History Recap / EurovisionSongContest

--> After the 2020 contest meant for Rotterdam was cancelled due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in Europe, the EBU announced towards the end of the "Europe Shine A Light" special that the city would host anew this year's edition, carrying over the same host venue, presenters, slogan, and stage, while allowing all would-be participants from last year to send anew their prospective singers, albeit with new songs, which 26 countries did. Amidst the preparations, however, Armenia was forced to withdraw over increasing tensions with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the hotly-contested [[UsefulNotes/RepublicOfArtsakh Artsakh]][=/=]Nagorno-Karabakh region, while Belarus was disqualified over what has been perceived as the government's meddling in the country's choice of artists (after 2020 entrants VAL were banned from returning over their support for protests against allegations of fraud surrounding the reelection of long-time strongman Alexander Lukashenko in the hotly-contested August 2020 elections, their replacements, Galasy [=ZMesta=], came under fire for their two entries perceived to mock the protesters and homosexuals, as well as their notoriously pro-government stance). This is also the first contest under the new executive supervisor, Swedish author and producer Martin Österdahl, who also oversaw Malmö 2013 and Stockholm 2016. As precaution against COVID-19, the capacity of Rotterdam Ahoy was reduced to 20% (roughly 3,500 seats), with the floor area entirely taken up by the Green Room, and to reduce the need for nations to have to pay for backing vocalists and avoid having too many people backstage, pre-recorded backing vocals were officially allowed as a one-time trial. After a decade of ups and downs book-ended with runner-up finishes, Italy finally wins their first trophy in 31 years thanks to a fiery rock and roll performance by Music/{{Maneskin}}, 2017 runners-up at ''Series/TheXFactor Italia'', which also makes them the first winning rock act since Finland's Music/{{Lordi}} in Athens 2006, well as the first winning "Big" nation since Germany in Oslo 2010, and the first ''X Factor'' alumni to win the contest. Italy was largely buoyed by televoters, followed by electro-folk band Go_A of Ukraine and chanteuse Barbara Pravi of France, even as the juries favoured balladeer Gjon's Tears of Switzerland, Pravi, and 2015 juniors winner Destiny Chukunyere of Malta. Nevertheless, Måneskin scored an impressive fourth from the juries, whilst Gjon's Tears was dragged down to third with a joint sixth (alongside eventual eighth-placers Music/TheRoop of Lithuania) from televoters, with Pravi being stable enough to hold on to second, with the Top Five closed out by viral sensation and 2020 high favourite Music/DadiFreyr of Iceland and Go_A, as well as the aforementioned Chukunyere dropping to eighth overall with a rather poor televote showing. Shockingly, the United Kingdom's James Newman had the dishonour of earning his country's second-ever ''nul points'' since Jemini back in Riga 2003, as well as the first complete ''nul points'' from both juries ''and'' televoters in the split-results era; no less shocking than that was that Jendrik Sigwart of Germany, Blas Canto of Spain, and Jeangu Macrooy of host Netherlands also scored ''nul points'' from the televoters. Other notables include post-hardcore band Blind Channel finishing sixth for Finland's best finish since Lordi won Athens 2006, green-screen dancing from tenth-placed, Dutch-born Stefania Liberakakis of Greece, thirteenth-placing Natalia Gordieko of Moldova belting out a very long note, seventeenth-placing Eden Alene of Israel setting a record for the contest's highest note at B6, San Marino's Music/{{Senhit}} featuring a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida (and flopping at twenty-second), and Australia (who competed with a backup live-on-tape performance due to travel restrictions) suffering its first-ever elimination from the semifinals. The Grand Final's interval acts feature an augmented-reality dance number starring world-renowned DJ Afrojack, as well as a medley of rooftop performances from past Eurovision winners (Music/MansZelmerlow of Sweden [Vienna 2015], Teach-In of the Netherlands [Stockholm 1975], Sandra Kim of Belgium [Bergen 1986], Lenny Kuhr of the Netherlands [co-winner, Madrid 1969], Music/ElenaPaparizou of Greece [Kyiv 2005], and Music/{{Lordi}} of Finland [Athens 2006]).

'''Presenter:''' Fionnuala Sweeney (Creator/{{CNN}} newscaster) \\

* '''2024''' -- TBA, Sweden
%% -->'''Slogan:''' TBA\\
'''Dates:''' TBA (semifinals), TBA (final)\\
'''Presenters:''' TBA \\
'''Venue:''' TBA

-->Despite Ukraine winning Turin 2022, it was eventually agreed by the EBU and national broadcaster UA:PBC that next year's edition will be held elsewhere due to the ongoing Russian invasion; later that July, it was announced that the United Kingdom (courtesy of the BBC), that year's runner up, would stage the contest in collaboration with Ukraine, with Liverpool eventually named host city in October. As a celebration and show of solidarity with Ukraine, the live shows and logo featured Ukrainian cultural motifs, and the country was pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big Five. This was the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in Brighton 1974). In light of the aforementioned jury-rigging controversies which came to the fore after last year's edition, the semifinal juries were dispensed with altogether in favour of full televotes, and the jury vote was relegated to the Grand Final exclusively (though backup juries were used in the semifinals in the event of failure with the televote). Moreover, both semifinals and Grand Final saw viewers from non-competing countries allowed to vote, with their total scores tallied into a "Rest of the World" public vote and presented using the traditional 1-8-, 10-, and 12-point scoring matrix (though there was no jury counterpart in the Grand Final).

