List of Eurovision Song Contest winners

Left: Lys Assia, the first Eurovision winner (1956), and Dima Bilan, winner in 2008. Centre: Johnny Logan, the winning artist in 1980, winning artist and composer in 1987 and the winning composer in 1992. Right: Ell & Nikki celebrating Eurovision Song Contest 2011 victory in Düsseldorf.

Sixty-four songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. The contest's winner has been determined using numerous voting techniques throughout its history; centre to these have been the awarding of points to countries by juries or televoters. The country awarded the most points is declared the winner.[1] The first Eurovision Song Contest was not won on points, but by votes (two per country), and only the winner was announced.[2]

There have been 60 contests, with one winner each year except the tied 1969 contest, which had four. Twenty-six different countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the first contest in 1956. The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland, with seven. Portugal is the country with the longest history in the contest without a win; it made its forty-eighth appearance at the 2015 contest. The only person to have won more than once as performer is Ireland's Johnny Logan, who performed "What's Another Year" in 1980 and "Hold Me Now" in 1987. Logan is also one of only five songwriters to have written more than one winning entry ("Hold Me Now" 1987 and "Why Me?" 1992, performed by Linda Martin).[3] This unique distinction makes Logan the only person to have three Eurovision victories to his/her credit, as either singer, songwriter or both. The other four songwriters with more than one winning entry to their credit are, Willy van Hemert (Netherlands, 1957 and 1959), Yves Dessca (Monaco, 1971 and Luxembourg, 1972), Rolf Løvland (Norway, 1985 and 1995) and Brendan Graham (Ireland, 1994 and 1996).

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a unique opportunity for the winning artist(s) to capitalise on their success and surrounding publicity by launching or furthering their international career. However, throughout the history of the contest, relatively few of these artists have gone on to be huge international stars. The most notable winning Eurovision artists whose career was directly launched into the spotlight following their win were the members of ABBA, who won the 1974 contest for Sweden with their song "Waterloo". ABBA went on to be one of the most successful bands of its time.[4] Another notable winner who subsequently achieved international fame and success was Céline Dion, who won the 1988 contest for Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".

