardless of the scores. Based on the total number of “12” points that he received, as well as the total number of all ratings that the participant received.

If all these indicators coincide, then only then will several people be named winners.

Neighborhood voting at Eurovision

Viewers often cast their votes not for a specific participant, but for the country of which they are representatives. The organizers of the competition are trying to minimize this phenomenon, since it interferes with the main goal of the competition - stimulating the creation of original compositions.

History of Eurovision

The idea of ​​holding a competition arose in the 50s of the last century. It was approved by the EMU General Assembly, which was held in Rome in 1955. The official goal was to hold an annual festival of the Eurovision Song Contest, which would be broadcast throughout Europe and help identify talented and original songs in the popular music genre.

The first name of the competition is “Eurovision Grand Prix”, which took place in 1956 in Switzerland. As the number of participants increased, it was decided to eliminate countries that show the worst results.

Ireland has the largest number of victories - 7, followed by Sweden, Great Britain, France and Luxembourg with 5 each.

Style of music at Eurovision

The style of music is chosen by the performer. Restrictions are imposed only on texts in the plan, prohibiting the use obscene language, political appeals and insults. Many are trying to prepare a song that fits the format of the competition that has developed during its existence.

Almost regularly, performers in the style of rock, jazz, rap and blues began to participate in the competition. However, they practically do not achieve success.

Eurovision participating countries

The competition participants are countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. Several representatives of Asia are taking part: from Armenia, Israel and Cyprus, as well as countries located in both Europe and Asia: Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

Total number of countries that took part in the competition (in different time) - 51.

The unrealized idea of ​​the USSR participating in Eurovision

The competition has been broadcast on the territory of the former USSR since 1965. In 1987, the possibility of the USSR participating in the competition was considered. A proposal was made to send Valery Leontyev to the competition. But the idea was not supported by Gorbachev.

From the countries of the former Union, 10 states took part in the competition and representatives of Estonia in 2001, Latvia in 2002, Ukraine in 2004, Russia in 2008 and Azerbaijan in 2011 won. Over all the years, countries only failed to make it into the top three twice. In total, the countries of the former USSR received 15 prize places: 5 first, 5 second and 5 third.

During the period from 1994 to 2012, there were 8 refusals (for economic reasons) from participation in the competition and 5 non-admissions from countries of the former USSR. The main reasons for non-admission were legal and political. Lithuania refused to participate most often - 6 times. The main reason is financial problems. Russia has the largest number of non-admissions - 3.

Eurovision records

In first place in terms of winnings is Ireland (7 wins, of which 3 in a row). At the beginning of the history of the competition, Eurovision countries won. The last decades have not brought victory to any of them.

The beginning of the 21st century brought victory to countries that had never before won such a prestigious competition. The list of winning countries is replenished with a new country every year. Finland won for the first time after 45 years of participation. Ukraine became the winner in the second year after the start of participation in the competition, Russia became the first after 12 years of participation.
The country that has gone the longest without winning the competition is Portugal. She has been participating in the competition since 1964. In 1996, the representative of this country took 6th place and since then this has been the best result.

Popularity of Eurovision in the Yandex search engine

As you can see, the query “Eurovision” is quite popular in the Russian-language segment of the Internet of the Yandex search engine:
- 290,796 queries in the Yandex search engine per month,
- 2,149 mentions of Eurovision in the media and on the websites of news agencies Yandex.News.

Along with the Eurovision query, Yandex users search for:
Eurovision 2012 - 120282 requests in Yandex per month
Junior Eurovision - 84398
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Eurovision 2013 - 39604
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Eurovision is an annual music song competition held among performers from countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). That is why among the competition participants you can see performers from Israel and other countries outside Europe. Each participating country sends one participant to Eurovision who performs one song. The winner of the competition is determined by voting by viewers and a jury from each participating country.

The Eurovision music competition was first held in 1956. The competition appeared as a result of the transformation of the Italian Sanremo festival. Marcel Beson, who was very fond of this project, saw in the competition an opportunity to unite nations in the post-war era. The festival in Sanremo still exists today. And Eurovision today is one of the most anticipated and popular events in musical life Europe. Every year this competition is watched by more than 100 million television viewers around the world.

Every year, before the competition, a pre-selection procedure takes place, which helps determine the list of participating countries. Performers from the Big Four EBU countries - , - enter the competition automatically.