'''Winner:''' TBA

* '''2023''' -- Liverpool, United Kingdom

-->Despite Ukraine winning Turin 2022, it was eventually agreed by the EBU and national broadcaster UA:PBC that next year's edition will be held elsewhere due to the ongoing Russian invasion; later that July, it was announced that the United Kingdom (courtesy of the BBC), that year's runner up, would stage the contest in collaboration with Ukraine, with Liverpool eventually named host city in October. As a celebration and show of solidarity with Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian cultural motifs, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big Five. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in Brighton 1974). In light of the aforementioned jury-rigging controversies which came to the fore after last year's edition, the semifinal juries were dispensed with altogether in favour of full televotes (though a backup jury will be used in the event of failure with the televote), while the Grand Final will see viewers from non-competing countries allowed to vote, with their total scores tallied into a "Rest of the World" public vote and presented using the traditional 1-8-, 10-, and 12-point scoring matrix (though there will be no jury counterpart).

'''Presenters:''' Alesha Dixon (singer and alumna of girl band Misteeq and TV personality), Creator/HannahWaddingham (UsefulNotes/EmmyAward-winning actress known for roles in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/TedLasso''), and Julia Sanina (Ukrainian singer-songwriter and vocalist of alt-rock band The Hardkiss) [all shows], plus Graham Norton (Irish-born TV presenter, long-time Eurovision commentator for the BBC, and host of ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'') [final only] \\

-->Despite Ukraine winning Turin 2022, it was eventually agreed by the EBU and national broadcaster UA:PBC that next year's edition will be held elsewhere due to the ongoing Russian invasion; later that July, it was announced that the United Kingdom (courtesy of the BBC), that year's runner up, would stage the contest in collaboration with Ukraine, with Liverpool eventually named host city in October. As a celebration and show of solidarity with Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian cultural motifs, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big Five. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in Brighton 1974). In light of the aforementioned jury-rigging controversies which came to the fore after last year's edition, the semifinal juries were dispensed with altogether in favor of pure televotes (though a backup jury will be used in the event of failure with the televote), while the Grand Final will see viewers from non-competing countries allowed to vote, with their total scores tallied into a "Rest of the World" public vote and presented using the traditional 1-8-, 10-, and 12-point scoring matrix (though there will be no jury counterpart).

-->Even before the contest began, Turin 2022 was overshadowed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine which began back in late February, which resulted in the former being disqualified and its national broadcasters expelled from the EBU. Conversely, Ukraine, running on a massive wave of popular sympathy, won the edition with a heartfelt folk-rap song by [[Music/{{Kalush}} Kalush Orchestra]] interpreted to be as much an ode to the Ukrainian motherland as it is to vocalist Oleh Psiuk's mother, in the process winning the televotes with a massive ''439 points'' (out of a possible 468), to date the highest points any nation received from one voting bloc, as well as doing very well with the juries at fourth-place (at 192 points) and surpassing the record set by Sweden's Loreen from Baku 2012 for most ''douze points'' received from a voting bloc at ''28'' (including all the Big Five, Nordic, and Baltic nations). After years of underwhelming finishes (including ''nul points'' last year), the United Kingdom rises to an impressive second-place courtesy of a rock tune from Website/TikTok star Sam Ryder, who led jury votes at 283 points and finished a decent fifth from televoters with 183, followed by another perennial Big Five underperformer, Spain, who this year impressed with a sensuous dance track from Cuban-Spanish Music/ChanelTerrero, with the rest of the top five filled by a breakup ballad from Cornelia Jakobs of Sweden (who also scored its best non-winning finish since Måns Zelmerlöw won Vienna 2015) and an avant-garde entry from Ana "Konstrakta" Đurić of Serbia (also its best since Željko Joksimović's third in Baku a decade ago). Other notable entries include Armenia's "Snap" by Rosa Linn eventually becoming a viral sensation despite a lowly twentieth-place finish, a couple of {{Anonymous Band}}s in the form of Circus Mirkus of Georgia and Music/{{Subwoolfer}} of Norway[[note]]Revealed roughly a year later to be, respectively, a project of Stockholm 2016 contestant Nika Kocharov and a duo composed of Ben Adams, frontman of British-Norwegian boy band A1, and Gaute Ormåsen, 2003 ''[[Series/AmericanIdol Norwegian Idol]]'' runner-up[[/note]], as well as the third coming of Moldova's memetic Zdob și Zdub (now joined by brothers and folk musicians Vasile and Vitalie Advahov). For the interval acts, Italy brought out its Eurovision alumni: for the first semifinal, "Fai rumore" by Antonio Diodato (from the COVID-19-canceled Rotterdam 2020 edition); for the second, "Grande amore" by Il Volo (third, Vienna 2015); and for the final, "Non ho l'età" by Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy's first Eurovision winner from Copenhagen 1964), as well as outgoing winners Music/{{Maneskin}} performing their latest single "Supermodel." On the other hand, jury vote-rigging in the second semifinals between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and San Marino forced the EBU to dispense with semifinal juries altogether for next year's edition.