List

Year Date Host City Winner Song Performer Points Margin Runner-up
1956 24 May Switzerland Lugano   Switzerland "Refrain" Lys Assia
Never announced
1957 3 March Germany Frankfurt  Netherlands "Net als toen" Corry Brokken 31 14  France
1958 12 March Netherlands Hilversum  France "Dors, mon amour" André Claveau 27 3   Switzerland
1959 11 March France Cannes  Netherlands "Een beetje" Teddy Scholten 21 5  United Kingdom
1960 29 March United Kingdom London  France "Tom Pillibi" Jacqueline Boyer 32 7  United Kingdom
1961 18 March France Cannes  Luxembourg "Nous les amoureux" Jean-Claude Pascal 31 7  United Kingdom
1962 18 March Luxembourg Luxembourg  France "Un premier amour" Isabelle Aubret 26 13  Monaco
1963 23 March United Kingdom London  Denmark "Dansevise" Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann 42 2   Switzerland
1964 21 March Denmark Copenhagen  Italy "Non ho l'età" Gigliola Cinquetti 49 32  United Kingdom
1965 20 March Italy Naples  Luxembourg "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" France Gall 32 6  United Kingdom
1966 5 March Luxembourg Luxembourg  Austria "Merci, Chérie" Udo Jürgens 31 15  Sweden
1967 8 April Austria Vienna  United Kingdom "Puppet on a String" Sandie Shaw 47 25  Ireland
1968 6 April United Kingdom London  Spain "La, la, la" Massiel 29 1  United Kingdom
1969 29 March Spain Madrid "Vivo cantando" Salomé 18
No runner-up
 United Kingdom "Boom Bang-a-Bang" Lulu
 Netherlands "De troubadour" Lenny Kuhr
 France "Un jour, un enfant" Frida Boccara
1970 21 March Netherlands Amsterdam  Ireland "All Kinds of Everything" Dana 32 6  United Kingdom
1971 3 April Republic of Ireland Dublin  Monaco "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" Séverine 128 12  Spain
1972 25 March United Kingdom Edinburgh  Luxembourg "Après toi" Vicky Leandros 128 14  United Kingdom
1973 7 April  Luxembourg "Tu te reconnaîtras" Anne-Marie David 129 4  Spain
1974 6 April United Kingdom Brighton  Sweden "Waterloo" ABBA 24 6  Italy
1975 22 March Sweden Stockholm  Netherlands "Ding-a-dong" Teach-In 152 14  United Kingdom
1976 3 April Netherlands The Hague  United Kingdom "Save Your Kisses for Me" Brotherhood of Man 164 17  France
1977 7 May United Kingdom London  France "L'oiseau et l'enfant" Marie Myriam 136 15  United Kingdom
1978 22 April France Paris  Israel "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (א-ב-ני-בי) Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta 157 32  Belgium
1979 31 March Israel Jerusalem "Hallelujah" (הללויה) Gali Atari and Milk and Honey 125 9  Spain
1980 19 April Netherlands The Hague  Ireland "What's Another Year" Johnny Logan 143 15  Germany
1981 4 April Republic of Ireland Dublin  United Kingdom "Making Your Mind Up" Bucks Fizz 136 4  Germany
1982 24 April United Kingdom Harrogate  Germany "Ein bißchen Frieden" Nicole 161 61  Israel
1983 23 April Germany Munich  Luxembourg "Si la vie est cadeau" Corinne Hermès 142 6  Israel
1984 5 May Luxembourg Luxembourg  Sweden "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" Herreys 145 8  Ireland
1985 4 May Sweden Gothenburg  Norway "La det swinge" Bobbysocks! 123 18  Germany
1986 3 May Norway Bergen  Belgium "J'aime la vie" Sandra Kim 176 36   Switzerland
1987 9 May Belgium Brussels  Ireland "Hold Me Now" Johnny Logan 172 31  Germany
1988 30 April Republic of Ireland Dublin   Switzerland "Ne partez pas sans moi" Céline Dion 137 1  United Kingdom
1989 6 May Switzerland Lausanne  Yugoslavia "Rock Me" Riva 137 7  United Kingdom
1990 5 May Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zagreb  Italy "Insieme: 1992" Toto Cutugno 149 17  Ireland
 France
1991 4 May Italy Rome  Sweden "Fångad av en stormvind" Carola 146 0  France
1992 9 May Sweden Malmö  Ireland "Why Me?" Linda Martin 155 16  United Kingdom
1993 15 May Republic of Ireland Millstreet "In Your Eyes" Niamh Kavanagh 187 23  United Kingdom
1994 30 April Republic of Ireland Dublin "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan 226 60  Poland
1995 13 May  Norway "Nocturne" Secret Garden 148 29  Spain
1996 18 May Norway Oslo  Ireland "The Voice" Eimear Quinn 162 48  Norway
1997 3 May Republic of Ireland Dublin  United Kingdom "Love Shine a Light" Katrina and the Waves 227 70  Ireland
1998 9 May United Kingdom Birmingham  Israel "Diva" (דיווה) Dana International 172 6  United Kingdom
1999 29 May Israel Jerusalem  Sweden "Take Me to Your Heaven" Charlotte Nilsson 163 17  Iceland
2000 13 May Sweden Stockholm  Denmark "Fly on the Wings of Love" Olsen Brothers 195 40  Russia
2001 12 May Denmark Copenhagen  Estonia "Everybody" Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL 198 21  Denmark
2002 25 May Estonia Tallinn  Latvia "I Wanna" Marie N 176 12  Malta
2003 24 May Latvia Riga  Turkey "Everyway That I Can" Sertab Erener 167 2  Belgium
2004[N 1] 15 May Turkey Istanbul  Ukraine "Wild Dances" Ruslana 280 17  Serbia and Montenegro
2005 21 May Ukraine Kiev  Greece "My Number One" Helena Paparizou 230 38  Malta
2006 20 May Greece Athens  Finland "Hard Rock Hallelujah" Lordi 292 44  Russia
2007 12 May Finland Helsinki  Serbia "Molitva" (Молитва) Marija Šerifović 268 33  Ukraine
2008[N 2] 24 May Serbia Belgrade  Russia "Believe" Dima Bilan 272 42  Ukraine
2009 16 May Russia Moscow  Norway "Fairytale" Alexander Rybak 387 169  Iceland
2010 29 May Norway Oslo  Germany "Satellite" Lena 246 76  Turkey
2011 14 May Germany Düsseldorf  Azerbaijan "Running Scared" Ell & Nikki 221 32  Italy
2012 26 May Azerbaijan Baku  Sweden "Euphoria" Loreen 372 113  Russia
2013 18 May Sweden Malmö  Denmark "Only Teardrops" Emmelie de Forest 281 47  Azerbaijan
2014 10 May Denmark Copenhagen  Austria "Rise Like a Phoenix" Conchita Wurst 290 52  Netherlands
2015 23 May Austria Vienna  Sweden "Heroes" Måns Zelmerlöw 365 62  Russia
2016 14 May Sweden Stockholm  Ukraine "1944" Jamala 534 23  Australia
2017 13 May Ukraine Kiev

