To counter all the awfulness of this year's entries here is one of the best performances ever in the entire history of this contest, in my opinion. A beautiful, haunting song and a stunning performance by a great artist.  

 

 

I thought the 2nd semi final was better than the first one. Glad that Denmark, Hungary and the Netherlands qualified.

 

The following countries advanced to the Grand Final:

• Austria
• Belarus
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Denmark
• Hungary
• Israel
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Romania

The following countries were eliminated:

• Estonia
• Ireland
• Lithuania
• Macedonia
• Malta
• San Marino
• Serbia
• Switzerland

 

Running order of the Grand Final:

1. Israel
2. Poland
3. Belarus
4. Austria
5. Armenia
6. Netherlands
7. Moldova
8. Hungary
9. Italy
10. Denmark
11. Portugal
12. Azerbaijan
13. Croatia
14. Australia
15. Greece
16. Spain
17. Norway
18. United Kingdom
19. Cyprus
20. Romania
21. Germany
22. Ukraine
23. Belgium
24. Sweden
25. Bulgaria
26. France

Portugal has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017!

This is Portugal's first victory ever – the country has taken part since 1964.

 

 

Full results:

 

Grand Final

1. Portugal (758p)
2. Bulgaria (615p)
3. Moldova (374p)
4. Belgium (363p)
5. Sweden (344p)
6. Italy (334p)
7. Romania (282p)
8. Hungary (200p)
9. Australia (173p)
10. Norway (158p)
11. Netherlands (150p)
12. France (135p)
13. Croatia (128p)
14. Azerbaijan (120p)
15. United Kingdom (111p)
16. Austria (93p)
17. Belarus (83p)
18. Armenia (79p)
19. Greece (77p)
20. Denmark (77p)
21. Cyprus (68p)
22. Poland (64p)
23. Israel (39p)
24. Ukraine (36p)
25. Germany (6p)
26. Spain (5p)

Semi-final 1

1. Portugal (370p) q
2. Moldova (291p) q
3. Sweden (227p) q
4. Belgium (165p) q
5. Cyprus (164p) q
6. Australia (160p) q
7. Armenia (152p) q
8. Azerbaijan (150p) q
9. Poland (119p) q
10. Greece (115) q
11. Georgia (99p)
12. Finland (92p)
13. Czech Republic (83p)
14. Albania (76p)
15. Iceland (60p)
16. Montenegro (56p)
17. Slovenia (36p)
18. Latvia (21p)

Semi-final 2

1. Bulgaria (403p) q
2. Hungary (231p) q
3. Israel (207p) q
4. Netherlands (200p) q
5. Norway (189p) q
6. Romania (174p) q
7. Austria (147p) q
8. Croatia (141p) q
9. Belarus (110p) q
10. Denmark (101p) q
11. Serbia (98p)
12. Switzerland (97p)
13. Ireland (86p)
14. Estonia (85p)
15. Macedonia (69p)
16. Malta (55p)
17. Lithuania (42p)
18. San Marino (1p)

I guess it could have been worse.... 

In my opinion Portugal has had many entries that were much better than this without winning, but the competition was much tougher back then. This must surely rate as one of the worst years ever!

 

On another note, it seems that this was the last year we saw Israel in this competition. They have re-organized their broadcasting system in a way which makes it impossible for them to remain a part of this competition according to EBU's rules.

It's sad that their entry this year was the last we saw of them. After all, we're talking about the country which gave us one of the most enduring songs ever from this contest.

 

 

As far as I know, a new Israeli broadcaster is in the process of joining the EBU later this year, so they will most likely be back in the competition.

 

Here are all of this year's songs ranked by their final scores:

 

 

The history of the Eurovision Song Contest in roughly 20 minutes: