#EUROVISION | 50 INTERESTING FACTS
Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most watched TV shows with around 200 million views! With the contest being so popular, we bring you 50 facts about Eurovision!
HERE ARE 50 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST:
1. The largest number of nations to take part was 43 in 2008, 2011 and 2017.
2. Russia's entry "A Million Voices" from 2015 became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. (by old voting rules)
3. Russia is the only country who has qualified for the Grand Final every single year since the introduction of the semi-finals back in 2004.
4. Romania was expelled from Eurovision 2016 due to unpaid debt to EBU.
5. Italy boycotted the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, saying that it was too old fashioned.
6. In 2004 there were 37 countries giving points, resulting in a very long voting procedure. The voting time was cut in 2006 where each spokesperson started to just announce the top three votes.
7. Serbia participated the first time as an independent country in 2007 and won the contest the same year.
8. In 2006, the person who gave results for Serbia & Montenegro said "We don't have a song for you this year, but we promise next year we're going to give you the best one!" and here words came true in 2007 when Serbia won.
9. In 1969 there were four winners. They all had the same points, and back then there were no rules for a tie. If there's a tie today, the country with points from most countries will win.
10. In 2008 Russia won the Grand Final with the song "Believe", but only came third in the semi-final.
11. In the first ever Eurovision Song Contest (1956), jury from Luxembourg were unable to come to Lugano where the contest was hosted, so the Swiss jury was allowed by to EBU to vote on behalf of Luxembourg delegation. So they could vote for their own country. In the end Switzerland has won, probably because of this rule.
12. No copies of Eurovision 1956 have survived. It is one of two contests to not have survived completely, along with the 1964 contest of which the tapes were destroyed in a fire.
13. In 2011 Azerbaijan won the Grand Final with the song "Running Scared", but only came second in their semi-final. Greece won the semi-final, but came 7th in the Grand Final.
14. There have been five barefoot winners in Eurovision history: Sandie Shaw (1967), Sertab Erener (2003), Dima Bilan (2008), Loreen (2012) and Emmelie De Forest (2013).
15. Norway has ended last 11 times! In: 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2012.
16. Before Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv, the Russian artist Yulia Samoylova was banned from entering Ukraine.
17. Eurovision Song Contest always begins with the fanfare "Prelude du Te Deum" composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
18. In 1978 Jordan showed some flowers instead of Israeli entry on their screening of the show. When Israel won they pretended that Belgium won.
19. In 1983 the Turkish Eurovision entry Opera consisted entirely of the word "Opera" being repeated over and over. Spain's cleverly titled "La La La" from 1968 contained no fewer than 138 la's.
20. At the 1956 contest the scores of the voting have never been made public, leaving room for lots of speculation. Attempts to reconstruct the voting by interviewing jury members over the following five decades did not lead to any reliable outcome.
21. In 2006 Ireland's Brian Kennedy, became the 1000th act to sing on the Eurovision stage with Every Song Is A Cry For Love. He came 10th.
22. United Kingdom gave zero points to ABBA in 1974,
23. Eurovision Song Contest is normally held in May. The earliest Eurovision date was in 1957, on 3rd March and the latest was in 1999 when it was held on 29th of May.
24. In 1981 the UK act Bucks Fizz stunned viewers with their Velcro rip-away skirts and within 48 hours, Velco had sold out across the country.
25. Luxembourg has won 5 times. But none of the 5 winners came from Luxembourg. Four were French and one Greek.
26. The youngest ever entrant was 12 year old Jacques from Monaco. He represented Monaco in Eurovision 1969 with the song "Maman, Maman". The oldest was 95 year old Emil Ramsauer from the Swiss band Takasa in 2013.
27. When Ukrainian singer Ruslana won Eurovision in 2004, she was rewarded with a seat in Parliament.
28. It is not allowed to have more than six people on stage. Until Eurovision 1971 the limit was three.
29. In 1974 the French President, Georges Pompidou, died during Eurovision week. The French broadcaster decided to withdraw from the contest. The funeral was held the day of the contest.
30. All Eurovision songs must not be longer than three minutes.
31. Ireland holds the record of most victories in Eurovision Song Contest: Seven victories! The six of these victories was in the 80s and 90s.
32. Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest running recurring television broadcasts in the world.
33. The first scandal in Eurovision history occurred in 1957 where the Danish singers Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler kissed for 11 seconds in the end of the song. Generating a furious reaction.
34. From 1956 to 1998 all the songs were accompanied by a live orchestra. From 1999 and onwards the orchestra was dropped, so the entries could use recorded backing track during their performances.
35. The first Eurovision to be broadcasted in color, was the 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall.
36. The percentage of viewers for Eurovision Song Contest has been higher in Australia than in some of the competing nations.
37. The shortest song in history of Eurovision Song Contest only runs for 1 minute and 27 seconds. It is Finland's "Aina Mun Pitaa" in 2015.
38. Loreen who won for Sweden in 2012 received the highest number of 12 points of any entry in the contest's history with 18 countries giving the song their top marks.
39. Israel is the only winning country that didn't participate the following year. They won in 1979, but didn't participate in 1980 due to Israeli Memorial Day.
40. Eurovision Semi-Finals were introduced in 2004.
41. In 1956, every participating country could enter with two songs.
42. Norway won the contest in 1995 with the song "Nocturne". It contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos.
43. Among the contestants who have had successful careers are ABBA, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias.
44. 95% of the Danish viewing public saw the 2001 contest on TV - the highest percentage in Europe.
45. From 1978 to 1998 the rules stated that each country had to sing in one of their national languages.
46. Austria boycotted the 1969 contest in Madrid because Spain at that time was ruled by Francisco Franco.
47. Australia has broadcasted Eurovision Song Contest every year since 1983.
48. The youngest ever winner was 13 year old Sandra Kim from Belgium who won Eurovision in 1986.
49. Live animals are banned from stage at Eurovision.
50. Six different systems were used over the past decades to pick the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Did you know about all of these facts? Tell us what you think in the comments down below!
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