For information about the winning songwriters of each year, see List of Eurovision Song Contest winning songwriters

Eleven Eurovision winners (alongside three non-winners) featured at the Congratulations concert in 2005, in which ABBA's "Waterloo" was voted the most popular song of the contest's first fifty years.[5]

Ireland has finished first seven times, more than any other country, Ireland also won the contest for three consecutive years (1992, 1993, 1994), more consecutive years than any other country. Three countries have won twice in a row, Spain (1968 and 1969), Luxembourg (1972 and 1973) and Israel (1978 and 1979). Along with Switzerland's win in the first contest, Serbia is the only other country to win with its debut entry (in 2007). Under the voting system used between 1975 and 2015, the winner of the contest was decided by the final voting nation on eleven occasions.[N 3]

Changes to the voting system, including a steady growth in the number of countries participating/voting, means that the points earned are not comparable across the decades. Ukraine's Jamala holds the record of the highest number of points in the contest's history, earning 534 with the song "1944". Norway's Alexander Rybak holds the largest margin of victory in absolute points, a 169-point cushion over second place in 2009. Italy's Gigliola Cinquetti holds the record for largest victory by percentage, scoring almost three times as many as second place (49 points compared with 17 by the runner-up) in the 1964 contest. Under the voting system used from 1975 until 2015, the lowest winning score was Norway's Bobbysocks! 123 points earned (of the 1044 available from the 18 other countries) when winning Eurovision 1985, while the lowest winning total ever is the 18 points (of the 160 total votes cast by 16 countries) scored by each of the four winning countries in 1969.

Under the voting system used from 1975 until 2015, in which each country gives maximum points to its first place choice, Sweden's Loreen won Eurovision 2012 with the most ever first place votes earned, receiving first place votes from 18 of 41 countries (excluding themselves). The 1976 United Kingdom entrant, Brotherhood of Man with the song "Save Your Kisses For Me" holds the record of the highest average score per participating country, with an average of 9.65 points received per country. 2011 winner Azerbaijan Eldar & Nigar, hold the lowest average score for a winning song under that system, receiving 5.14 points per country.

The United Kingdom has finished second fifteen times at Eurovision (most recently in 1998), more than any other country. The most successful country never to have won the Contest is Malta, having finished second in 2002 and 2005 and third in 1992 and 1998.

There is no official runner-up for two of the contests – 1956 and 1969. In 1956 only the winner, Switzerland, was announced, whilst there were speculative reports that Germany ended up in second place with "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" by Walter Andreas Schwarz, on account that Germany was chosen to host the 1957 contest. In 1969 four songs shared first place by achieving the same number of points, and the second best result was achieved by Switzerland, who is not considered an official runner-up, because of the draw for first place.