-->Even before the contest began, Turin 2023 was overshadowed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine which began back in late February, which resulted in the former being disqualified and its national broadcasters expelled from the EBU. Conversely, Ukraine, running on a massive wave of popular sympathy, won the edition with a heartfelt folk-rap song by [[Music/{{Kalush}} Kalush Orchestra]] interpreted to be as much an ode to the Ukrainian motherland as it is to vocalist Oleh Psiuk's mother, in the process winning the televotes with a massive ''439 points'' (out of a possible 468), to date the highest points any nation received from one voting bloc, as well as doing very well with the juries at fourth-place (at 192 points) and surpassing the record set by Sweden's Loreen from Baku 2012 for most ''douze points'' received from a voting bloc at ''28'' (including all the Big Five, Nordic, and Baltic nations). After years of underwhelming finishes (including ''nul points'' last year), the United Kingdom rises to an impressive second-place courtesy of a rock tune from Website/TikTok star Sam Ryder, who led jury votes at 283 points and finished a decent fifth from televoters with 183, followed by another perennial Big Five underperformer, Spain, who this year impressed with a sensuous dance track from Cuban-Spanish Music/{{Chanel}}, with the rest of the top five filled by a breakup ballad from Cornelia Jakobs of Sweden (who also scored its best non-winning finish since Måns Zelmerlöw won Vienna 2015) and an avant-garde entry from Ana "Konstrakta" Đurić of Serbia (also its best since Željko Joksimović's third in Baku a decade ago). Other notable entries include Armenia's "Snap" by Rosa Linn eventually becoming a viral sensation despite a lowly twentieth-place finish, a couple of {{Anonymous Band}}s in the form of Circus Mirkus of Georgia and Music/{{Subwoolfer}} of Norway[[note]]Revealed roughly a year later to be, respectively, a project of Stockholm 2016 contestant Nika Kocharov and a duo composed of Ben Adams, frontman of British-Norwegian boy band A1, and Gaute Ormåsen, 2003 ''[[Series/AmericanIdol Norwegian Idol]]'' runner-up[[/note]], as well as the third coming of Moldova's memetic Zdob și Zdub (now joined by brothers and folk musicians Vasile and Vitalie Advahov). For the interval acts, Italy brought out its Eurovision alumni: for the first semifinal, "Fai rumore" by Antonio Diodato (from the COVID-19-canceled Rotterdam 2020 edition); for the second, "Grande amore" by Il Volo (third, Vienna 2015); and for the final, "Non ho l'età" by Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy's first Eurovision winner from Copenhagen 1964), as well as outgoing winners Music/{{Maneskin}} performing their latest single "Supermodel." On the other hand, jury vote-rigging in the second semifinals between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and San Marino forced the EBU to dispense with semifinal juries altogether for next year's edition.

'''Winner:''' Ukraine -- "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra

'''Presenters:''' Alesha Dixon (singer and TV personality), Creator/HannahWaddingham (UsefulNotes/EmmyAward-winning actress known for roles in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/TedLasso'') and Julia Sanina (Ukrainian singer-songwriter, vocalist of alt-rock band The Hardkiss) [all shows], plus Graham Norton (BBC Eurovision commentator and host of ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'') [final only] \\
'''Venue:''' Liverpool Arena\\

--> After Ukraine's victory at the 2022 contest, the EBU initiated talks with UA:PBC about hosting the event in Ukraine, but eventually denied the possibility due to security concerns linked to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was later announced in July 2022 that incumbent runner-up and repeated substitute host broadcaster the BBC would stage the contest in the United Kingdom in collaboration with their Ukrainian counterparts. As a celebration and show of solidarity to Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian elements, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big 5. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in 1974). In October 2022 it was announced that Liverpool would be the host city. The following month saw major changes announced to the voting system: viewers in non-competing countries will be able to vote, with the total votes tallied up into a "Rest of the World" public vote and presented using the normal scoring system (essentially acting as a 38th voting country); moreover, in the semifinals, only the public would decide who qualified for the final (although a backup jury will be used in the event of a failure with the televote). The jury vote in the final, however, would remain in place (with no "Rest of the World" jury vote).