We can say that the luckiest country at Eurovision is Great Britain. Of course, it became the winner more often (7 times against 5 victories of Britain), but the British took second place 15 times, France and Luxembourg, like England, won 5 times, but they took second place no more than three times.

The nationality of performers at Eurovision does not matter. This is confirmed by the participation of Katrina Lescanish in the competition. She was born in America and performed with the Cambridge band Waves. Another foreigner representing Great Britain in the competition was Ozzy Gina J., while Greek Nana Mouskouri and Belgian Lara Fabian competed for Luxembourg in 1963 and 1988 respectively. By the way, the victory in 1988 went to Switzerland, which was represented by Canadian singer Celine Dion. It was the victory at the competition that turned nobody famous singer into a real star.

In 1986, the competition was won by 13-year-old Belgian Sandra Kim with the song “J’aime la vie.” Now the Eurovision rules set an age limit for performers - you can take part in the competition from 16 years old.

There are special strict rules for the final of the competition. For example, there cannot be amplifiers on stage, the drummer must play on a provided drum kit. The performer may use instrumental backing tracks. Any song whose duration is more than 3 minutes can be disqualified. Everyone remembers that “brevity is the sister of talent.”

The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano (Switzerland). 7 countries took part in the competition with two artists/songs per country. Lis Assia from Switzerland won with the song “Refrain”. Lis beat out the Belgian song "The Drowned Men Of The River Seine".

The second Eurovision Song Contest was held in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. For the first time, Austria, Great Britain and Germany took part in the competition. The victory was won by Corrie Brocken from the Netherlands, who performed the song “Net Als Toen”. It was in 1957 that the rule was adopted that the duration of a song should be no more than three minutes.

The location of the competition was the city of Hilversum (). Third place went to the Italian singer Domenico Modugno, who performed the song “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu”. This song was later recorded under the name “Volare” and became a real hit. The victory went to Andre Clavet from France with the song “Dors Mon Amour”. Great Britain did not participate in this competition.

Cannes, France. The UK returned to Eurovision and took second place with "Sing Little Birdie", beating France's "Oui, Oui, Oui, Oui" by just one point. The winner was Holland with the song “Een Beetje”. Starting this year, professional composers are prohibited from serving on the jury.

The Netherlands refuses to host the competition for the second time and Eurovision is being held in the UK for the first time. Frenchwoman Jacqueline Boyer took first place with the song “Tom Pillibi”, second place went to the British with their song “Looking High, High, High”, performed by Brian Jones. This year the number of participating countries has increased to 13 due to Norway joining the competition and Luxembourg returning. 1960 was also the first year that the final of the competition was shown live. Finland has decided to take this step.

Eurovision returns to Cannes (France). Luxembourg won with the song “Nous les amoureux”, performed by Jean-Claude Pascal. Second place out of 16 participating countries was taken by Great Britain, represented by The Allisons.

The venue of the competition was Luxembourg. The song “Un premier amour”, performed by the Frenchwoman Isabelle Oubre, took first place with 26 points.

France refuses to host Eurovision for the third time and the competition is again held in London. Luxembourg is represented by the Greek singer Nana Mouskouri, French pop star represents Monaco. For the first time in the history of the competition, Norway scored zero points. Denmark won with the song “Dansevise”, performed by Greta and Jürgen Ingmann.

The festival takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Second place is again taken by the UK - Matt Monroe with the song “I Love The Little Things”. Later, his song “Walk Away”, a reworked version of the composition of this year’s Austrian participant, became very popular. The victory went to Italy with the song “Non ho l’eta”, performed by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti.

In Naples (Italy), Luxembourg wins with a song by the Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg, performed by 17-year-old France Gall. The UK takes second place for the fifth time in 8 years thanks to singer Katya Kirby, who performed the song “I Belong”.

The victory in the competition goes to Udo Jürgens with the song “Merci Cheri”, who represented Austria. Starting this year, the rule comes into force that the song presented at the competition must be performed in the state language of the performing country.

The competition takes place in Vienna (Austria). Vicky Leandros performed for Luxembourg for the first time with the song “L’amour est bleu”, which later became a classic. This year's winner was Sandie Shaw with her song "Puppet On A String". The UK takes first place for the first time.

London, Great Britain. The competition takes place at the Royal Albert Hall. The first place was taken by the Spanish singer Massiel with the song “La La La”. The word "La" was used 138 times in this song. Briton Cliff Richard with the song “Congratulations” was one point behind the Spaniard and took second place.

