The organizers of Eurovision had a good goal: to merge the countries of Europe that were scattered after the Second World War in a single musical impulse. In 1956, the first competition was held, and the place was chosen in the best possible way: the action took place in Lugano, the southern city of Switzerland, distinguished by its diplomacy. The victory was also received by the representative of this country - Liz Assia with the song Refrain. The show has never been canceled since this year.

Eurovision rules

The participants are required to have a live sound (there can only be accompaniment in the recording), an original three-minute composition and no more than 6 people simultaneously on stage. You can sing in any language. Participants must be over 16 years old: since 2003, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest has been founded for underage musicians (participants in the 2006 children's competition, the Tolmacheva sisters, represented Russia at the adult competition in 2014).

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The show is broadcast live, and after that, SMS voting begins, allowing you to choose the best performers. Depending on the number of voters, participants receive from 12 to 1 point from each of the countries (or do not receive a single point if they are not voted for). And six years ago, music experts joined the audience: five professionals from each country also vote for their favorite songs.

Sometimes countries receive the same number of points - in this case, the number of 10 and 12 points is taken into account. By the way, in 1969, when this rule had not yet been taken into account, four countries were declared winners at once: France, Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The rest of the participants did not like it much, so now the jury is choosing the favorite more carefully.

Eurovision countries

Only countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union (hence the name of the competition) can participate in Eurovision, that is, it is not the geography that matters, but the channel that will broadcast the show live. For many who wish, this regulation becomes a serious obstacle: Kazakhstan, which applied for membership in the EBU, was not approved by the organizers of the competition.

The Eurovision organizers do not advocate for new participants at all, but this does not interrupt the appetite of many countries dreaming of participating in the contest. Compared to 1956, the number of performers has increased 9 times: instead of 7 states, 39 are now competing. By the way, Australia will enter the stage this year. The green continent will be presented for the first time in history by singer Guy Sebastian. The only "but": in the event of Australia's victory, they have not yet been allowed to host Eurovision at home.

But there are those who are never denied participation: these are the countries of the so-called "Big Five", which includes the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. These states never tremble for qualifying performances and always automatically find themselves in the final.

Eurovision rejections

"Eurovision" is an expensive pleasure, so the most common reason for countries' refusals is economic. In second place is politics, which intervenes in the competition every now and then. For example, Armenia refused to send its musicians to Baku in 2012 due to strained relations with Azerbaijan, and Morocco was not shown at the competition for a long time due to conflicts with Israel.

There are those who do not want to go to the show, accusing the judges of bias. The Czech Republic turned out to be the most dissatisfied country: since 2009, the state stubbornly avoided Eurovision (in three years of participation, the Czechs scored only 10 points in total), and only this year decided to try their hand again.

Turkey said no this year, with a backlog of complaints. Muslims are unhappy with the victory of the bearded Conchita Wurst last year and Finnish Krista Siegfrids' lesbian kiss with her backing vocalist, which was captured by cameras during the semi-finals in 2013.

Famous participants of Eurovision

Many performers believe that Eurovision is a stepping stone to world popularity. In fact, the competition, even if it gives a few seconds of fame, gives few people a chance to become truly famous. There are also pleasant exceptions. For example, in 1974, the Swedish group ABBA, at that moment unfamiliar even within their native country, won first place with the song Waterloo. This victory instantly brought the team success all over the world: 8 singles of the group, one after another, firmly established themselves at the top of the British charts, and in the USA, three albums of the quartet became gold and one platinum. By the way, the Waterloo hit in 2005, thanks to the vote of viewers from 31 countries, was recognized as the best Eurovision song in history.

Celine Dion was already a star in Canada and France by the time of the competition. The victory in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi (the singer represented Switzerland) expanded her geography: Dion's records began to be sold in Asia, Australia and most European countries, and made her think about recording singles in English. Approximately the same story happened with the Spaniard Julio Iglesias, who in 1994 reached fourth place with the song Gwendolyne, and then learned to sing in Portuguese, French and Italian and made himself known in Europe.