--> After Ukraine's victory at the 2022 contest, the EBU initiated talks with UA:PBC about hosting the event in Ukraine, but eventually denied the possibility due to security concerns linked to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was later announced in July 2022 that incumbent runner-up and repeated substitute host broadcaster the BBC would stage the contest in the United Kingdom in collaboration with their Ukrainian counterparts. As a celebration and show of solidarity to Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian elements, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big 5. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in 1974). In October 2022 it was announced that Liverpool would be the host city. The following month saw major changes announced to the voting system: in the semifinals, only the public would decide who qualified for the final (although a backup jury will be used in the event of a failure with the public vote), and viewers in non-competing countries will be able to vote, with the total votes tallied up into a "Rest of the World" vote and presented using the normal scoring system. The jury vote in the final, however, would remain in place (with no "Rest of the World" vote).

-->With an explosion of aspiring Eurovision entrants, the EBU staged a preliminary round in Ljubljana pitting seven former communist states -- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- against each other, from which only the former two and the latter would emerge to join in the final, while Yugoslavia was banned from the contest (until 2004) for its role in UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars. Millstreet is unusual in that this is the smallest host city in Eurovision history, with the venue actually being a hall used for horse auctions. Like last year, Ireland narrowly held down UK with narrow votes.

'''Presenters:''' Graham Norton (BBC Eurovision commentator and host of ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow''), Alesha Dixon (singer and TV personality), Creator/HannahWaddingham (UsefulNotes/EmmyAward-winning actress known for roles in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/TedLasso'') and Julia Sanina (Ukrainian singer-songwriter, vocalist of alt-rock band The Hardkiss)\\

--> After Ukraine's victory at the 2022 contest, the EBU initiated talks with UA:PBC about hosting the event in Ukraine, but eventually denied the possibility due to security concerns linked to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was later announced in July 2022 that incumbent runner-up and repeated substitute host broadcaster the BBC would stage the contest in the United Kingdom in collaboration with their Ukrainian counterparts. As a celebration and show of solidarity to Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian elements, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big 5. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in 1974). In October 2022 it was announced that Liverpool would be the host city. The following month saw major changes announced to the voting system: in the semifinals, only the public would decide who qualified for the final (although a backup jury will be used in the event of a failure with the public vote), and viewers in non-competing countries will be able to vote, with the total points tallied up into a "Rest of the World" vote. The jury vote in the final, however, would remain in place.

-->'''Slogan:''' TBA\\

'''Presenters:''' TBA\\

-->The field extended to 26 with the return of Portugal and Ukraine's debut, featuring pop star Oleksandr Ponomaryov. Predictions that Russian faux-lesbian duo Music/{{Tatu}} would win were subverted by Erener, already a star in her native Turkey.[[note]]Russia then put in a complaint about Ireland using their jury rather than their televotes - Russia got 0 points from Ireland, who had to use their jury due to Eircom suffering a delay in delivering the results in time - claiming that, had their televotes been used, "the results could have been so much different for Russia". RTÉ later published the results which showed that Russia would have got... nothing from Ireland. (Although the result would have been different for Russia - Belgium would have 2pts instead of 10, meaning that Russia would have finished second, although Turkey would still have won.)[[/note]] Belgium's entry, "Sanomi", also considered an outsider before landing second-place, was notable for being sung in a made-up language - the first in the contest's history to do so. UK, meanwhile, suffers its worst result -- last place with ''nul points'' -- which Terry Wogan blames on continental Europe's backlash against its involvement in the Iraq War[[note]]any arguments to this end are rendered null when there were other countries - such as five of the top ten - who got points[[/note]] (though the real reason may have been Jemini's ''terrible'' singing). This year also saw the scoreboard change so that it rearranged itself as the points were awarded.

-->In an incredibly tight race, Switzerland narrowly beat UK by ''one point'', in the process introducing the world to Dion, their then-unknown Francophone Canadian guest singer. The field was reduced to 21 after Cyprus was forced to withdraw for trying to reenter a song meant for a prior edition, while Austria this time gets ''nul points''. The interval act was performed by Hothouse Flowers.

-->With an explosion of aspiring Eurovision entrants, the EBU staged a preliminary round in Ljubljana pitting seven former communist states -- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- against each other, from which only the former two and the latter would emerge to join in the final, while Yugoslavia was banned from the contest (until 2004) for its role in UsefulNotes/TheBalkanWars. Millstreet is unusual in that this is the smallest host city in Eurovision history, with the venue actually being a hall used for horse auctions. Like last year, Ireland narrowly held down UK with narrow votes.

-->To cope with increasing numbers of aspirants, the EBU set up a relegation system, where the five lowest-ranking nations from last year would be forced to sit out of this year, but with Italy and Luxembourg voluntarily withdrawing (indefinitely, in the case of the latter), seven slots were left open for former Eastern bloc countries to occupy. Once again, Ireland dominated the field, with their 60-point lead over runner-up Poland being the greatest in Eurovision history to date. Ironically, the biggest success from Dublin 1994 was an interval act, courtesy of Theatre/{{Riverdance}}. Whilst it was a good debut for Poland and Hungary - both of whom set their highest placing (2nd and 4th respectively) - it was a bad debut for Estonia and Lithuania, who took the bottom two places with the latter not getting a single point.