Eurovision takes place in Madrid, Spain. For the only time in the history of the competition, four countries took first place at once. The Netherlands with "De troubadour" performed by Lenny Cure, France with "Un Jour, Un Enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, UK with "Boom bang a bang" performed by Lulu and Spain with the song "Vivo cantando" performed by Salomé ( Maria Rosa Marco).

The location of the competition was determined by drawing lots between the winning countries of 1969. The competition ended up taking place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This year, changes were made to the rules, which eliminated the possibility of several participants winning at the same time. In the event that several performers receive the same number of points, they must perform the song again and the jury, in addition to representatives of the countries claiming first place, again determines the winner. If in this case there is a draw, both countries will receive the Grand Prix. In 1970, due to disagreement with the voting system, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Finland refused to take part in the competition. As a result, the number of participants in the competition was reduced to 12. The victory went to the Irish singer Dana with the song “All kinds of everything”, which eclipsed spanish singer Julio Iglesias, who took only fourth place.

Dublin, . This year, a rule came into effect limiting the number of performers on stage to six. The first place was taken by the representative of Monaco, Severine, with the song “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”.

Monaco refused to host the competition and Eurovision is taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The winner was a Greek girl living in Germany, but singing for Luxembourg - Vicky Leandros with the song “Apres toi”.

The competition takes place in Luxembourg. This is the first time Israel is taking part in the competition, which required additional security measures. Rules in Once again underwent changes, now the performer could independently choose the language for performing the song. For the second year in a row, Luxembourg won with the song “Tu te reconnaitras”, performed by Anne-Marie David. ABBA's song "Ring Ring" failed in the national selection competition.

Brighton, UK. Greece is taking part in the competition for the first time. From France, no one spoke out in connection with the death of President Georges Pompidou. Took first place Swedish group ABBA with them famous song"Waterloo"

Stockholm, Sweden. Türkiye is taking part in Eurovision for the first time. Due to Turkey's participation, Greece refuses to participate in the competition, thus expressing its protest against the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus. France and Malta returned to the competition. The winner was the Netherlands with the song “Ding-A-Dong” performed by the groups Teach-In.

The Hague, Netherlands. Turkey refuses to participate in the competition, and therefore Greece returns. For the third time in the history of the competition, the UK wins with the song “Save Your Kisses For Me”, performed by the band Brotherhood Of Men.

London, Great Britain. The rules of the competition are undergoing minor changes. Once again, songs must be performed only in the official language of the performing country. France won this year with the song “L’oiseau et l’enfant”, performed by Marie Miriam, who became a star in France.

Paris, France. Türkiye and Denmark are returning to the competition. The victory went to Israel thanks to the catchy song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta group.

Eurovision takes place in Jerusalem. Türkiye once again refuses to take part in the competition. The victory went to the hosts, who were represented by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey with the composition “Hallelujah”.

Israel refused not only to host the competition, but also to participate in Eurovision. The competition took place in The Hague, the Netherlands. Turkey returned to the number of participants in the competition, Morocco took part in Eurovision for the first time. The victory went to the Irishman Johnny Logan, who performed the song “What’s Another Year”.

Dublin, Ireland. Yugoslavia and Israel returned to the competition. Cyprus took part in the competition for the first time. The victory was won by the British group Bucks Fizz, who performed the song “Making Your Mind Up”. Germany is in second place, only 4 points behind Britain.

Harrogate, UK. First place went to Germany with the song “Ein Bißchen Frieden”, performed by singer Nicole. This song was recorded in six languages ​​and reached number one in the charts in all European countries.

Munich, Germany. Luxembourg decided to send a “trained singer”, Corinne Hermé, to the competition. And this decision justified itself - she took first place, ahead of the Israeli singer Ofra Haza.

Eurovision takes place in Luxembourg. British band Belle and the Devotions were booed at the end of their performance. Sweden won with the song “Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Lee” performed by Herrey’s.

Gothenburg, Sweden. The victory went Norwegian group"Bobbysocks" with the song "La det swinge". For the first time in the history of the competition, it was broadcast only via satellite.

Bergen, Norway. The victory in the thirtieth anniversary Eurovision contest was won by 13-year-old Sandra Kim, who performed the song “J’Aime La Vie”. Belgium was the first. The host of the competition was the Norwegian Minister of Culture Ase Kleveland, who took third place at Eurovision in 1966.

Brussels, . First place was taken by Irishman Johnny Logan, who performed the song “Hold Me Now”. He became the first to win Eurovision twice.

