The history of Eurovision has been going on for 59 years. This was the reason for entering Eurovision into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song contest. How was the competition created, what are the rules for participation in it, and what does it give its winners?
Eurovision: the history of the contest
By the name, one can guess that the initiators of the creation of the competition were the countries of the European Union, which were part of the For the first time, more or less clearly, the idea of the competition was voiced in the 50s. Marcel Besancon, who at that time was the director of Swiss Television. His initiative was supported by all the participants of the EBU - this is how the history of Eurovision began.
In May 1956, the first concert was to take place in Switzerland. The first Eurovision was quite modest: in the main hall of the small Kursaal theater, one performer from 7 European powers gathered. Participants could submit 2 songs at once at the competition. The winner was chosen by the jury, not the audience. It was the only competition that had such rules.
The first winner of the famous competition was the Swiss singer Liz Assia with the song "Refrain".
Eurovision: requirements for participants and songs
The history of Eurovision has since developed by leaps and bounds. In 1957, 10 countries already took part, and then the number of new participants only grew. The rules familiar to everyone began to be introduced: for example, for a song that should last no more than 3 minutes, or for exclusively “live performance” of their numbers by performers.
Taking into account the annual experience of the competition, its creators constantly improved the set of rules. For some time now, there has been such a requirement that no more than 6 people should be on stage during the performance of the number, including backup dancers and backing vocals.
The songs must be absolutely new and not appear on the air or be posted on the Internet before the qualifying round for Eurovision. Previously, there was also a rule that the contest song should be performed by a representative from the country exclusively in the state language. But since 1999, each participant can sing a song in any language they wish.
Eurovision finalists get a big trump card in their hands to develop their careers. Participation in the competition is a great chance to break into the music market of other countries and strengthen your position in the domestic show business.
Eurovision countries
Despite the fact that the competition is European, the number of participating countries is not limited to those states that are located on the territory of Europe. The history of Eurovision has shown that the competition is shown remarkable attention in all countries of the world, so the creators of the competition decided not to limit themselves to geography.
To date, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in the competition. It is this rule that allows such countries as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel to participate in the competition, which do not even remotely belong to European territories.
In total, 51 countries have participated in the contest since its inception. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event all the time, but skip the competition from time to time, justifying this with economic or political reasons.
Eurovision finalists may soon make room and accept new participants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries.
As you know, there was an "iron" curtain between the culture of the West and the Soviet Union for a long time. Eurovision was no exception. The history of the competition does not recall the case that representatives from the Soviet Union participated in the event.
And even during Gorbachev's perestroika, the initiative of Georgy Veselov about the fact that "it would be possible to send a Soviet artist to a European competition" was not supported. Presumably this lucky man could be Valery Leontiev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, believing that such a turn of events would be too radical.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member countries, one by one, set their sights on Europe. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have not yet made it to the live broadcasts of Eurovision, while the rest of the countries participate almost every year, and some of them are very successful.
Russia has regularly participated in Eurovision since 1994. During this time, such performers as Masha Katz, Alsu, Dima Bilan, the Buranovskiye Babushki team, Polina Gagarina, Tatu and another group of Max Fadeev - Silver. The most enchanting performance was Dima Bilan's number "Believe", which brought victory to Russia in 2008. Less successful were the performances of Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, "Mumiy Troll", "Prime Minister" and Yulia Savicheva.
In 2001, Estonia won the contest, in 2002 a Latvian won first place, in 2005 Eurovision moved to Kiev, and in 2011 the duet Ell & Nikki from Azerbaijan became the winners.
Eurovision records
There are also records that were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Irish state's history of victories just ranks first in this record table, as the Irish have returned home with a victory 7 times; 3 of the seven victories were won one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Following the Irish, Sweden has firmly established itself on the podium of champions, which has won 6 times in the competition. Spain has not won the competition for the longest time, the last time it was victorious back in 1969.