-->Due to negative reception of the 1996 qualifiers, the EBU implemented a new relegation system where the five nations with the lowest average scores for the last five years are to be forced to sit out, allowing last year's relegated countries to fill the gaps -- in this case, however, Israel turned down the opportunity as the final clashed with Yom [=HaShoah=] (Holocaust Remembrance Day, a movable holiday set in Nisan 27 of the Hebrew calendar), thus granting a reprieve for Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Italy returns after a long hiatus. Norway and Portugal jointly share ''nul points'', while for the second time, UK wins in Irish soil, with five 10-pointers and a dozen 12-pointers -- records matched only in 2005. This year also saw them test televoting in five countries - Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

-->Fitting the first Eurovision of the new millennium, Stockholm 2000 set a record attendance of 13,000 (which was broken next year), while Latvia becomes the last of the Baltic States to enter the fray, joining the 1999 bottom five's return in lieu of last year's bottom five, where it managed to finish at third-place. Israel's entry drew some flak from its own government after its members flew a flag of Syria, with which Israel is officially at war, as a gesture of peace. Predictions of Estonia winning were overturned by Denmark winning with a 40-point lead over Russia, courtesy of veteran musicians and brothers Jørgen and Niels "Noller" Olsen. This edition also saw the EBU give the "Big Four" -- France, Germany, Spain and UK, the largest financial contributors to Eurovision -- an automatic qualification into the finals regardless of average standings. Stockholm 2000 was also the first edition to release a compilation CD of all the entries.

-->The field extended to 26 with the return of Portugal and Ukraine's debut, featuring pop star Oleksandr Ponomaryov. Predictions that Russian faux-lesbian duo Music/{{Tatu}} would win were subverted by Erener, already a star in her native Turkey.[[note]]Russia then put in a complaint about Ireland using their jury rather than their televotes - Russia got 0 points from Ireland, who had to use their jury due to Eircom suffering a delay in delivering the results in time - claiming that, had their televotes been used, "the results could have been so much different for Russia". RTÉ later published the results which showed that Russia would have got... nothing from Ireland. (Although the result would have been different for Russia - Belgium would have 2pts instead of 10, meaning that Russia would have finished second, although Turkey would still have won.)[[/note]] Belgium's entry, "Sanomi", also considered an outsider before landing second-place, was notable for being sung in a made-up language - the first in the contest's history to do so. UK, meanwhile, suffers its worst result -- last place with ''nul points'' -- which Terry Wogan blames on continental Europe's backlash against its involvement in the Iraq War (though the real reason may have been Jemini's ''terrible'' singing). This year also saw the scoreboard change so that it rearranged itself as the points were awarded.

-->Germany's first Eurovision hosting duty as a unified nation saw Italy return after a decade (and in a triumphant fashion, earning second-place) and Azerbaijan become the first Transcaucasian state to win the contest after a rather narrow voting process -- at one point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvmQgRQsN3c#t=37s even the UK was on top for all of sixty seconds]]. The finale had gotten an unusually strong selection this year with up to five or six favourites[[note]]To get an idea of the unpredictability of the voting that year, if you look at the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2011#Final_2 scoreboard]], you will notice that almost every country received points from at least 10 countries, the only exception being Switzerland (which placed last). In addition, 20 of the 25 competing entries received at least one round of douze points, with Bosnia and Herzegovina receiving the most with 5 douze points.[[/note]] -- [[DarkHorseVictory but Azerbaijan was barely a blip on the radar]][[note]]To be fair, although they received points from less countries than Sweden (30 of the 43 voting countries other than themselves as opposed to 32 countries for Sweden) and received less douze points than Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 as opposed to 5 sets), they still received the greatest amount of high points by being in the top three of 18 countries[[/note]]. The performances in the finale included a unicycle for Moldova's Zdob si Zdub, Ukrainian sand artist Kseniya Simonova performing with Ukraine's Mika Newton, exploding glass by Sweden's third-placer Eric Saade, and a pair of hyperactive Irish twins whose hair became a running joke when the votes were to be cast.

'''Participating Countries:''' 37 -- Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro withdraw\\