Dublin, Ireland. Thanks to the singer Celine Dion with the song “Ne partez pas sans moi”, Switzerland takes first place in the competition. British representative Scott Fitzgerald was just one point behind her.

Lausanne, Switzerland. The thirty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest was memorable for the fact that two participants were still children: 11-year-old Nathalie Park represented France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who competed for Israel. It was because of these participants that the rule was adopted that participants in the competition should not be under 16 years old. This year's winner was Yugoslavia with the song "Rock me" performed by Riva. The UK is again in second place.

Zagreb, Yugoslavia. By this year, the number of participants had become relatively constant, with 22 countries taking part in the competition. The victory in 1990 was won by the Italian Toto Cutugno, who performed the song “Insieme: 1992”.

Rome, Italy. This year there was intense competition between France with "C'est le dernier qui a parle qui a raison" sung by Amina and Sweden with "Fangad av en stormvind" sung by Carola. Both participating countries scored 146 points. In accordance with the rules, in this case, the victory is won by the country that most often received the most points (12 points, 10, etc.). As a result, Sweden became the winner.

Malmo, . Irish singer Linda Martin took first place in the competition with Johnny Logan’s song “Why me?” Johnny Logan became the first artist to win the Eurovision Grand Prix three times. Once as a songwriter and twice as a performer.

Millstreet, Ireland. For the first time, three former Yugoslav republics, which declared their independence, are taking part in Eurovision. As a result, the number of competitors increased to 25. For the fifth time in the history of the competition, the victory went to the representative of Ireland - singer Niamh Kavanagh, who performed the song “In your eyes”.

Dublin, Ireland. This year, Hungary and Russia took part in the competition for the first time. However, the number of competitors did not change, since Denmark, Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, Italy, Turkey and Slovenia did not take part in the competition this year. The third success in a row and only the sixth success came to Ireland with the song “Rock’n roll kids”, performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Russia's debut at Eurovision brought the country 9th place. The country was represented by Judith (Maria Katz) with the song “ Eternal Wanderer».

Dublin, Ireland. The composition of participating countries continues to change. Norway wins Eurovision for the second time. This year's winner was the group Secret Garden, who performed the song “Nocturne”. Philip Kirkorov with the song “Lullaby for a Volcano” brought Russia only 17th place.

Oslo, Norway. Due to the fact that a large number of countries expressed a desire to take part in the competition, a new system selection. It included an additional jury and a preliminary audio application, which had to be sent to the EBU. The number of participants was limited to 23. In 1996, Russia did not take part in Eurovision. Ireland took first place, thereby setting a record for the number of victories (seven). The winning song was “ The voice" performed by Emer Quinn.

Eurovision takes place again in Dublin, Ireland. The selection system has been modified to ensure that all countries can take part in the competition at least once every two years. The winning country of last year's competition automatically takes part in the competition. The remaining 17 participants are selected based on their GPA over the past 5 years. Great Britain won with the song “Love shine a light” performed by Katrina and The Waves. Alla Pugacheva performed from Russia with the song “Primadonna”. However, neither the popularity of the singer in our country nor the monumentality of the song made an impression. As a result, only 15th place.

Birmingham, UK. This year, a televoting system was launched to attract additional attention from viewers to the show. This year's winner created a lot of buzz. Israel took first place thanks to transsexual singer Dana International, who performed the song “Diva.”

Jerusalem, Israel. The victory at Eurovision in 1999 was won by the representative of Sweden, Charlotte Nilsson, who performed the song “Take me to your heaven”. This year, new rules were also adopted: songs can be performed in any language, and you can also sing with a backing track, replacing the orchestra. Russia did not take part in the competition this year.

Eurovision takes place in Stockholm, Sweden. It was this year that Russia made its first notable appearance at the competition. Our country took 2nd place thanks to the singer Alsou. First place was taken by two Olsen brothers from Denmark, who performed the song “Fly on the wings of love.”

Copenhagen, Denmark. The competition took place at the Parken stadium, 35,000 people watched Eurovision live, which became a record for the competition. Russia was represented by the Mumiy Troll group with the song “Lady alpine blue”. This year our country took only 12th place. The winners were Estonian performers Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL with the song “Everybody”.

The Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Tallinn, Estonia. Russia is represented by the group “Prime Minister” with the song “Northern girl”. The result is 10th place. The winner of this competition was singer Mari N from Latvia, who performed the song “I wanna”. This was the second victory in a row for the Baltic countries.

