Following Måns Zelmerlöw's win with "Heroes" at the 2015 edition in Vienna, Austria, the 61th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, in May 2015. Again, there will be three live shows: Two semi-finals (May 10th and 12th) and the grand final (May 14th).

40 countries have confirmed their participation:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Australia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Macedonia
• Malta
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• San Marino
• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine (last participation was in 2014)
• United Kingdom

2015 participants that will not compete in 2016:

• Portugal

Former participants that will not return:

• Andorra (last participation was in 2009)
• Bulgaria (last participation was in 2013)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina (last participation was in 2012)
• Croatia (last participation was in 2013)
• Monaco (last participation was in 2006)
• Slovakia (last participation was in 2012)
• Turkey (last participation was in 2012)

Recaps of the 2015 Contest:

Semi-Final 1

Semi-Final 2

Grand Final

Last night, the 13th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The jESC is a spin-off from the regular ESC with fewer participating countries (mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe). Only artists between the ages of 10 and 15 are allowed to take part. Malta won the 2015 edition.

All the performances can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/user/JuniorEurovision/videos

2015 recap:

 

With Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Croatia returning to the Eurovision family, the 2016 Contest will feature 43 participating nations – just like in 2008 and 2011.

During the next two months, all countries will choose their entries via national pre-selections or internal choices. The first two entries have already been presented:

Albania 2016: Eneda Tarifa / "Përallë"
Like all Albanian entries, this song will most likely be completely overhauled until the Contest.

Ireland 2016: Nicky Byrne / "Sunlight"

 

Edited March 8, 20169 yr by Huntress

Next entries:

Belarus 2016: Ivan / "Help You Fly"

Belgium 2016: Laura Tesoro / "What's the Pressure"

 

Edited March 13, 20169 yr by Huntress

Next few entries...

Austria 2016: ZOE / "Loin d*ici"
Austria opted for a song in French for the very first time in the Contest's history.

Denmark 2016: Lighthouse X / "Soldiers of Love"

Spain 2016: Barei / "Say Yay"

Switzerland 2016: Rykka / "The Last of our Kind"

 

Edited March 13, 20169 yr by Huntress

This year, the voting procedure at the Eurovision Song Contest will be dramatically changed.

From 1975 to 1997, every country had a national jury that awarded 1-8, 10 and 12 points to the other contestants. In 1998, televoting became mandatory and national juries were abolished. The national juries returned in 2009, and since then the results have been decided by 50% jury voting and 50% televoting. The points were added up and split evenly. This means that a country that finished lower than 5th place in the televote and received 0 points by the jury, ultimately received 0 points. Likewise, if the jury placed a country 5th, but the public didn't like it, then it received 0 points as well.

Starting with the 2016 contest, every country will award two sets of points: 1-8, 10 and 12 points from their national jury; and 1-8, 10 and 12 points from their televote.

Bosnia & Herzegovina 2016: Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner & Jala / "Ljubav je"

 

Cyprus 2016: Minus One / "Alter Ego"

Germany 2016: Jamie-Lee / "Ghost"

Iceland 2016: Greta Salomé / "Hear Them Calling"
* Greta Salomé already represented Iceland in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Never Forget".

Ukraine 2016: Jamala / "1944"

 

Edited March 3, 20169 yr by Huntress

Armenia 2016: Iveta Mukuchyan / "LoveWave"

Finland 2016: Sandhja / "Sing it Away"

France 2016: Amir / "J'ai cherche"

Hungary 2016: Freddie / "Pioneer"

Latvia 2016: Justs / "Heartbeat"

Moldova 2016: Lidia Isac / "Falling Stars"

Norway 2016: Agnete / "Icebreaker"

Slovenia 2016: ManuElla / "Blue and Red"

United Kingdom 2016: Joe and Jake / "You're Not Alone"

 

Edited March 13, 20169 yr by Huntress

Estonia 2016: Jüri Pootsmann / "Play"

FYR Macedonia 2016: Kaliopi / "Dona"
* Kaliopi already represented Macedonia in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Crno i Belo".

Georgia 2016: Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz / "Midnight Gold"

Montenegro 2016: Highway / "The Real Thing"

Netherlands 2016: Douwe Bob / "Slow Down"

Poland 2016: Michal Szpak / "Color of Your Life"

Romania 2016: Ovidiu Anton / "Moment of Silence"

Russia 2016: Sergey Lazarev / "You Are the Only One"

Only a few countries haven't selected their entries yet: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, San Marino, Serbia and Sweden.

Edited March 13, 20169 yr by Huntress

Australia 2016: Dami Im / "Sound of Silence"

Azerbaijan 2016: Samra / "Miracle"

Czech Republic 2016: Gabriela Gunciková / "I Stand"

Greece 2016: Argo / "Utopian Land"

Lithuania 2016: Donny Montell / "I've Been Waiting For This Night"

San Marino 2016: Serhat / "I Didn't Know"

Serbia 2016: ZAA Sanja Vucic / "Goodbye"

Sweden 2016: Frans / "If I Were Sorry"

 

Semi-final 1
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Russia and San Marino will compete for 10 spots in the final. France, Spain and Sweden will also vote in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
Albania, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine will compete for 10 spots in the final. Germany, Italy and United Kingdom will also vote in this semi-final.