-->Hosts of ESC 2023 United Kingdom returned as a whole for the first time since 2005, with the BBC replacing ITV as their broadcaster for the first time at this level. There were 16 participants, like there was in the first ever Junior Song Contest. This edition had a surprising result, as France regained the title for the 2nd time in 3 years through Lisandro's Rock n'roll and swing inspired tune "Oh, maman" to be the first boy winner in 8 years, denying Nare Ghazaryan the chance to give Armenia back-to-back victories, and benefitting from Georgia failing in the online vote despite being a major fan favourite. United Kingdom's comeback was very successful, as, despite her being unable to do most of her rehearsals - including her jury ones - properly due to illness, and incorporating her backing dancers as backing singers for parts of the televised performance for said reason, Freya Skye's strong performance allowed her to gain the most online votes and place 5th. Whilst she was able to perform on the night, Serbia's entry wasnt able to do so due to her catching a similar virus, though her jury performance, which involved a costume reveal, trombone playing and ballroom dancing, was aired in its place, a scenario not disimilar to what happened to Dadi Freyr and Gagnamagnid from Iceland in the parent contest in 2021 (Serbia placed 13th). Ireland, meanwhile, placed 4th, having never placed top half at this level before, and Portugal, with an unusual hard rock-inspired tune, placed 8th and therefore also achieved this feat, whereas Kazakhstan placed 2nd bottom, having never missed the top 10 before. The online voting system had some difficulties with loading during the interval, but still registered results from over 170 countries, whilst the interval also saw all the previous 19 winning songs being played, with 11 of the winners able to sing the parts of their songs live (ranging from famous singers like Destiny to acts who otherwise gave up music like Ralf Makenbach), and parts of the other 8 sang by a choir. Some of these winners also read out their nation's jury result.

--> Most nations who quit the previous year’s iteration returned, although The covid-related withdrawals of Australia and Wales remained, even with 5 others (including reigning regular contest champion Italy, who decided to return after initially ruling it out - the reigning main song contest winner has participated in every JESC since 2016) reversed, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria returning after longer absences, and Armenia sending popular would-have-been 2020 entry Malena anew, after the late cancellation of her participation the prior year owing to the than-ongoing war (whilst it ended just after Armenia withdrew, they went on to withdraw from the main contest a few months later due to its effects, without naming an entry). Belarus’ expulsion from the EBU meant the end of one of two ever-present records and left Netherlands as the sole one (they would go on to place last at this level for the first time). To honour France’s hosting, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan had lyrics in French (alongside native languages and English) in their entries. Kazakhstan’s selection left 2 singers, one with Phocomeila (improperly formed limbs) - who made headlines earlier in the year for working on a Lego prosthetic with an amputee Andorran Lego designer and prosthetist - and the other able-bodied, in a dead heat, and the pair decided to sing as a duet on a new version of the latter’s song, with the amputee member, based in France, providing a [[AWildRapperAppears rap-of-sorts]] in French. It was indeed Malena winning with alternative-disco song "Qami Qami" in a very dramatic win over Poland, by just 6 points, with the pair in a 5-horse Jury race (which also involved the hosts, Azerbaijan and Georgia), but with far and away the top 2 online votes. As she was just a month away from no longer being eligible for JESC, Malena became its oldest winner. Music was very diverse, with Italy and Portugal clearly inspired by winning forumlas from recent wins in Eurovision proper (with Rock and classic songs respectively).

—>Hosts of ESC 2023 United Kingdom returned as a whole for the first time since 2005, with the BBC replacing ITV as their broadcaster for the first time at this level. There were 16 participants, like there was in the first ever Junior Song Contest. This edition had a surprising result, as France regained the title through Lisandro's Rock n'roll and swing inspired tune "Oh, maman" to be the first boy winner in 8 years, denying Nare Ghazaryan the chance to give Armenia back-to-back victories, and benefitting from Georgia failing in the online vote despite being a major fan favourite. United Kingdom's comeback was very successful, as, despite her being unable to do most of her rehearsals - including her jury ones - properly due to illness, and incorporating her backing dancers as backing singers for parts of the televised performance for said reason, Freya Skye's strong performance allowed her to gain the most online votes and place 5th. Whilst she was able to perform on the night, Serbia's entry wasnt able to do so due to her catching a similar virus, though her jury performance, which involved a costume reveal, trombone playing and ballroom dancing, was aired in its place (Serbia placed 13th). Ireland, meanwhile, placed 4th, having never placed top half at this level before, and Portugal, with an unusual hard rock-inspired tune, placed 8th and therefore also achieved this feat, whereas Kazakhstan placed 2nd bottom, having never missed the top 10 before. The online voting system had some difficulties with loading during the interval, but still registered results from over 170 countries, whilst the interval also saw all the previous 19 winning songs being played, with 11 of the winners able to sing the parts of their songs live (ranging from famous singers like Destiny to acts who otherwise gave up music like Ralf Makenbach), and parts of the other 8 sang by a choir. Some of these winners also read out their nation's jury result.

'''Winner:''' Armenia - "Qami Qami"(lit: "Wind, Wind") by Malena\\

-->'''Slogan:''' Spin The Magic\\

'''Presenters:''' TBA \\

—>Hosts of ESC 2023 United Kingdom returned as a whole for the first time since 2005, with the BBC replacing ITV as their broadcaster for the first time at this level. There were 16 participants, like there was in the first ever Junior Song Contest.