The Brainstorm group, which took third place in 2000 (by the way, these were the first performers who performed in the competition from Latvia), Eurovision, if not opened the whole planet, but allowed them to successfully tour Scandinavia and consolidate their success in Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and Russia.

It also happened vice versa: when performers with a name took part in a music competition, but did not achieve leadership in the competition. So, Tatu, despite encouraging forecasts, took only third place, the British Blue became 11th, and Patricia Kaas - eighth.

Eurovision scandals

They like to criticize Eurovision: the first places are probably bought, the lyrics are unoriginal, and the countries vote not for the composition, but for their neighbors. Even the texts, behavior and appearance of some contestants become the cause of conflicts.

In 1973, fans of the Israeli singer Ilanit were seriously worried about the life of the singer. On the eve of the contest, the singer received threats from Islamic radicals who made no secret of the impending attack. Nevertheless, the performer took the stage, having previously put on a bulletproof vest. Fortunately, nothing dangerous for her life did not happen.

In 2007, a scandal arose around the Ukrainian participant - the singer Verka Serdyuchka (aka Andrey Danilko), in whose song the words "Russia, goodbye" were heard. The culprit of the story herself explained that the text contains the phrase Lasha Tumbai, which means “whipped cream” in Mongolian. Be that as it may, Verka's performance turned out to be prophetic: relations with Russia deteriorated sharply, and now the singer is a rare bird in our area.

And the Spaniard Daniel Dihes was “lucky” to be the victim of a bully in a red cap Jimmy Jump, who usually breaks into football matches to make the audience laugh and get into the frame. In 2010, Jimmy chose Eurovision as the venue and snuck onto the stage during Daniel's performance. Jimmy flaunted in front of the cameras for a full 15 seconds, until the shocked guards began to act. Dihes (who hadn't lost his temper during Jump's antics) was allowed to sing one more time.

Non-standard participants of the show, representatives of sexual minorities or alternative musical genres, also attract attention to themselves. Several times such musicians managed to win, which angered many spectators, but did not cancel their victory. In 1998, it was transgender Dana International from Israel; in 2006, hard rockers Lordi caused a wave of irritation, and last year Thomas Neuwirth became a bone of contention, who appeared on stage in the form of a woman with a beard Conchita Wurst.

Song Contest Eurovision(Eurovision) is a song contest that has been held annually for over 50 years. Although part of the name of the contest is "Euro" among the participants there are representatives of countries that are outside Europe, because the contest is held within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Purpose of the Eurovision Song Contest

The main idea was to hold an entertaining event that inspires and promotes the cultural unity of Europe. An example of such a program was the San Remo Music Festival, which is still held in Italy to this day. It was this festival that was taken as a basis more than 50 years ago, and has become one of the most anticipated and prestigious events in the musical life of Europe. The popularity of the competition around the world has grown so much that every year more than 100 million viewers follow this event.

Each participating country Eurovision represents one participant with one composition. The winner of the contest is determined by the vote of viewers and a jury from each participating country. The first music competition was held in Switzerland in 1956. Seven countries participated in the first competition. Each participant presented 2 songs, and this was the first and last time. The following year, they adopted a rule that has survived to this day: participants can submit only one song. Each participant must submit only a new song (the composition must not be in commercial rotation until the September preceding the competition). The winner of the first Eurovision became Switzerland. Liz Assia won the contest with the song "Refrain".

First rules and first winners

More and more people wanted to take part in the competition. Simultaneous listening to the performances of all participants has become difficult. Therefore, firstly, it was decided to remove from the competition the countries that were in last place in the previous year. Secondly, since the airtime of the final of the contest is limited, since 2004 Eurovision there was a semi-final, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the competition. After the semi-final, only 10 participating countries go to the final, of which five countries (the founders and main sponsors of the competition) - Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France - have the right to put their performers directly into the final part of the competition.

For many decades, Eurovision remained mainly Western European due to the closed borders of the USSR, but after the fall of the communist regimes, it became truly pan-European, expanding and uniting, as it was planned back in 1956, the cultural borders of Europe.