Riga, . Russia is going all-in and sending the notorious group TATU to Eurovision with the song “Don’t Believe, Don’t Be Afraid.” The group took only third place. First place was taken by Sertab Erener from Turkey, who amazed everyone with her song “Everyway That I Can” and the show she staged on the stage of Skonto Hall. This year, Ukraine took part in Eurovision for the first time, and as a result took 14th place.

Istanbul, . This year she competed for Russia young singer Yulia Savicheva. Many experts believe that Yulia performed quite professionally; she was able to overcome her anxiety and performed with dignity. However, this was not enough for victory; as a result, only 11th place. First place went to Ukrainian Ruslana, who performed a fiery song with Hutsul motifs “Wild Dances”.

Kyiv, . In February 2005, the Eurovision qualifying round took place in Russia: TV viewers chose the winner through interactive voting. According to the results audience voting singer Natalya Podolskaya won. With the song “Nobody Hurt No One” she represented our country in Kyiv. At Eurovision, Natalya took only 15th place. The victory went to the singer from Greece Helena Paparizou, who performed the song “My Number One”.

This year's international music festival took place in Athens. Dima Bilan with the song “Never Let You Go” first competed in the Eurovision semi-finals (since Russia did not score the required number of points in 2005), and then in the final, where he took second place. The victory went Finnish rock band"Lordi" with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The group performed at Eurovision dressed as monsters, which shocked many viewers of the competition.

Helsinki, . Russia was represented by the female trio “Silver”, which was created shortly before the competition. Their song “Song No. 1” took third place at Eurovision. The winner was the singer from Serbia Maria Šerifović with the composition “Prayer”.

Eurovision 2008 took place in Belgrade, Serbia. Dima Bilan is representing Russia for the second time, whose song “Believe” brought victory to our country. On the same stage with Bilan were figure skater, Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, and the famous Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton. In second place was the Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak with the song “Shady lady” to the music of Philip Kirkorov, and in third place was the Greek Kalomira with the song “Secret combination”.

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Moscow. The winner of the competition was Alexander Rybak, representing Norway. In terms of the number of points scored, Rybak set an absolute record - in the final he scored 387 points. The famous French singer Patricia Kaas took part in this competition. Arash and Aysel competed for Azerbaijan. A Ukrainian citizen, Anastasia Prikhodko, performed for Russia with the song “Mamo”. She took only 11th place.

This year the music festival took place in Norway. This is the third time the country has hosted Eurovision on its territory. The first time Eurovision took place in Norway in 1986 thanks to the victory of the duo “Bobbysocks”, the second time - in 1996 after the victory of the group Secret Garden and the third time the right to host the competition was obtained thanks to Alexander Rybak. The winner of the 55th Eurovision Song Contest was singer Lena Mayer-Landrut with the song “Satellite”. Russia was represented by the musical group of Peter Nalich with the song “Lost and Forgotten”. The guys took 11th place, but they themselves were satisfied with the result.

The 56th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the city of Dusseldorf, located in Germany. The winner was a duet from Azerbaijan. The song “Running Scared” brought the duo 221 points. Alexey Vorobyov represented Russia, who scored 77 points and took only 16th place.

Eurovision 2012 took place in Azerbaijan, in Baku, where a concert complex with a capacity of 20,000 seats was built specifically for the competition. Montenegro returned to the list of participants.

The 58th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the city of Malmö. Sweden hosted the Euroshow for the fifth time. The winner was the representative with the song Only Teardrops. According to the voting results, the singer scored 281 points. Russian Dina Garipova took fifth place. Refused to participate in the competition: Czech Republic. Slovakia, Türkiye and Portugal. Armenia returned to Eurovision.

The 59th Eurovision Song Contest took place in Denmark from 6 to 10 May. 37 countries took part in it: representatives of Poland and Portugal returned to the stage of the international competition. For the first time, performers from Montenegro and San Marino became finalists of the competition. The winner, with 290 points, was an Austrian drag queen performer with the song Rise Like A Phoenix.

The anniversary, 60th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Austria from 19 to 23 May 2015. The winner was the representative of Sweden with the song “Heroes”. Contestant from Russia Polina Gagarina with the composition “Million Voices” took an honorable second place, unconditionally winning the sympathy of the European public. Representatives from 40 countries competed in the anniversary event; Ukraine refused to participate for the first time due to economic difficulties. For the first time, a performer from Australia came to Eurovision, performing under special conditions.