Ukraine won Eurovision the fastest of all: representatives from the country began to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was in first place in the competitive table.
Portugal has never won the competition, despite their many attempts. The record number of points was received in 2009 by a participant from Norway - Alexander Rybak.
And the youngest participant who won the Eurovision Song Contest at the age of 13 was the Belgian Sandra Kim.
Competition criticism
For some time now, the competition has been subject to very harsh criticism from not only the participating countries (for example, Italy boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also musical figures, as well as television viewers.
For example, many Eurovision participants are faced with the fact that the competition seems to evaluate not their performance skills, but the policy pursued by their state. Moreover, good ratings given “in a neighborly way” often greatly amuse the audience of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that any more or less intelligent person can predict, with an error of one point, which country will give how many points to whom.
However, at the Eurovision Song Contest, voting is not the only reason to laugh enough. The overall level of performers has dropped very noticeably, refusing to show their own individuality and strenuously trying to copy the winner of the previous year. For example, with the naked eye one could notice that after Ruslana's show with drums in 2004, in 2005 only the lazy did not pull out some ethnic drums onto the stage and did not dress up in leather. It is surprising that after the victory of Conchita Wurst, everyone did not come on stage with beards.
Winners with amazing careers: Frida Boccara
Nevertheless, performers from all countries strive to get into the competition, because Eurovision participants (if the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a future career. However, not everyone can properly take advantage of the opportunity.
Frida Boccara did not miss her chance. After she won the competition in 1969, her popularity remained at a high level for many years. The singer became the owner of two Gold and one Platinum disc. However, the popularity of the performer was at a high level even before the competition: in 1966, Boccara even came on tour to the USSR.
More than a million records of the singer were bought in the Soviet Union. The performer even released two songs in Russian - "White Light" and the famous "Tenderness", the music for which was written by Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
"ABBA"
The Eurovision Song Contest, whose history of victories is great, still did not see in its ranks a more legendary and popular group than ABBA. In 1973, the Eurovision Commission rallied and rejected the song "Ring" by a young Swedish band. In retaliation, the band members recorded the song in several languages, launched it on the radio in countries such as Holland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and topped the foreign charts.
In 1974, the group still wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo". And since then, it has been almost impossible to stop it: in the charts of the whole world, including the USA, the Swedish team took the leading places. Even in the Soviet Union, which did not really favor foreign artists, ABBA was a completely legal group, the record of which could be easily bought in a store. Soon, documentaries about the members of the band, who became a legend during their lifetime, began to appear on the screens one after another.
ABBA's songs are still playing on radio stations around the globe.
Toto Cutugno
Over time, not only the contest became extremely popular, but also various Eurovision ratings, the history of Eurovision. The winners of the song contest received more and more privileges on the world stage of musical show business.
Toto Cutugno took advantage of all of them completely and unconditionally, eventually becoming the star of the 80s. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and has collaborated with pop stars such as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Dalida and Joe Dassin.
Cutugno was widely known not only in Europe, but also in the Soviet Union. Until now, everyone remembers his unconditional hit "L'italiano".
Today, Toto Cutugno is a constant and invariable guest of retro concerts organized by Avtoradio. They collect a full house and are broadcast on the central TV channels of Russia.
Celine Dion
There is another world star who once won the competition, which the history of Eurovision can only be proud of. The winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to use the given chance correctly. But who triumphantly took first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career after the hype around her victory subsided.
After Eurovision, Celine switched from French songs to English-language ones, signed several successful contracts and already in the early 90s achieved world fame and recognition.
Until now, Dion is one of the highest paid performers in the world. The woman is famous for her vocal technique and powerful voice. Surprisingly, back in the late 80s, the performer had voice problems during one of her tours. The doctor diagnosed that Dion does not know how to properly use his ligaments. As a result, the singer underwent a course of treatment, and then re-learned to sing from a well-known American teacher.
In 2004, she even managed to win the World Music Awards as the best-selling female singer of all time. The most famous song in the singer's repertoire is still the hit "My heart will go on" from the movie "Titanic".
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.
- Euphoria and singer from Sweden (2012).
- Only Teardrops from Denmark (2013).
- Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
- Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
- Performance of two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - under the name Secret Garden with the song Nocturne (1995).
- Johnny Logan from Ireland and his composition Hold Me Now (1987).
- Abba Waterloo (Sweden) with a hit called Hold me now (1974).
- Song Satellite German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
- Gina G and Ooh Aah…Just a Little Bit from UK (1996).
- 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. Whether 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.
Eurovision was held in 1957 in the city of Lugano in Switzerland. It was attended by 7 European countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany. Denmark, Austria and Great Britain were also going to take part in it, but for technical reasons they were excluded because they did not apply in time.
From each participating country, two performers performed with their songs. The organizers considered it desirable that each of the participants be selected by a strict jury - the spectators of the competition from each of the countries. There were practically no restrictions on songs, performances, the number of props and participants in the act, although they were not supposed to last more than three and a half minutes. The order of the countries' performances was determined by a draw, but which of the songs to perform first was decided by the participants themselves. The first winner was Switzerland, represented by singer Lis Assia with the song "Refrain".
In the first Eurovision and until 1997, it was determined by a qualified jury selected in each country. Juries by the rules also do not have the right for their own country. Since 1997, the jury has been abolished, and is held online. The jury was elected even then, it voted, but the scores given by the jury were given only in conditions that did not allow voting. However, since 2009, their scores are again taken into account when setting the total points.
New rules for members
Now Eurovision has grown in multitudes: each next contest takes place in the country that won last year. The Eurovision participant must be over 16 years old, sing live, only 6 participants of the number can be on the stage at the same time.However, at different times in the competition there were more stringent rules. For example, from 1970 to 1998 at Eurovision it could only sound in the state language of the participating country. Until 2013, a song that was not performed on stage until 1 last year could take part in the musical battle.
Every year, without participating in the semi-final, a representative of the winning country, as well as the countries of the "Big Five" - France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, can take part in the competition. The rest of the participants, before performing on the stage of the Eurovision itself, must win the hearts of the audience in the semi-finals. Now about 40 countries participate in Eurovision every year.
Russia participated in the contest already 18 times by 2014, the best result was achieved by the performer Dima Bilan, who brought Eurovision to Russia in 2009. The Eurovision Song Contest held in Russia has become one of the most expensive and grandiose contests in history. It was during Eurovision in Moscow that new records were set for the number of points scored by the winner and the number of people who voted for the performers.
Eurovision is a pop song contest held by the countries of the European Broadcasting Union. One representative from each country, a member of the union, takes part in the competition. To participate, you must submit an application. A live broadcast is used to demonstrate the passage of the competition. A representative of one country (or collective), participating in the competition, can perform one variety composition, which lasts no more than 3 minutes. Under 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 a vote in which TV viewers and a jury from all countries participating in the semi-final and final 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 collects is 600 million viewers. Eurovision, in addition to the member countries of the union, is shown in a number of countries of the world and the CIS, which are outside Europe. The year 2000 was the first year when the singing competition was shown on the Internet. In 2006, there were 74 thousand online viewers.
Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has a great influence on the popularity of artists. About the legendary ABBA (1974) and Celine Dion (1988), the world learned thanks to the competition.
Rules. Basic provisions of Eurovision
Throughout the history of this song contest, the rules of participation have changed several times. Today's rules say that the participating country must choose the performer in any way. The sound in the competition is live, the song is performed once. the sequence of performances is determined by a draw. After the speech of the last participant, voting takes place within 15 minutes. You cannot vote for a representative of your own country. in parallel with the viewers, a professional jury takes part in the voting. The votes are summed up and the total score is displayed, which the participant receives.
