List of Eurovision Song Contest winners

Lys Assia, the first Eurovision winner, and Dima Bilan, winner in 2008

Fifty-eight songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The Contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. The Contest's winner has been determined using numerous voting techniques throughout its history; centre to these have been the awarding of points to countries by juries or televoters. The country awarded the most points is declared the winner.[1] The first Eurovision Song Contest was not won on points, but by votes (two per country), and only the winner was announced.[2]

There have been 54 Contests, with one winner each year except the tied 1969 Contest, which had four. Twenty-five different countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the Contest on their debut—the first Contest, in 1956. The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland, with seven. Portugal is the country with the longest history in the Contest without a win; it made its forty-fourth appearance at the 2010 Contest. The only person to have won more than once as performer is Ireland's Johnny Logan, who performed "What's Another Year" in 1980 and "Hold Me Now" in 1987. Logan is also one of only five songwriters to have written more than one winning entry ("Hold Me Now" 1987 and "Why Me?" 1992, performed by Linda Martin).[3] This unique distinction makes Logan the only person to have three Eurovision victories to his/her credit, as either singer, songwriter or both.

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a unique opportunity for the winning artist(s) to capitalise on their success and surrounding publicity by launching or furthering their international career. However, throughout the history of the Contest relatively few names have gone on to be huge international stars. The most notable winning Eurovision artists whose career was directly launched into the spotlight following their win were ABBA, who won the Contest for Sweden in 1974 with their song "Waterloo". ABBA went on to be one of the most successful bands of their time.[4] Another notable winner who subsequently achieved international fame and success was Céline Dion, who won the Contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi", though her international singing career came some years later and is not generally directly associated to her winning the contest.[5]

Contents

Winners

Year Country Song Performer Writers Points Margin Second place Date Host city
1956  Switzerland "Refrain" Lys Assia Géo Voumard, Émile Gardaz N/A[N 1] N/A N/A 24 May 1956 Lugano
1957  Netherlands "Net als toen" Corry Brokken Guus Jansen, Willy van Hemert &000000000000003100000031 &000000000000001400000014  France 3 March 1957 Frankfurt am Main
1958  France "Dors, mon amour" André Claveau Pierre Delanoë, Hubert Giraud &000000000000002700000027 &00000000000000030000003  Switzerland 12 March 1958 Hilversum
1959  Netherlands "Een beetje" Teddy Scholten Dick Schallies, Willy van Hemert &000000000000002100000021 &00000000000000050000005  United Kingdom 11 March 1959 Cannes
1960  France "Tom Pillibi" Jacqueline Boyer André Popp, Pierre Cour &000000000000003200000032 &00000000000000070000007  United Kingdom 29 March 1960 London
1961  Luxembourg "Nous les amoureux" Jean-Claude Pascal Jacques Datin, Maurice Vidalin &000000000000003100000031 &00000000000000060000006  United Kingdom 18 March 1961 Cannes
1962  France "Un premier amour" Isabelle Aubret Claude-Henri Vic, Roland Stephane Valade &000000000000002600000026 &000000000000001300000013  Monaco 18 March 1962 Luxembourg
1963  Denmark "Dansevise" Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann Otto Francker, Sejr Volmer-Sørensen &000000000000004200000042 &00000000000000020000002  Switzerland 23 March 1963 London
1964  Italy "Non ho l'età" Gigliola Cinquetti Nicola Salerno, Mario Pinzeri &000000000000004900000049 &000000000000003200000032  United Kingdom 21 March 1964 Copenhagen
1965  Luxembourg "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" France Gall Serge Gainsbourg &000000000000003200000032 &00000000000000060000006  United Kingdom 20 March 1965 Naples
1966  Austria "Merci Chérie" Udo Jürgens Udo Jürgens, Thomas Hörbiger &000000000000003100000031 &000000000000001500000015  Sweden 5 March 1966 Luxembourg
1967  United Kingdom "Puppet on a String" Sandie Shaw Bill Martin, Phil Coulter &000000000000004700000047 &000000000000002500000025  Ireland 8 April 1967 Vienna
1968  Spain "La, la, la" Massiel Manuel de la Calva, Ramón Arcusa &000000000000002900000029 &00000000000000010000001  United Kingdom 6 April 1968 London
1969[6]  Spain "Vivo cantando" Salomé Maria José de Cerato, Aniano Alcalde &000000000000001800000018 N/A N/A 29 March 1969 Madrid
 United Kingdom "Boom Bang-a-Bang" Lulu Alan Moorhouse, Peter Warne
 Netherlands "De troubadour" Lenny Kuhr Lenny Kuhr, David Hartsema
 France "Un jour, un enfant" Frida Boccara Émile Stern, Eddy Marnay
1970  Ireland "All Kinds of Everything" Dana Derry Lindsay, Jackie Smith &000000000000003200000032 &00000000000000060000006  United Kingdom 21 March 1970 Amsterdam
1971  Monaco "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" Séverine Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, Yves Dessca 128 &000000000000001200000012  Spain 3 April 1971 Dublin
1972  Luxembourg "Après toi" Vicky Leandros Mario Panas, Klaus Munro, Yves Dessca 128 &000000000000001400000014  United Kingdom 25 March 1972 Edinburgh
1973  Luxembourg "Tu te reconnaîtras" Anne-Marie David Claude Morgan, Vline Buggy 129 &00000000000000040000004  Spain 7 April 1973 Luxembourg
1974  Sweden "Waterloo" ABBA Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus,
Stikkan Andersson
&000000000000002400000024 &00000000000000060000006  Italy 6 April 1974 Brighton
1975  Netherlands "Ding-A-Dong" Teach-In Dick Bakker, Eddy Ouwens, Will Luikinga 152 &000000000000001400000014  United Kingdom 22 March 1975 Stockholm
1976  United Kingdom "Save Your Kisses for Me" Brotherhood of Man Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, Martin Lee 164 &000000000000001700000017  France 3 April 1976 The Hague
1977  France "L'oiseau et l'enfant" Marie Myriam Jean-Paul Cara, Joe Gracy 136 &000000000000001500000015  United Kingdom 7 May 1977 London
1978  Israel "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta Nurit Hirsh, Ehud Manor 157 &000000000000003200000032  Belgium 22 April 1978 Paris
1979  Israel "Hallelujah" Gali Atari and Milk and Honey Kobi Oshrat, Shimrit Orr 125 &00000000000000090000009  Spain 31 March 1979 Jerusalem