Around the competition Eurovision disagreements regularly arise regarding the quality of the song material, the original purpose of the event, methods of voting for the winners, excessive politicization - but some scandal turns into good PR both in the press and on the Internet, only increasing interest in the contest.

Ireland was the most successful participating country with 7 wins, the UK in second place although the English were runners-up 15 times, France and Luxembourg with 5 wins. The youngest winner Eurovision was 13-year-old Sandra Kim from Belgium, who won the competition in 1986. Under the new rules, contestants must be over 16 years of age. Therefore, the youngest winner of the 21st century was 23-year-old Elena Paparizou from Greece, and 23-year-old Norwegian of Belarusian origin Alexander Rybak, and the oldest was 38-year-old Sertab Erener from Turkey.

Theme song played before and after song contest broadcasts Eurovision(and other Eurovision broadcasts) is a prelude to Te Deum by Marc Antoine Charpentier.

It should be noted that participants representing a certain country do not necessarily have to have the citizenship of that country. For example, Katrina Leskanish was born in America and performed with the Waves from Cambridge. Another example was Ozzy Gina J., who represented Great Britain at the competition. A Greek in 1963 and a Belgian in 1988 played for Luxembourg. And the victory of Switzerland in 1988 was brought by a Canadian singer. And it should be noted that it was the victory in this competition that turned the unknown singer into a real star.

Conditions for the Eurovision Song Contest

Held annually in mid-May in the country that won the competition the previous year. Symbol Eurovision is the word "Eurovision" with a heart instead of the letter "v", inside which is the flag of the country that hosted the competition and won the previous year. Who will represent the country in the competition is chosen by the TV company that has broadcast rights Eurovision, and also a vote of viewers or both options can be held at the same time.

Countries that were in the Top 10 in the previous competition by points scored automatically advance to the final of the competition (without selection in the semi-finals). The competition also has certain rules for participants: it is forbidden to use a phonogram, the duration of the performance should not exceed three minutes. Group performances have been allowed since 1970, but there can be no more than 6 people on stage (including backing vocalists and backup dancers). Winner Eurovision signs a contract with commitments to speak and attend events planned by the European Broadcasting Union.

Eurovision is one of the largest music competitions in the world, which is held every year and attracts the best performers from the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. In this regard, as a spectator of the project, you will be able to see the bewitching performances of representatives not only of European states, but also of 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 a major Italian festival called "San Remo". The main goal, according to Marcel Besson, was the opportunity to unite in the work of the nation, scattered in the post-war period.

Despite the fact that the festival is still held in Italy, Eurovision is still far ahead of it and has become the most popular and anticipated event of the year. Today, friends, relatives and even companies of people who do not know each other, the total number of which is more than one hundred million, gather together to watch the performances of the participants and vote for the favorite.

Before each Eurovision Song Contest, participants who wish to become finalists of the project go through a qualifying round, which determines the list of countries participating this year. The indisputable participants each time are the four founding countries - Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France, which are united under the name "Big Four EBU".

If we talk about the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest, then the UK is the luckiest country. Despite the fact that Ireland took the first places more often than her (seven to five), however, in terms of the number of second places, this country is the leader, since it has fifteen such victories on its account. Perhaps this is 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 Leskanish with the Cambridge Waves or Ozzy Gina J.) is representing England or a Greek performer representing Duxerburg? The fact is that absolutely any person can be a representative from a particular country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship.

Interesting facts from the history of Eurovision

In the entire history of the competition, the most unexpected performers became leaders, and our country accelerated only by the middle of the 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 singer Lis Assia for the song Refrain.
• Since 1959, composers cannot be members of the professional jury.
• In 1960, the Eurovision Song Contest was shown live for the first time, however, only in Finland.
• 1988 is a landmark year for Celine Dion. Now everyone knows her, but then it was a high point for an unknown girl.
• The winner in 1986 was a Belgian singer 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 old, and for younger talents there is their own, Junior Eurovision.
• The rule that participants are required to perform a song in the language of their country was introduced in 1966.
• In Spain's winning song La La La (1968), this same word is repeated 138 times.
• After taking first place by 4 countries at once (1969), it was decided to adjust the rules: if several leading countries score the same number of points, performers from them again perform their number, and the decision is made by the jury.
• Philip Kirkorov, who represented our country in 1995, took only seventeenth place, and the next year Russia did not take part in the project at all.
• is not the first freak of its kind in Eurovision history. In 2007, she almost became the winner (the image created by the artist from Ukraine Andrey Danilko), who eventually took an honorable second place. And almost ten years before that, an Israeli performer named Dana International (1998) surprised the audience 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, a music service called Deezer created a ranking of the show's winningest hits.

1. Euphoria and singer from Sweden (2012).
2. Only Teardrops from Denmark (2013).
3. Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
4. Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
5. Performance of two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - under the name 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 German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
9. Gina G and Ooh Aah…Just a Little Bit from UK (1996).
10. Finally, the charming Italian Toto Cutugno with the song Insieme (1990).

It should be noted that each year of the event is associated with completely unexpected decisions and victories. On what it depends - on the unpredictable tastes of the listeners or on the desire of the performers themselves to make the most vivid impression possible, we do not know. But we look forward to continuing this musical story.

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is rightfully considered the main musical event of the year in Europe. This competition is very emotional and exciting not only for the participants, but also for viewers from different countries who gather near the screens and root for their performer with all their hearts. In addition, Eurovision is a spectacular show, preparation for which begins almost the next day after the next winner has been named and the host country for the next contest has been determined.

But no matter how strongly millions of people hoped that next year the Eurovision Song Contest would come to their homes, most of them have to experience a slight disappointment. There can only be one winner. And it is for him that even the losers rejoice. After all, this means that another talent was discovered and received a ticket to the musical Olympus.

History of Eurovision

The idea of ​​creating a competition appeared in the middle of the last century. It was then that the representatives European Broadcasting Union thought about how to take the first step towards the cultural unification of the different countries that make up it. Marcel Besancon was the first to come up with the idea of ​​organizing an international song contest. At that time he was in charge of Swiss television. This happened in the fiftieth year. But only five years later the proposal was approved. On the General Assembly of the EBU, which took place in Rome, it was decided not only to start implementing the idea of ​​a song contest in which representatives from all European countries could take part, but it was also agreed to use as a model the festival that took place in the Italian Sanremo. It was officially stated that the purpose Eurovision is the search for talents and their promotion on the international stage. However, in fact, the competition was intended to increase the popularity of TV, which in those years had not yet reached modern proportions.

First Eurovision passed in May fifty-six. Then the participants were hosted by Switzerland. The concert took place in Lugano. It was attended by representatives from just seven countries. Each musician performed with two numbers. It was an unprecedented event for Eurovision. Subsequently, the number of participants increased, and each of them had only one chance to show themselves. The first winner of the most popular song contest was a Swiss Liz Assia.

As the number of people wishing to show themselves at the popular music competition is steadily growing, in the fourth year of the new millennium, it was decided to divide the competition into two parts. From that moment, the semi-final is initially held, within which everyone can perform, and only then the final starts, which not everyone gets to. And after another four years, there were two semi-finals. And this is despite the fact that sometimes countries are denied the right to nominate their own candidate, and in some cases the states that usually send performers to Eurovision, for one reason or another, refrain from participating.

Over the long years of the existence of Eurovision, the winners most often became representatives of Ireland. As many as seven times musicians from this country found themselves on the podium. France, Great Britain, Sweden and Luxenbug have each won the competition five times. It is worth remembering that the famous ABBA group and world renowned artist Celine Dion They started their careers by winning this competition.

Eurovision winners in the new millennium

Today, no one can remember all the participants who tried to gain fame on the Eurovision stage. The list of winners is also too long to reproduce right off the bat. And it does not make much sense today to return to the middle of the last century and try to restore the names of everyone who has ever tasted the sweet sensation of triumph. But the winners, who entered the history of the competition in the twenty-first century, are not so difficult to remember. At the moment there were only fourteen. In anticipation
It's time to take stock of previous years.

2000

In 2000 the palm went to a duet from Denmark - Olsen Brothers. Nils and Jürgen Olsen performed the song, which at the fiftieth anniversary of the competition was recognized as one of the best in its history and took the honorable sixth place.