Eurovision song requirements
The song must be new. The performance must be live. Only accompaniment recording is allowed. The language in which the song is written can be any.
Requirements for Eurovision participants
The participant must be at least 16 years old, of any nationality. The representative of the country at the competition may not even be its citizen. Appearance of 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 preselection for Eurovision
There can only be one song per country. Only in 1956, two songs participated in the competition. Songs in the countries are chosen by voting.
Television broadcasting and Eurovision venue
All EBU member countries can broadcast the competition. It is forbidden to change anything in the broadcast.
The winner of the previous competition is chosen as the venue for the competition. Most of the costs are borne by the EMU. A few weeks after winning the competition, preparations begin for the next competition.
There were cases of refusal to hold the competition. In 1972, Monaco refused to hold the competition (there was no site in the country). In 1974, Luxembourg refused that the preparation required a lot of expenses.
Most often, the song competition took place in the UK. For the period from 1960 to 1988 - eight times.
Semi-final and final of Eurovision
These steps were introduced in 2004. Since 2001, the countries of the "Big Four" - this is the UK, France, Germany and Spain, go to the final regardless of the number of votes. In 2011, Italy joined them.
Eurovision voting
The current voting system 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 results are announced in ascending order, ending with the highest score - 12. According to the latest rules, the order in which the voting results are announced is determined by drawing lots.
Equal number of points in Eurovision
There were cases during the competition when the participants scored the same number of votes. Then the winner was determined by the number of countries that voted for this participant, regardless of the scores. By the total number of ratings of "12" points that he received, as well as by the total number of all ratings that the participant received.
If all these indicators match, only then will several people be named winners.
Neighborhood voting at Eurovision
Spectators often cast their votes not for a specific participant, but for the country they represent. The organizers of the competition are trying to minimize this phenomenon, as it interferes with the implementation of the main goal of the competition - stimulation of 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 EBU General Assembly, which was held in Rome in 1955. The official goal was to hold an annual Festival 0 of the Eurovision Song Contest, which would be broadcast throughout Europe and would help to identify talented and original songs in the genre of popular music.
The first name of the contest is the Eurovision Grand Prix, which took place in 1956 in Switzerland. When the number of participants increased, it was decided to remove the countries that show the worst results.
Ireland has the most wins with 7, followed by Sweden, Great Britain, France and Luxembourg with 5 each.
Eurovision music style
The style of music is chosen by the performer. Restrictions are imposed only on the texts in the plan, the prohibition of the use of obscene expressions, political appeals and insults. Many try to prepare a song that fits the format of the competition, which 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 are practically not successful.
Eurovision participating countries
Participants of the contest are countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. Several representatives of Asia take part: from Armenia, Israel and Cyprus, as well as countries located in Europe and Asia: Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.
The total number of countries that took part in the competition (at different times) is 51.
Unrealized idea of USSR participation in Eurovision
The competition has been broadcast on the territory of the former USSR since 1965. In 1987, the possibility of the USSR participation in the competition was considered. A proposal was made to send Valery Leontiev to the competition. But the idea was not supported by Gorbachev.
From the countries of the former Soviet Union, 10 states participated in the competition and were won by representatives of Estonia in 2001, Latvia in 2002, Ukraine in 2004, Russia in 2008 and Azerbaijan in 2011. For all the years, countries only twice did not get into the top three. In total, the countries of the former USSR received 15 prizes: 5 first, 5 second and 5 third.
For the period from 1994 to 2012, there were 8 refusals (for economic reasons) from participation in the competition and 5 non-admissions of the countries of the former USSR. The main reasons for non-permissions were legal and political. Most often, Lithuania refused to participate - 6 times. The main reason is financial problems. Russia has the largest number of non-permits - 3.
Eurovision records
In first place in terms of winnings - Ireland (7 wins, of which 3 in a row). At the beginning of the history of the contest, the 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 updated 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 performances.
The country that has not won the competition for the longest time 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 is the best result.
