What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which features participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner.

The Eurovision Song Contest's founding stemmed from a desire to promote cooperation between European countries in the years following the Second World War through cross-border television broadcasts, which gave rise to the founding of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 1950. Following several events broadcast internationally via the Eurovision transmission network in the early 1950s, an EBU committee was formed in January 1955 to investigate new initiatives for cooperation between broadcasters, which approved for further study a European song competition from an idea initially proposed by Sergio Pugliese. The EBU's general assembly agreed to the organising of the song contest in October 1955, under the initial title of the European Grand Prix, and accepted a proposal by the Swiss delegation to host the event in Lugano in the spring of 1956.

Seven countries participated in the first contest, with each country represented by two songs; the only time in which multiple entries per country were permitted. The winning song was "Refrain", representing the host country Switzerland and performed by Lys Assia. Voting during the first contest was held behind closed doors, with only the winner being announced on stage. The tradition of the winning country hosting the following year's contest, which has since become a standard feature of the event, began in 1958. Technological developments have transformed the contest: colour broadcasts began in 1968; satellite broadcasts in 1985; and streaming in 2000. Broadcasts in widescreen began in 2005 and in high-definition since 2007.

The rules

The contest is organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), together with the participating broadcaster of the host country. The current Executive Supervisor as of 2021 is Martin Österdahl, who took over the role from Jon Ola Sand in May 2020. A detailed set of rules is written by the EBU for each contest and approved by the Reference Group. These rules have changed over time, and typically outline, among other points, the eligibility of the competing songs, the format of the contest, and the voting system to be used to determine the winner and how the results will be presented.

All competing songs must have a duration of three minutes or less. This rule applies only to the version performed during the live shows. In order to be considered eligible, competing songs in a given year's contest must not have been released commercially before the first day of September of the previous year. All competing entries must include vocals and lyrics of some kind and purely instrumental pieces are not allowed. Competing entries may be performed in any language, be that natural or constructed, and participating broadcasters are free to decide the language in which their entry may be performed.

Multiple Select

Venus wrote a song that is 3 minutes and 1 second long. It uses violins, drums, and one singer. Is it an acceptable entry?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Select

Åse wrote a song that is 2 minutes and 14 seconds long. It uses drums, and bagpipes only. Is it an acceptable entry?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Select

Aoife wrote a song that is 31 seconds long. It uses a singer only. Is it an acceptable entry?

• Yes

• No

The contest has been used as a launching point for artists who went on to achieve worldwide fame, and several of the world's best-selling artists are counted among past winning artists. ABBA, the 1974 winners for Sweden, have recorded an estimated 380 million albums and singles sales since their contest win brought them to worldwide attention, with their winning song "Waterloo" selling over five million records. Celine Dion's win for Switzerland in 1988 helped launch her international career, particularly in the anglophone market, and she would go on to sell an estimated 200 million records worldwide. Julio Iglesias was relatively unknown when he represented Spain in 1970 and placed fourth, but worldwide success followed his appearance, with an estimated 100 million records sold during his career.

Open Ended

Name a singer mentioned in the previous paragraph as a winner of the contest.

Open Ended

Which country's song do you think should have won?

Open Ended

Which country's song was your favorite?

Open Ended

Which country's song was the worst?

Open Ended

Which country's song was the weirdest?