2001

In 2001 The Estonian duet consisting of Tanel Padar and Dave Benton entered the Eurovision stage. The hip hop team 2XL was on backing vocals. With their performance, talented musicians brought the first victory in the history of Estonia at this prestigious competition. And Tanel Padar managed to penetrate the hearts of the audience and very soon became the most famous rocker in his homeland.

2002

In 2002 Eurovision victory went to Latvia. The singer won it Marie N. Maria Naumova has Russian roots. However, despite the joy of victory, the performer did not receive any bonuses from her. Moreover, at the moment she is the only contestant whose song was published exclusively in Latvia. In 2003, when Eurovision was held in Riga, Maria became one of its presenters.

2003

In 2003 a Turkish woman ascended the podium Sertab Erener. At the moment she is one of the most successful pop singers in her country. Absolutely everyone in Turkey knows her name. And at the competition in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Eurovision, the song that once brought victory to Sertab took tenth place among the best.

2004

In 2004 the winner was the representative of Ukraine - the singer Ruslana. Her performance was a real sensation. For him, Ruslana received the honorary title of People's Artist of Ukraine.

2005

In 2005 luck smiled on the Greek Elena Paparizou, which entered the stage of this competition for the second time. Four years before the triumphant victory, she was part of a group called "Antique", which could not rise above the third position.

2006

In 2006 year Heavy chords of hard rock shook the Eurovision Song Contest, and hot Finnish guys in costumes of mythical monsters appeared on the stage with a good dose of irony and sang about any kind of horror worthy of a decent horror. Creation Lordi bands literally blew up the public and deprived the Russians of the chance to take first place, which many seriously hoped for that year.

2007

In 2007 Serbian pop singer Maria Sherifovich sang a song in their native language. Her " Prayer” was heard, despite the fact that it was not spoken in traditional English for the competition, and Maria became the winner.

2008

In 2008 Russia's first victory in the history of Eurovision took place. Dmitry Bilan, who failed to push hard rockers aside two years ago, brought the competition to Moscow. His beautiful song made a great impression on the audience. And the spectacular number, in which Evgeni Plushenko took part, was remembered for a long time.

2009

In 2009 at Eurovision a kind of record was set. The young performer, who represented Norway, managed to score the highest number of points in the history of the competition. A native of Belarus became a triumphant Alexander Rybak with his incendiary, fabulous song.

2010

In 2010 year representative of Germany Lena Meyer-Landrut became the undisputed favorite of the competition. A year later, she again entered the Eurovision stage as a participant. But luck didn't smile on her twice.

2011

In 2011 the victory went to the duo from Azerbaijan Elle & Nikki. Nigyara Jamal and Eldar Gasimov turned out to be a very beautiful and harmonious tandem, which simply could not be ignored.

2012

In 2012 Swede of Moroccan-Berber descent Lauryn managed to break away from performers from Russia and took the honorable first place in the competition. Today she is very popular.

2013

In 2013 there were no surprises. Singer from Denmark Emmy de Forest predicted victory even before the start of the competition. The performer has been involved in music since early childhood and has very good vocal abilities and a bright appearance.

2014

In 2014 many Eurovision fans were in for a real shock. The first place in the competition was taken by a bearded woman Conchita Wurst. The real name of the singer who hides under this pseudonym is Thomas Neurwit. He represented Austria. Despite the fact that not everyone was satisfied with this choice, it's hard to deny that the song was beautiful, the singer's voice is strong, and the image is just very memorable.

The next Eurovision Song Contest 2015 will start very soon. Singers from many countries will come together to compete with each other in skill and please numerous spectators. The show will certainly be bright and colorful. Well, the name of the next winner will soon become known to the entire continent.

2015

In 2015 Switzerland wins Eurovision Mons Zelmerlev. Even before the final vote, many called the singer "the king of the stage."

2016

In 2016 The winner of Eurovision was the representative of Ukraine - Jamal. She performed the song 1944. You can watch her performance below:

2017

In 2017 the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Kyiv (Ukraine), was the representative of Portugal Salvador Sobral. At the competition, he performed with the song Amar Pelos Dois ("Love Enough for Two"). According to the results of voting by the jury and the audience, the representative of Portugal scored 758 votes. You can watch his performance below:

2018

In 2018, the winner was Netta Barzilai (Israel) with the song "Toy" ("Toy")

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Eurovision is an annual music song contest held among performers from countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Therefore, among the participants of the competition, you can see performers from Israel and other countries outside Europe. From each participating country, one participant is sent to Eurovision, who performs one song. The winner of the competition is determined by voting of viewers and a jury from each participating country.

The Eurovision Song Contest was first held in 1956. The competition appeared as a result of the transformation of the Italian San Remo festival. Marcel Beson, who was very fond of this project, saw in the competition an opportunity to unite nations in the post-war period. The Sanremo Festival still exists today. And Eurovision today is one of the most anticipated and popular events in the musical life of Europe. More than 100 million viewers around the world watch this competition every year.

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

It can be said that the most lucky country at Eurovision is Great Britain. Of course, she 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 the performers at Eurovision does not matter. This is confirmed by the participation of Katrina Leskanish in the competition. She was born in America and performed with the Waves from Cambridge. 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 the Canadian singer Celine Dion. It was the victory in the competition that turned the unknown singer into a real star.

In 1986, 13-year-old Belgian Sandra Kim won the contest with the song "J'aime la vie". Now the rules of Eurovision set an age limit for performers - you can take part in the contest from 16 years old.

There are special strict rules for the final of the competition. For example, there can be no amplifiers on the stage, the drummer must play the provided drum kit. The performer can use instrumental backing tracks. Any song that is longer than 3 minutes may be disqualified, everyone remembers that “brevity is the sister of talent”.

The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano (Switzerland). 7 countries participated in the contest with 2 performers/songs per country. The victory was won by Lis Assia from Switzerland with the song "Refrain". Lis outperformed 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. took part in the competition. The winner was 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 venue for 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". Later this song was recorded under the name "Volare" and became a real hit. The victory went to Andre Clave from France with the song "Dors Mon Amour". The UK did not participate in this competition.

Cannes, France. The UK returned to the Eurovision Song Contest and came in second with "Sing Little Birdie", beating the French song "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 refuse to host the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time and the Eurovision Song Contest is held in the UK for the first time. Frenchwoman Jacqueline Boyer with the composition "Tom Pillibi" took first place, the second went to the British with their song "Looking High, High, High", performed by Brian Jones. This year the number of countries participating has grown to 13 with Norway joining the competition and Luxembourg returning. 1960 was also the first year that the final of the competition was broadcast live. Finland took this step.

Eurovision returns to Cannes (France). Luxembourg won with Jean-Claude Pascal's "Nous les amoureux". Second place out of 16 participating countries was taken by the United Kingdom, which was represented by The Allisons.

The venue for the competition was Luxembourg. The song "Un premier amour", performed by the Frenchwoman Isabelle Aubret, 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, the French pop star represents Monaco. For the first time in the history of the competition, Norway scored zero points. The victory was won by Denmark with the song "Dansevise", performed by Greta and Jürgen Ingmann.

The festival takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Second place again goes to the UK - Matt Monroe with the song "I Love The Little Things". Later, the song “Walk Away” performed by him, a reworked version of the composition of the Austrian participant of this year, was 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 is in second place for the fifth time in 8 years thanks to singer Kathy Kirby, who performed the song "I Belong".

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

The competition takes place in Vienna (Austria). Vicky Leandros performs for Luxembourg for the first time with the song "L'amour est bleu", which later became a classic. The victory this year went to Sandy Shaw with the song "Puppet On A String". Great Britain 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". In this song, the word "La" was used 138 times. Briton Cliff Richard with the song "Congratulations" lagged behind the Spanish by one point 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. Netherlands with "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr, France with "Un Jour, Un Enfant" by Frida Boccara, UK with "Boom bang a bang" by Lulu and Spain with "Vivo cantando" by Salome ( Maria Rosa Marco).