The popularity of Eurovision in the Yandex search engine
As you can see, the request "Eurovision" is quite popular in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet of the Yandex search engine:
- 290,796 requests in the Yandex search engine per month,
- 2,149 mentions of "Eurovision" in the media and on the sites of news agencies Yandex.News.
Together with the query "Eurovision", Yandex users are looking for:
2012 Eurovision - 120282 requests to Yandex per month
Junior Eurovision - 84398
Junior Eurovision 2012 - 59059
Eurovision 2013 - 39604
Eurovision song - 35753
eurovision songs - 35752
Eurovision winners - 29132
Eurovision 2012 winner - 18090
Eurovision Russia - 16971
Eurovision download - 16035
- No more than 45 countries - active members of the European Broadcasting Union take part in the competition.
- 5 countries are guaranteed participation in the final of the competition: the host country and the founding countries of the competition - Germany, Spain, France and Great Britain.
- All participating countries hold their own national selection competitions. The rules for their conduct are established by the TV company participating in Eurovision at its own discretion. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure proper transparency of the process.
- No more than 40 countries can take part in the semi-finals of the competition. The Organizing Committee of the competition determines, by drawing lots, how these countries will be divided into two semi-finals.
- 25 countries take part in the final of the competition.
- The order of performance in all concerts is determined by lottery. From each semi-final, 10 countries will advance to the final of the competition.
Song and performance requirements
- The entry for the competition (lyrics and music) must not be released or publicly performed before 1 October of the year preceding the competition.
- The maximum length of a song must be 3 minutes.
- During each performance, up to 6 people at least 16 years old are allowed on stage.
- Animals are not allowed on stage.
- The choice of execution language is free.
- All artists must perform the song live, accompanied by a backing track.
- Lyrics and performance should not create a negative reputation for the competition.
- Songs containing political statements or advertising, swearing or obscene language are not allowed to the competition.
- Artists are not allowed to represent more than one country in the Eurovision Song Contest in the current year.
Sanctions
A song may be disqualified for the following reasons:
- If an artist, a member of the delegation or a representative does not comply with the requirements of the TV company of the organizer or the executive director of the EBU and may, by their actions, interfere with the holding or broadcasting of the show.
- If the performance of the artist differs from that planned and shown at the dress rehearsals and thereby interferes with the organization or showing of the show.
- If the participants (TV company or artist) try to violate the rules of the competition at any stage of its preparation or conduct, or plan to violate them during the shows themselves.
The decision on disqualification is made by the Organizing Committee of the competition on the recommendation of the Executive Director of the EBU.
A TV company participating in the contest may be subject to sanctions, up to and including elimination from participation in subsequent shows in case of violation of the rules or withdrawal of the application after December 14 of the year preceding the contest. Such a sanction may not be imposed for more than 3 years.
- In the final and semi-finals of "Eurovision-2010" voting will be held among viewers and a professional jury of 5 people. TV viewers and jury will each have 50% weight in determining the results of the competition.
- The top ten of the total voting in each of the semi-finals will advance to the final of the competition.
- During the Eurovision 2010 semi-finals and final in Oslo, voting will be open from the moment the first song starts and will continue for another 15 minutes after the end of the last song.
- You are not allowed to vote for your country of residence.
- In the event of a technical or other failure in televoting, only the results of the national jury vote will be taken into account.
Determination of the winner
The song with the most points at the end of the voting is considered the winner of the contest.
In the event of a tie for the last place in the semi-final qualifying for the final, or for the first place in the final, the song with the most points from the most countries wins. If this number is also the same, then the winner is the country with the most 12-point ratings. If this number is the same, then 10 points are considered, etc.
If in the semi-final the above procedure could not determine the finalist, then the right to enter the final will be given to the country that performed earlier (in order) in this semi-final.
In the final, if this procedure does not help determine the winner, both songs are declared the winners of the competition.