Eurovision 2016 was the 61st song contest held in Stockholm, Sweden from 10 to 14 May. Representatives from 42 countries took part in it, including a performer from Australia, who performed under special conditions. The victory was won by the singer from Ukraine Jamala with the composition “1944”. Representative of Russia Sergey Lazarev with the song “ You Are the Only One" took third place, while receiving the most a large number of points - 361 - from TV viewers. In 2016, for the first time since 1975, the rules of the competition were changed: now the jury's scores are announced separately from the results of TV viewers' voting.

The 62nd Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Kyiv (Ukraine) from May 9 to 13. Ukraine is hosting the competition for the second time.

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TASS-DOSSIER /Pavel Duryagin/. "Eurovision" - international competition pop song, has been held since 1956 among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU; created in 1950). Eurovision is one of the most popular non-sporting television events in the world, attracting an audience of approximately 180 million viewers each year.

The idea of ​​the competition appeared in 1955 at a meeting of the EBU committee in Monaco. The music festival in San Remo (Italy) was taken as an example. The first competition, originally called the Eurovision Grand Prix ( modern name received since 1968) was held on May 24, 1956 in Lugano (Switzerland). Seven countries took part, each presenting two songs. The first winner of the competition was the Swiss singer Lise Assia.

Since 1957, one representative from each of the EBU participating countries has competed at the competition. Russian performers have been participating in Eurovision since 1994. Over the entire history of the competition, 52 countries took part in it, including some non-European states (Israel, Morocco, etc.).

Eurovision format

The format of the competition has changed many times. Currently, the rule is that 26 countries participate in the final: the Big Five countries (the main sponsors of the competition are Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy), the hosts of the competition, as well as 10 winners each from the two semi-finals. In 2015, an exception was made: Australia became the 27th participant in the final (participating in the competition for the first time).

Australia has been participating in the competition since 2015. That year, in connection with the 60th anniversary of the competition, the EBU decided to expand the geographical scope of Eurovision by agreeing on the participation of Australian performers in the competition with the broadcaster SBS (which is an associate member of the EBU). This company previously broadcast Eurovision in Australia for over 30 years. The representative of this country, Guy Sebastian, received the right to directly participate in the finals in 2015 without going through the semi-final stage.

Each country can be represented by a soloist or a musical group of no more than 6 people, age no younger than 16 years. Citizenship and nationality of participants does not matter. Thus, in 1988, the Canadian singer Celine Dion brought victory to Switzerland. A song in any language lasting no more than 3 minutes is performed live by the artist. Musical accompaniment can sound in the form of a phonogram. The composition must be publicly performed for the first time no earlier than September 1 of the year preceding the competition. The national selection of Eurovision participants is carried out by local broadcasters - members of the EBU.

In 2016, significant changes were made to voting rules. If in previous years the results of the audience voting and jury assessments were presented as single result, one half of which consisted of jury ratings and the other half of audience ratings, now judges and fans will evaluate performers separately. According to the new rules, first in final show Jury scores will be announced (from 1 to 12 points, with the exception of 9 and 11, which will indicate the gap between second and third places), and then the result of the audience vote (via official application, as well as via telephone or SMS), starting from the very last place. The total results will allow us to identify the best performer.

The winner of Eurovision is awarded a prize in the form of a crystal microphone. The next competition is held in one of the cities of the winning country.

Who pays for the competition?

The costs of the competition are covered by the organizational budget of the host country, sponsorship income, as well as entry fees from EBU members. For example, according to press reports, in 2015 the entry fee from Spain (one of the main sponsors) amounted to 356 thousand euros. Repeatedly, EBU members refused to participate in Eurovision for financial reasons. Thus, in 2015, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia and a number of other countries did not take part in the competition. At the same time, countries that did not nominate their nominees still have the right to vote in choosing the winners.

Who won most often

The largest number of victories at Eurovision - seven - were won by representatives of Ireland (including three in a row in 1992-1994). They are followed by performers from Sweden, who were recognized as the best six times. Luxembourg, France and Great Britain won five times each. Russia has one victory to its name: in 2008, Dima Bilan won the competition in Belgrade (Serbia). Over 60 years, more than 1.4 thousand compositions have been performed at Eurovision. Most often the winning songs were those performed on English language(30 times), in second place French(14 wins), in third place are Dutch and Hebrew (3 wins each).

Eurovision in Moscow

In 2009, after the victory of Dima Bilan, Russia became the host of Eurovision for the first time. The final took place on May 16 in Moscow at the Olimpiysky sports complex. Its hosts were Ivan Urgant and Alsou. The victory was won by a Norwegian of Belarusian origin, Alexander Rybak, with the song Fairytale (English: “Fairy Tale”).

Eurovision 2016

The final of the 61st Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 14, 2016 in Stockholm. It was planned that representatives from 43 countries would take part in the music competition, but on April 22 it was announced that Romanian singer Ovidiu Anton would not perform at Eurovision due to debt public television of this country to the organizers of the project. Thus, the number of participants was reduced to 42.

Last year's winner Måns Selmerlöw and Petra Mede were selected as presenters. Russia will be represented by Sergey Lazarev with the song You Are the Only One.

On May 10, the first semi-final of the competition took place. According to its results, Russian Sergei Lazarev, as well as performers from Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, the Netherlands, Croatia and the Czech Republic, reached the final. On May 12, ten more finalists were determined in the second semi-final - they were representatives of Australia (this non-European country continues its participation in the competition after its debut last year), Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine.

Representatives of these 20 countries, as well as musicians from Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden will take part in the final.

In the 1950s, at the dawn of the television age, all the television and radio companies in the world at that time had almost no connection with each other. This is how Eurovision appeared - a TV network that united companies from European countries, establishing the European Broadcasting Union - EBU. And already in the mid-50s, the idea arose to create a common competition for cultural rapprochement. Marcel Becenon, CEO Swiss television, at one of the meetings he proposed his own version of a competition, the purpose of which is to choose the best song of the Old World. The competition was based on the already existing Sanremo Music Festival, which took place in Italy.

The name "Eurovision" was first mentioned in relation to the EBC in November 1951. The competition itself was first called the “Eurovision Grand Prix”. However, later the competition and the Union itself became absolute synonyms, although the latter still exists. Today it has 66 members covering 79 countries. Among Russian media EBU includes Channel One, Rossiya TV channel and Mayak radio station.

The first Eurovision took place in 1956 in the Swiss city of Lugano. Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany took part in the competition, with two performers from each country. The first winner was Lis Assia from Switzerland. Every year the number of countries wishing to take part in the song competition increased, and then new rules were introduced. Those countries that showed the worst results in the current year were excluded from the competition for the next year.

The rules of the game are simple: the performer with the most points wins, and the winner's country hosts the next competition. Sometimes a country, for some reason, may refuse to host Eurovision in its area, and then the competition is moved to another place.

In 1969, it so happened that four countries took first place: the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Spain. To decide which country would have the honor of hosting the next competition on its territory, a draw had to be held. As a result, Eurovision was held in Amsterdam.

Over time, various restrictions began to be introduced into the rules. Since 1957, there has been a requirement that a song should not last more than three minutes, and since 1960, the competition has been shown live on television. After the case of four winners, the rules were changed so that if several countries get the same number of points, they perform again and a new vote is held.

The year 1989 for Eurovision was remembered for two young participants: 11-year-old Natalie Park from France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who competed for Israel. After this, an age restriction was introduced: participants must be over 15 years old.

Russia has been taking part in the competition since 1994. The country was represented at the first competition for our country by singer Maria Katz, who won national competition Russia. performed under the pseudonym Judith with the song “Eternal Wanderer” and took ninth place, scoring 70 points. Her result remained the best for Russia for the next six years.

Eurovision is a peaceful competition, but sometimes scandals and funny cases. And often this is connected with political problems. For example, in 2009, a group from Georgia was going to perform the song “We Don"t Wanna Put In” at the competition. The name of the song was deliberately consonant with the surname of the then Prime Minister of Russia -. This composition was chosen as a sign of Georgia’s protest against the armed conflict with Russia , which arose in August 2008. Due to complaints from Russia, the organizers of the competition stipulated that the Georgian group could only perform with a different song.As a result, the country refused to participate in 2009, when the competition was held in the Russian Federation.

Sometimes awkward situations at a competition turn out to be just a joke.

In 2010, during a performance by a Spanish singer, a man came on stage and began making faces along with the circus performers who were part of the act. A few seconds later, security came on stage and the man jumped into the audience. It later turned out that it was the Spanish prankster Jimmy Jump, who often runs out on football fields during matches.