The venue for the competition was determined by drawing lots between the winning countries in 1969. As a result, the competition was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This year, the rules were amended, which excluded the possibility of winning several participants at the same time. In the event that several performers receive the same number of points, they must re-perform the song and the jury, except for representatives of the countries claiming first place, again determined 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", eclipsing the Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, who took only fourth place.

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

Monaco refused to host the Eurovision Song Contest and Eurovision takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The winner was a Greek girl living in Germany, but singing for Luxembourg - Vicki Leandros with the song "Apres toi".

The competition takes place in Luxembourg. For the first time, Israel is taking part in the competition, which required the adoption of additional security measures. The rules were changed once again, now the performer could independently choose the language of the song. For the second year in a row, Luxembourg won with the song "Tu te reconnaitras", performed by Anna-Maria David. ABBA with the song "Ring Ring" failed in the national preselection.

Brighton, UK. Greece is taking part in the competition for the first time. From France, no one spoke in connection with the death of President Georges Pompidou. First place was taken by the Swedish band ABBA with their famous song "Waterloo".

Stockholm, Sweden. Turkey takes part in Eurovision for the first time. Because of 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 Teach-In.

The Hague, the Netherlands. Turkey refuses to participate in the competition, in connection with which Greece returns. For the third time in the history of the competition, the United Kingdom has won with the song "Save Your Kisses For Me", performed by Brotherhood Of Men.

London, Great Britain. The competition rules are subject to minor changes. Again, songs should be performed only in the state 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. Turkey and Denmark are returning to the competition again. The victory went to Israel thanks to the catchy song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and the group "Alfabeta".

Eurovision takes place in Jerusalem. Turkey once again refuses to take part in the competition. The victory went to the hosts, represented by Gali Atari and Milk & Honey with the composition "Hallelujah".

Israel refused not only to host the contest at home, but also to participate in Eurovision. The competition was held in The Hague, the Netherlands. Turkey returned to the number of participants in the contest, for the first time Morocco took part in Eurovision. Johnny Logan of Ireland won the title with "What's Another Year".

Dublin, Ireland. Yugoslavia and Israel returned to the competition. For the first time, Cyprus took part in the competition. The victory was won by the British band Bucks Fizz, who performed the song "Making Your Mind Up". Germany is in second place, just 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 went to first place in the charts of all European countries.

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

Eurovision takes place in Luxembourg. The British band Belle and the Devotions were booed at the end of their performance. Sweden won with "Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Lee" by Herrey's.

Gothenburg, Sweden. The victory went to the Norwegian band "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. 13-year-old Sandra Kim won the thirtieth anniversary Eurovision Song Contest with the song "J'Aime La Vie". Belgium came first. The host of the competition was Ase Kleveland, Minister of Culture of Norway, who won third place at Eurovision in 1966.

Brussels, . First place was taken by the 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 remembered for the fact that two participants were still children: 11-year-old Natalie Pak represented France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who competed for Israel. It was because of these participants that the rule was adopted that the participants in the competition should not be less than 16 years old. This year's winner was Yugoslavia with the song "Rock me" performed by Riva. The UK is back 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 a tense rivalry between France with "C'est le dernier qui a parle qui a raison" by Amina and Sweden with "Fangad av en stormvind" by Carola. Both participating countries scored 146 points each. In accordance with the rules, in this case, the country that most often receives the most points (12 points, 10, etc.) wins. As a result, Sweden became the winner.

Malmo, . First place in the competition goes to Irish singer Linda Martin with Johnny Logan's "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. Three former Yugoslav republics, which declared their independence, take part in Eurovision for the first time. As a result, the number of contestants increased to 25. For the fifth time in the history of the contest, the victory went to the representative of Ireland - the singer Niam Kavana, 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 has not changed, since this year Denmark, Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, Italy, Turkey and Slovenia did not take part in the competition. The third consecutive 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 "The Eternal Wanderer".