1980  Ireland "What's Another Year?" Johnny Logan Shay Healy 143 &000000000000001500000015  Germany 19 April 1980 The Hague
1981  United Kingdom "Making Your Mind Up" Bucks Fizz John Danter, Andy Hill 136 &00000000000000040000004  Germany 4 April 1981 Dublin
1982  Germany "Ein bißchen Frieden" Nicole Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger 161 &000000000000006100000061  Israel 24 April 1982 Harrogate
1983  Luxembourg "Si la vie est cadeau" Corinne Hermès Jean-Pierre Millers, Alain Garcia 142 &00000000000000060000006  Israel 23 April 1983 Munich
1984  Sweden "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" Herreys Torgny Söderberg, Britt Lindeborg 145 &00000000000000080000008  Ireland 5 May 1984 Luxembourg
1985  Norway "La det swinge" Bobbysocks Rolf Løvland 123 &000000000000001800000018  Germany 4 May 1985 Gothenburg
1986  Belgium "J'aime la vie" Sandra Kim Jean-Paul Furnémont, Angelo Crisci,
Rosario Marino Atria
176 &000000000000003600000036  Switzerland 3 May 1986 Bergen
1987  Ireland "Hold Me Now" Johnny Logan Johnny Logan 172 &000000000000003100000031  Germany 9 May 1987 Brussels
1988  Switzerland "Ne partez pas sans moi" Céline Dion Atilla Şereftuğ, Nella Martinetti 137 &00000000000000010000001  United Kingdom 30 April 1988 Dublin
1989  Yugoslavia "Rock Me" Riva Rajko Dujmić, Stevo Cvikić 137 &00000000000000070000007  United Kingdom 6 May 1989 Lausanne
1990  Italy "Insieme: 1992" Toto Cutugno Toto Cutugno 149 &000000000000001700000017  Ireland,  France[N 2] 5 May 1990 Zagreb
1991  Sweden "Fångad av en stormvind" Carola Stephan Berg 146 &00000000000000000000000[N 3]  France 4 May 1991 Rome
1992  Ireland "Why Me" Linda Martin Johnny Logan 155 &000000000000001600000016  United Kingdom 9 May 1992 Malmö
1993  Ireland "In Your Eyes" Niamh Kavanagh Jimmy Walsh 187 &000000000000002300000023  United Kingdom 15 May 1993 Millstreet
1994  Ireland "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan Brendan J. Graham 226 &000000000000006000000060  Poland 30 April 1994 Dublin
1995  Norway "Nocturne" Secret Garden Rolf Løvland, Petter Skavland 148 &000000000000002900000029  Spain 13 May 1995 Dublin
1996  Ireland "The Voice" Eimear Quinn Brendan J. Graham 162 &000000000000004800000048  Norway 18 May 1996 Oslo
1997  United Kingdom "Love Shine a Light" Katrina and the Waves Kimberley Rew 227 &000000000000007000000070  Ireland 3 May 1997 Dublin
1998  Israel "Diva" Dana International Zvika Pik, Yoav Ginai 172 &00000000000000060000006  United Kingdom 9 May 1998 Birmingham
1999  Sweden "Take Me to Your Heaven" Charlotte Nilsson Lars 'Dille' Diedricson, Marcos Ubeda 163 &000000000000001700000017  Iceland 29 May 1999 Jerusalem
2000  Denmark "Fly on the Wings of Love" Olsen Brothers Jørgen Olsen 195 &000000000000004000000040  Russia 13 May 2000 Stockholm
2001  Estonia "Everybody" Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL Ivar Must, Maian-Anna Kärmas 198 &000000000000002100000021  Denmark 12 May 2001 Copenhagen
2002  Latvia "I Wanna" Marie N Marija Naumova, Marats Samauskis 176 &000000000000001200000012  Malta 25 May 2002 Tallinn
2003  Turkey "Everyway That I Can" Sertab Erener Demir Demirkan, Sertab Erener 167 &00000000000000020000002  Belgium 24 May 2003 Riga
2004  Ukraine "Wild Dances" Ruslana Ruslana, Oleksandr Ksenofontov,
Jamie Maher, Fayney, Sherena Dugani
280 &000000000000001700000017  Serbia and Montenegro 15 May 2004[N 4] Istanbul
2005  Greece "My Number One" Helena Paparizou Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou 230 &000000000000003800000038  Malta 21 May 2005 Kiev
2006  Finland "Hard Rock Hallelujah" Lordi Mr Lordi 292 &000000000000004400000044  Russia 20 May 2006 Athens
2007  Serbia "Molitva" Marija Šerifović Saša Milošević Mare, Vladimir Graić 268 &000000000000003300000033  Ukraine 12 May 2007 Helsinki
2008  Russia "Believe" Dima Bilan Jim Beanz, Dima Bilan 272 &000000000000004200000042  Ukraine 24 May 2008[N 5] Belgrade
2009  Norway "Fairytale" Alexander Rybak Alexander Rybak 387 &0000000000000169000000169  Iceland 16 May 2009 Moscow
2010  Germany "Satellite" Lena Meyer-Landrut Julie Frost, John Gordon 246 &000000000000007600000076  Turkey 29 May 2010 Oslo
2011 14 May 2011 Germany