-->First edition hosted in Israel outside Jerusalem, and given the host country, perhaps the most politically-charged throughout the 2010s. While on paper the EBU insists the choice of Tel Aviv over Jerusalem, which had already hosted three previous editions, is a compromise to religious groups who might object to hosting such a liberal, LGBTQ-friendly event as Eurovision in the latter, a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians, as well as claims of better facilities in the former, unofficially it is interpreted as a coy acknowledgment of Jerusalem's delicate geopolitical status. The runoff, too, saw the Russia-Ukraine rivalry rear its head anew, resulting in the latter being forced to withdraw due to protests by their entrant, Anna "MARUV" Korsun, an east Ukrainian with a Russian music label, and her fellow national-selection finalists over being used as political tools by Kiev. Starting this year, the ascending order of presenting televote scores has been changed from that of the total scores to one based on the jury rankings. Five years after coming really close with The Common Linnets, the Netherlands finally wins their first trophy since Teach-In at Stockholm 1975 (after a 44-year wait), courtesy of a subdued, haunting ballad by high favourite Music/DuncanLaurence, himself a protegé of Ilse [=DeLange=], one half of The Common Linnets, in the 2014 season of ''Series/TheVoice of Holland''. Just like Stockholm 2016, however, Laurence won neither jury nor audience votes, being respectively won by Tamara Todevska of North Macedonia and [=KEiiNO=] of Norway; nevertheless, Laurence held a respectable third with juries and second with televoters, while Todevska and [=KEiiNO=] respectively slipped to seventh and sixth overall due to relatively poor showing on the other voting bloc (ninth with televoters and eighteenth with juries, respectively; Norway only had an advantage due to a comparative higher score in their dominant bloc, while North Macedonia could take solace in having earned its best finish ''so far''). Italian-Egyptian Music/{{Mahmood}} earned Big Five nation Italy second, tying Raphael Gualazzi's best-throughout-the-decade finish in Düsseldorf 2011, and returning 2016 third-placer Sergey Lazarev of Russia finished third again, followed closely by Luca Hänni (who not only became Switzerland's second-ever finalist in the 2010s, but also, at fourth-place, scored its best finish since Annie Cotton's third at Millstreet 1993) and Sweden's John Lundvik to round out the Top Five. Laurence's song was co-written by a Swede, Joel Sjöö, [=KEiiNO's=] Fred-René Buljo became the first contestant to sing in Sami, and Lundvik the first singer-songwriter to have two songs for two different countries in a single edition, having also wrote for the UK's Michael Rice, which unfortunately tanked ''hard'' and bottomed out at the standings, with the rest of the Big Five (save Italy) faring barely any better (France's Bilal Hassani and Spain's Miki hovered at the lower half of the scoreboard, while the UK's last place helped Germany's [=S!sters=] narrowly escape yet another total humiliation). Other notables include Australia's Music/KateMillerHeidke performing with two other women on bendy poles, Moldova featuring Ukrainian sand artist Kseniya Simonova performing behind Anna Odobescu, Azerbaijan's Chingiz Mustafayev accompanied by two robotic arms, San Marino's Ahmet Serhat Hacıpaşalıoğlu the first ethnic Turk in the grand final since Turkey took an indefinite leave starting Malmö 2013, and Denmark's Leonora Colmor Jepsen singing from a giant blue chair, with an end in four languages, including the first use of Danish since 1998, and of German since 2012 (which had been in a regional form for a song seen as offensive, meaning Denmark were the first to use the language seriously since 2007). On other notes, the interval acts featured 1998 winner Dana International, the first LGBTQ winner of Eurovision, performing a cover of Music/BrunoMars' "Just the Way You Are" in celebration of love amid a background of a kiss-cam featuring heterosexual and gay couples alike in the first semis, the performance of Shalva, a music band composed of eight people with physical and/or mental disabilities, at the second semis, and a cross-performance medley of past Eurovision hits by 2014 winner Music/ConchitaWurst of Austria, 2015 winner Music/MansZelmerlow of Sweden, 2018 runner-up Eleni Foureira of Cyprus, 2007 runner-up Creator/VerkaSerduchka of Ukraine, and 1979 winner Gali Atari of Israel. On the other hand, Music/{{Madonna}}'s guest performance at the grand final raised some eyebrows as one of her backing dancers was caught holding a Palestinian flag, as did Iceland's BDSM-clad dark techno group Music/HatariBand. In addition, the Belarusian jury was dismissed by the EBU from the grand final for revealing their results from the first semis (in violation of EBU rules that states semis results can only be revealed after the grand final); moreover, their stated jury scores for the grand final, based on an aggregate result approved by the EBU, turned out to have been allocated in ''reverse'' order, leading to a post-show shakeup of the final results (as seen above; in the older ordering, Sweden and Norway would've exchanged places, as do North Macedonia and now eighth-placing Azerbaijan).