In 2017, at the Eurovision final, when the competition was held in Kyiv, in the middle of the performance Ukrainian singer Jamal, a man ran onto the stage with an Australian flag on his shoulders. Then he turned his back to the stage and pulled down his pants, exposing his butt. It was Ukrainian pranker Vitaly Sedyuk, who “played” in a similar way there are already a lot of celebrities. However, this prank cost about 8.5 thousand hryvnia in fine.

Eurovision is one of the biggest music competitions in the world, which is held every year and attracts the best performers from member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. In this regard, as a viewer of the project, you will be able to see fascinating performances by representatives of not only European countries, but also countries such as Israel and Egypt. According to the rules, only one singer can perform from each country, and the winner is determined by the results of voting by viewers from all over the world.

History of Eurovision

The very first Eurovision Song Contest was organized in Switzerland in the mid-fifties of the last century. The reason for its holding was the desire to create a project similar to the large Italian festival called “San Remo”. The main goal, according to Marcel Besson, was the opportunity to unite in creativity nations that had been separated in the post-war period.

Despite the fact that the festival is still held in Italy, Eurovision is still significantly ahead of it and has become the most popular and anticipated event of the year. Today, friends, relatives and even groups of strangers, total numbering more than one hundred million, gather together to watch the performances of the participants and vote for their favorite.

Before each Eurovision Song Contest, participants who wish to become finalists of the project undergo a qualifying round, based on the results of which the list of countries participating this year is determined. The undisputed participants each time are the four founding countries - Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France, which are united under the name “Big Four EMU”.

If we talk about Eurovision winners, then the luckiest country should be called Great Britain. Despite the fact that Ireland took first places more often (seven to five), this country is the leader in the number of second places, since it has fifteen such victories. This may be due to the fact that the UK often had to become the venue for the competition, as France refused this advantage.

Viewers often wonder why, for example, an American singer (Katrina Lescanish with Cambridge group Waves or Ozzy Gina J.) or from Duxerburg a performer from Greece? The fact is that absolutely anyone can be a representative from a particular country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship.

Interesting facts from the history of Eurovision

Throughout the history of the competition, the most unexpected performers have become leaders, and our country only gained momentum in the mid-2000s. We decided to make a selection of the most interesting moments for you.

• The victory at the very first competition went to the Swiss performer Lis Assia for the song Refrain.
• Since 1959, composers cannot be members of the professional jury.
• In 1960, Eurovision was shown live for the first time, although only in Finland.
• 1988 is a landmark year for Celine Dion. Now everyone knows her, but then it was the finest hour for an unknown girl.
• The winner in 1986 was a singer from Belgium, who was only thirteen years old. Throughout the history of Eurovision, both eleven- and twelve-year-old singers have taken part in the competition. Today this is impossible, since the age limit is 16 years, and for younger talents there is their own Junior Eurovision.
• The rule that participants must perform a song in the language of their country was introduced in 1966.
• In the Spanish victory song La La La (1968), this very word is repeated 138 times.
• After 4 countries took first place at once (1969), it was decided to adjust the rules: if several leading countries gain same number points, their performers perform their routine again, and the decision is made by the jury.
• Philip Kirkorov, who represented our country in 1995, took only seventeenth place, and in next year Russia did not take part in the project at all.
• – not the first freak of this kind in the history of Eurovision. In 2007, she almost became the winner (an image created by the artist from Ukraine Andrey Danilko), who ultimately took an honorable second place. And almost ten years earlier, a performer from Israel named Dana International (1998) surprised viewers with her transsexuality.
• The year 2000 is Russia's first notable achievement. Alsou took second place. The next successful representative was the TaTu group, which took third place.

The best Eurovision songs ever

To understand what kind of music Europe loves, music service under the name Deezer created a ranking of the show's greatest hits and winners.

1. Euphoria and a singer from Sweden (2012).
2. Only Teardrops from Denmark (2013).
3. Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with the composition Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
4. Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
5. A performance by two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - called Secret Garden with the song Nocturne (1995).
6. Johnny Logan from Ireland and his composition Hold Me Now (1987).
7. Abba Waterloo (Sweden) with a hit called Hold me now (1974).
8. Song Satellite by German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
9. Gina G and Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit from the UK (1996).
10. Finally, the charming Italian Toto Cutugno with the song Insieme (1990).

It should be noted that every year of the event is associated with completely unexpected decisions and victories. What does this depend on - on the unpredictable tastes of listeners or on the desire of the performers themselves to produce as much as possible? vivid impression, We do not know. But we look forward to the continuation of this musical story.