Eleven Eurovision winners (alongside three non-winners) featured at the Congratulations concert in 2005, in which ABBA's "Waterloo" was voted the most popular song of the Contest's first fifty years.[7] The most successful country never to have won the Contest is Malta, having finished second and third twice. The lowest total is the eighteen points scored by the four winning countries in 1969. The largest margin of victory was that of Alexander Rybak in 2009, who won by 169 points. Rybak won 387 points, a record score, winning twelve points from sixteen out of 41 countries (excluding themselves).

The United Kingdom has finished second fifteen times at Eurovision, more than any other country. Ireland has finished first seven times, more than any other country, Ireland also won the contest for three consecutive years (1992, 1993,1994), more consecutive years than any other country. Since the introduction of the current voting system in 1975, the winner of the Contest has been decided by the final voting nation on ten occasions.[N 6]

By country

Map showing each country's number of Eurovision wins
Wins Country Years
7  Ireland 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996
5  France 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977
 Luxembourg 1961, 1965, 1972, 1973, 1983
 United Kingdom 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997
4  Netherlands 1957, 1959, 1969, 1975
 Sweden 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999
3  Israel 1978, 1979, 1998
 Norway 1985, 1995, 2009
2  Spain 1968, 1969
 Switzerland 1956, 1988
 Italy 1964, 1990
 Denmark 1963, 2000
 Germany 1982,[N 7] 2010
1  Austria 1966
 Monaco 1971
 Belgium 1986
 Yugoslavia 1989
 Estonia 2001
 Latvia 2002
 Turkey 2003
 Ukraine 2004
 Greece 2005
 Finland 2006
 Serbia 2007
 Russia 2008

Years in italics indicate joint wins.

By language

Between 1966 and 1973, and again between 1977 and 1998, countries were only permitted to perform in their own language; see the main Eurovision Song Contest article.

Marija Šerifović's "Molitva" became the first Serbian language song to win the Contest, the first winner since 1989 to be in a language that had never produced a winning song before and the first winner since 1998 to be in a language other than English.
Wins Language Years Countries
25 English 1967, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,[N 8] 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine[N 8], Greece, Finland, Russia, Norway, Germany
14 French 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1983, 1986, 1988 Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium
3 Dutch 1957, 1959, 1969 Netherlands
Hebrew 1978, 1979, 1998 Israel
2 German 1966, 1982 Austria, Germany
Norwegian 1985, 1995 Norway
Swedish 1984, 1991 Sweden
Italian 1964, 1990 Italy
Spanish 1968, 1969 Spain
1 Danish 1963 Denmark
Serbo-Croatian 1989 Yugoslavia
Serbian 2007 Serbia

Notes and references

Footnotes

  1. The full results of the 1956 Contest were never released; only the winner is known.
  2. Ireland and France tied for second place in the 1990 Contest.
  3. Sweden won the 1991 Contest following a tie-break.
  4. Since 2004 the Contest has included a televised semi-final. In 2004 this was held on the Wednesday before the final, and between 2005 and 2007 it was held on the Thursday of "Eurovision Week". Since 2008 two semi-finals have been held, on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
  5. Since 2008 the Contest has included two semi-finals, held on the Tuesday and Thursday before the final.
  6. 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2002 and 2003.
  7. As West Germany.
  8. 8.0 8.1 This song was partially sung in Ukrainian.

Inline citations

  1. Extract from the rules for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision.tv. Retrieved on 22 August 2007.
  2. Eurovision 1956. Eurovision.tv. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.
  3. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  4. BBC News (6 December 2005). ABBA's Bjorn says no to reunion. Retrieved on 15 March 2008.
  5. Billboard.com. Biography - Celine Dion. Retrieved on 15 March 2008.
  6. Four countries tied for first place at the 1969 Contest. As no tie-break structure was in place, all four were declared joint winners.
  7. ABBA win 'Eurovision 50th' vote. BBC News (23 October 2005). Retrieved on 22 August2007.

References