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

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

Eurovision is again taking place in Dublin, Ireland. The selection system has been modified so that all countries can take part in the competition at least once every two years. The country-winner of last year's competition takes part in the competition automatically. The remaining 17 participants are selected according to the average score over the past 5 years. The UK won with "Love shine a light", performed by Katrina and The Waves. Alla Pugacheva performed from Russia with the song "Prima Donna". 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 bring additional viewers' attention to the show. This year's winner made a lot of noise. Israel took first place thanks to transgender singer Dana International, who sang the song "Diva".

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

Eurovision takes place in Stockholm, Sweden. It was in this year that Russia's first notable performance at the competition took place. Our country took 2nd place thanks to the singer Alsou. The first place was taken by the two Olsen brothers from Denmark, who performed the song "Fly on the wings of love".

Copenhagen, Denmark. The contest was held at the Parken stadium, 35,000 people watched the Eurovision live, which was a record for the contest. 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 artists 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 the singer Mari N from Latvia, who performed the song "I wanna". For the Baltic countries, this was the second victory in a row.

Riga, . Russia goes for broke and sends the infamous TATU group to Eurovision with the song "Don't Believe, Don't Be Afraid". The group took only third place. The first place went to Sertab Erener from Turkey, who impressed everyone with her song “Everyway That I Can” and the show she put on on the stage of “Skonto Hall”. This year, for the first time, Ukraine took part in Eurovision, which as a result took 14th place.

Istanbul, . This year, the young singer Yulia Savicheva performed for Russia. Many experts believe that Yulia performed quite professionally, she was able to overcome her excitement and performed with dignity. However, this was not enough to win, as a result, only 11th place. The first place went to Ukrainian Ruslana, who performed an incendiary song with Hutsul motifs "Wild Dances".

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

The International Music Festival this year was held in Athens,. Dima Bilan with the song "Never Let You Go" first fought in the Eurovision semi-final (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 to the Finnish rock band Lordi with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The group performed at Eurovision in a monster costume, 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 Sherifovich with the composition "Prayer".

Eurovision 2008 was held in Belgrade, Serbia. For the second time, Dima Bilan is going from Russia to the competition, whose song “Believe” brought victory to our country. The figure skater, Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, and the famous Hungarian violinist Edwin Marton performed on the same stage with Bilan. In second place was the Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak with a song to the music of Philip Kirkorov "Shady lady", and in the third place - the Greek Kalomira with the song "Secret combination".

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in, in Moscow. Alexander Rybak representing Norway became the winner of the competition. 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 played for Azerbaijan together with Aysel. A citizen of Ukraine, Anastasia Prikhodko, performed for Russia with the song "Mamo". She took only 11th place.

This year the music festival was held in Norway. The country has already hosted Eurovision for the third time on its territory. The first time Eurovision was held in Norway in 1986 thanks to the victory of the Bobbysocks duet, the second time - in 1996 after the victory of the Secret Garden group and the third time the right to host the contest was obtained thanks to Alexander Rybak. The winner of the 55th Eurovision Song Contest was the 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 Düsseldorf, located in Germany. The duet from Azerbaijan became the winner. The song "Running Scared" brought the duo 221 points. Alexey Vorobyov acted from Russia, who scored 77 points and took only 16th place.

Eurovision-2012 was held 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 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, Turkey and Portugal. Armenia returned to Eurovision.

The 59th Eurovision Song Contest was held 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, the finalists of the competition were performers from Montenegro and San Marino. The winner with 290 points was the Austrian drag queen with Rise Like A Phoenix.

The jubilee, 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". The contestant from Russia Polina Gagarina with the composition "Million voices" took an honorable second place, having unconditionally won the sympathy of the European public. Representatives of 40 countries competed in the anniversary event, Ukraine for the first time refused to participate - due to economic difficulties. For the first time, a performer from Australia came to Eurovision, performing under special conditions.

Eurovision 2016 is the 61st song contest held in Stockholm, Sweden from 10 to 14 May. It was attended by representatives of 42 countries, 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 highest number of points - 361 - from viewers. In 2016, for the first time since 1975, the rules for the competition were changed: now the jury's scores are announced separately from the results of the voting of viewers.

The 62nd Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Kyiv (Ukraine) from 9 to 13 May. Ukraine hosts the competition for the second time.

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