--> After Ukraine's victory at the 2022 contest, the EBU initiated talks with UA:PBC about hosting the event in Ukraine, but eventually denied the possibility due to security concerns linked to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was later announced in July 2022 that incumbent runner-up and repeated substitute host broadcaster the BBC would stage the contest in the United Kingdom in collaboration with their Ukrainian counterparts. As a celebration and show of solidarity to Ukraine, the live shows and logo will feature Ukrainian elements, and the country will be pre-qualified for the Grand Final along with the Big 5. This will be the record ninth time that the UK hosts the contest (last time being in 1998), the seventh time that a country hosts on behalf of another country (last happening in 1980) and the fifth time that the BBC does it (last happening in 1974). In October 2022 it was announced that Liverpool would be the host city.

—>Hosts elect of ESC 2023 United Kingdom returned as a whole for the first time since 2005, with the CBBC being their broadcaster for the first time at this level. There were 16 participants, like there was in the first ever Junior Song Contest.

--> After the 2020 contest meant for Rotterdam was cancelled due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in Europe, the EBU announced towards the end of the "Europe Shine A Light" special that the city would host anew this year's edition, carrying over the same host venue, presenters, slogan, and stage, while allowing all would-be participants from last year to send anew their prospective singers, albeit with new songs, which 26 countries did. Amidst the preparations, however, Armenia was forced to withdraw over increasing tensions with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the hotly-contested [[UsefulNotes/RepublicOfArtsakh Artsakh]][=/=]Nagorno-Karabakh region, while Belarus was disqualified over what has been perceived as the government's meddling in the country's choice of artists (after 2020 entrants VAL were banned from returning over their support for protests against allegations of fraud surrounding the reelection of long-time strongman Alexander Lukashenko in the hotly-contested August 2020 elections, their replacements, Galasy [=ZMesta=], came under fire for their two entries perceived to mock the protesters and homosexuals, as well as their notoriously pro-government stance). This is also the first contest under the new executive supervisor, Swedish author and producer Martin Österdahl, who also oversaw Malmö 2013 and Stockholm 2016. As precaution against COVID-19, the capacity of Rotterdam Ahoy was reduced to 20% (roughly 3,500 seats), with the floor area entirely taken up by the Green Room, and to reduce the need for nations to have to pay for backing vocalists and avoid having too many people backstage, pre-recorded backing vocals were officially allowed as a one-time trial. After a decade of ups and downs book-ended with runner-up finishes, Italy finally wins their first trophy in 31 years thanks to a fiery rock and roll performance by Music/{{Maneskin}}, 2017 runners-up at ''Series/TheXFactor Italia'', which also makes them the first winning rock act since Finland's Music/{{Lordi}} in Athens 2006, well as the first winning "Big" nation since Germany in Oslo 2010, and the first ''X Factor'' alumni to win the contest. Italy was largely buoyed by televoters, followed by electro-folk band Go_A of Ukraine and chanteuse Barbara Pravi of France, even as the juries favoured balladeer Gjon's Tears of Switzerland, Pravi, and 2015 juniors winner Destiny Chukunyere of Malta. Nevertheless, Måneskin scored an impressive fourth from the juries, whilst Gjon's Tears was dragged down to third with a joint sixth (alongside eventual eighth-placers Music/TheRoop of Lithuania) from televoters, with Pravi being stable enough to hold on to second, with the Top Five closed out by viral sensation and 2020 high favourite Music/DadiFreyr of Iceland and Go_A, as well as the aforementioned Chukunyere dropping to eighth overall with a rather poor televote showing. Shockingly, the United Kingdom's James Newman had the dishonour of earning his country's second-ever ''nul points'' since Jemini back in Riga 2003, as well as the first complete ''nul points'' from both juries ''and'' televoters in the split-results era; no less shocking than that was that Jendrik Sigwart of Germany, Blas Canto of Spain, and Jeangu Macrooy of host Netherlands also scored ''nul points'' from the televoters. Other notables include post-hardcore band Blind Channel finishing sixth for Finland's best finish since Lordi won Athens 2006, green-screen dancing from tenth-placed, Dutch-born Stefania Liberakakis of Greece, thirteenth-placing Natalia Gordieko of Moldova belting out a very long note, seventeenth-placing Eden Alene of Israel setting a record for the contest's highest note at B6, San Marino's Music/{{Senhit}} featuring a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida (and flopping at twenty-second), and Australia's first-ever elimination from the semifinals. The Grand Final's interval acts feature an augmented-reality dance number starring world-renowned DJ Afrojack, as well as a medley of rooftop performances from past Eurovision winners (Music/MansZelmerlow of Sweden [Vienna 2015], Teach-In of the Netherlands [Stockholm 1975], Sandra Kim of Belgium [Bergen 1986], Lenny Kuhr of the Netherlands [co-winner, Madrid 1969], Music/ElenaPaparizou of Greece [Kyiv 2005], and Music/{{Lordi}} of Finland [Athens 2006]).

'''Participating Countries:''' 34 (as of October 2022) -- Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro withdraw\\

'''Participating Countries:''' 34 (as of October 2022) -- Bulgaria and Montenegro withdraw\\

'''Participating Countries:''' 21 (as of July 2022)\\