Automatic Finalists
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom are pre-qualified for the final.

 

Romania has been disqualifed from the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest as their broadcaster TVR couldn't pay back their debts to the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). The channel also lost the broadcast rights to other events, such as the Olympic Games 2016 and the UEFA Euro 2016: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=tvr_romania_no_longer_entitled_to_take_part_in_eurovision_2016

Thus, the number of participating nations decreases to 42.

Romania has taken part in the ESC since 1994 and has been one of the most successful countries in recent years with a 100 % qualification record from the semi-finals. Their highest placement was #3 in 2005 and once again in 2010.

This year the Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live in the US for the first time.

http://www3.ebu.ch/news/2016/04/ebu-strikes-deal-with-viacoms-lo

The 1st semi-final is over. Videos of all performances are up on https://www.youtube.com/user/eurovision/videos

The following 10 countries advanced to the Grand Final on Saturday:

• Armenia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Russia

Milestone: For the very first time in the contest's history, the Czech Republic will appear in an Eurovision final.

The following countries did not advance:

• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Estonia
• Finland
• Greece
• Iceland
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• San Marino

Edited May 11, 20169 yr by Huntress

The 2nd semi-final is over. Videos of all performances can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/eurovision/videos

The following 10 countries advanced to the Grand Final on Saturday:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Georgia
• Israel
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Serbia
• Ukraine

The following countries did not advance:

• Albania
• Belarus
• Denmark
• Ireland
• Macedonia
• Norway
• Slovenia
• Switzerland

Running Order for the Grand Final on Saturday:

1. Belgium
2. Czech Republic
3. Netherlands
4. Azerbaijan
5. Hungary
6. Italy
7. Israel
8. Bulgaria
9. Sweden
10. Germany
11. France
12. Poland
13. Australia
14. Cyprus
15. Serbia
16. Lithuania
17. Croatia
18. Russia
19. Spain
20. Latvia
21. Ukraine
22. Malta
23. Georgia
24. Austria
25. United Kingdom
26. Armenia

The biggest contenders for the win are Russia, Ukraine, France, Armenia and Australia.

 

Ukraine has won the 61th Eurovision Song Contest, beating Australia and Russia to 2nd and 3rd place. The winning song "1944" by Jamala scored 534 points – but the song was neither the juries' nor the public's favorite. While the juries favored Australia, the public liked Russia the most. Due to high marks from both the juries and the public, Ukraine was eventually able to surpass Australia and Russia.

Meanwhile, Germany finished last the second year in a row, and Czech Republic scored 0 points in the televoting.

Full results:

Semi-final 1

01. Russia (342) q
02. Armenia (243) q
03. Malta (209) q
04. Hungary (197) q
05. The Netherlands (197) q
06. Azerbaijan (185) q
07. Austria (170) q
08. Cyprus (164) q
09. Czech Republic (161) q
10. Croatia (133) q
---
11. Bosnia & Herzegovina (104)
12. San Marino (68)
13. Montenegro (60)
14. Iceland (51)
15. Finland (51)
16. Greece (44)
17. Moldova (33)
18. Estonia (24)

Semi-final 2

01. Australia (330) q
02. Ukraine (287) q
03. Belgium (274) q
04. Lithuania (222) q
05. Bulgaria (220) q
06. Poland (151) q
07. Israel (147) q
08. Latvia (132) q
09. Georgia (123) q
10. Serbia (105) q
---
11. Macedonia (86)
12. Belarus (84)
13. Norway (63)
14. Slovenia (57)
15. Ireland (46)
16. Albania 45)
17. Denmark (34)
18. Switzerland (28)

Grand Final

01. Ukraine (534)
02. Australia (511)
03. Russia (491)
04. Bulgaria (307)
05. Sweden (261)
06. France (257)
07. Armenia (249)
08. Poland (229)
09. Lithuania (200)
10. Belgium (181)
---
11. The Netherlands (153)
12. Malta (153)
13. Austria (151)
14. Israel (135)
15. Latvia (132)
16. Italy (124)
17. Azerbaijan (117)
18. Serbia (115)
19. Hungary (108)
20. Georgia (104)
---
21. Cyprus (96)
22. Spain (77)
23. Croatia (73)
24. United Kingdom (62)
25. Czech Republic (41)
26. Germany (11)

The winning song

 

Personally I think that the wrong song won. Frankly it was boring, and it probably got a lot of politically motivated votes. It's unfortunate, but it's also not the first time, and it will probably not be the last.

My favourite was the Australian entry. A classic ballad which could easily have been sung by Céline Dion or Jennifer Rush 20-25 years ago, and maybe that's what kept it from winning, that it sounded a bit old-fashioned, and that Dami Im didn't have a spectacular stage show, like Jamala (Ukraine) or Sergey Lazarev (Russia). I do think that the Russian stage show was a bit to blatant in its rip-off of last years winner.

I also quite liked the French entry. The most astonishing thing about that song though was that it was partially performed in English! Natasha St.Pier sang a few lines in English when she represented France in 2001, but her song was written completely in French, this song was written with an English chorus! I never thought that would happen, that France would enter a song written half in French, half in English.