By country

Map showing each country's number of Eurovision wins up to and including 2016.[N 4]
Wins Country Years
7  Ireland 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996
6  Sweden 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015
5  France 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977
 Luxembourg 1961, 1965, 1972, 1973, 1983
 United Kingdom 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997
4  Netherlands 1957, 1959, 1969, 1975
3  Denmark 1963, 2000, 2013
 Israel 1978, 1979, 1998
 Norway 1985, 1995, 2009
2   Switzerland 1956, 1988
 Italy 1964, 1990
 Austria 1966, 2014
 Spain 1968, 1969
 Germany[N 5] 1982, 2010
 Ukraine 2004, 2016
1  Monaco 1971
 Belgium 1986
 Yugoslavia 1989
 Estonia 2001
 Latvia 2002
 Turkey 2003
 Greece 2005
 Finland 2006
 Serbia 2007
 Russia 2008
 Azerbaijan 2011

Year 1969 is in italics to indicate joint (4-way) win.

By language

  English (46.2%)
  French (21.5%)
  Dutch (4.6%)
  Hebrew (4.6%)
  German (3.1%)
  Norwegian (3.1%)
  Swedish (3.1%)
  Italian (3.1%)
  Spanish (3.1%)
  Danish (1.5%)
  Ukrainian (1.5%)
  Croatian (1.5%)
  Serbian (1.5%)
  Crimean Tatar (1.5%)

Between 1966 and 1973, and again between 1977 and 1998, countries were only permitted to perform in their own language; see the main Eurovision Song Contest article. The first winner since 1989 to be in a language that had never produced a winning song before is Ruslana's "Wild Dances" in 2004, which was performed partially in Ukrainian. In 2007 Marija Šerifović's "Molitva", which was sung in Serbian, became the first winner since 1989 to be entirely in a language that had never produced a winning song before and the first winner since 1998 to be entirely in a language other than English. So far, only two songs performed in more than one language have won the contest, both have represented Ukraine.

Wins Language Years Countries
31 English 1967, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,[N 6] 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016[N 7] United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine,[N 6][N 7] Greece, Finland, Russia, Norway, Germany, Azerbaijan, Austria
14 French 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1983, 1986, 1988 Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium
3 Dutch 1957, 1959, 1969 Netherlands
Hebrew 1978, 1979, 1998 Israel
2 Italian 1964, 1990 Italy
German 1966, 1982 Austria, Germany
Spanish 1968, 1969 Spain
Swedish 1984, 1991 Sweden
Norwegian 1985, 1995 Norway
1 Danish 1963 Denmark
Croatian 1989 Yugoslavia
Ukrainian 2004[N 6] Ukraine[N 6]
Serbian 2007 Serbia
Crimean Tatar 2016[N 7] Ukraine[N 7]

Photogallery

See also

Notes and references

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Since 2004, the contest has included a televised semi-final::— In 2004 held on the Wednesday before the final:— Between 2005 and 2007 held on the Thursday of "Eurovision Week"
  2. ↑ Since 2008 the contest has included two semi-finals, held on the Tuesday and Thursday before the final.
  3. ↑ 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2002 and 2003.
  4. ↑ the Federal Republic of Germany has two wins, one before, one after German reunification. The map depicts the outline of Germany during both of their wins.
  5. ↑ the Federal Republic of Germany has two wins, one before, one after German reunification
  6. 1 2 3 4 This song was partially sung in Ukrainian.
  7. 1 2 3 4 This song was partially sung in Crimean Tatar.

References

  1. ↑ Extract from the rules for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision.tv. Retrieved on 22 August 2007. Archived May 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Eurovision 1956. Eurovision.tv. Retrieved on 24 May 2008. Archived May 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  4. ↑ BBC News (6 December 2005). ABBA's Bjorn says no to reunion. Retrieved on 15 March 2008.
  5. ↑ ABBA win 'Eurovision 50th' vote. BBC News (23 October 2005). Retrieved on 22 August 2007.

Bibliography

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