The Story of Eurovision in 20 Songs

Officially recognised as the longest-running international musical competition to be televised annually, the Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest non-sporting live event in the world. Hosting duties for this year’s final fall to the reigning champions, Switzerland. Here, we chart the extraordinary story of everyone’s favourite celebration of original music, cultural diversity and irreverent fun in 20 songs.

Originally commissioned by the then newly established European Broadcasting Union in 1955 as a bold experiment in live transmission across international borders, the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest took place in Switzerland on 24 May 1956. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland were the first participants in the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne (or Eurovision Grand Prix of European Song) as it was then known, and the event was aired in just 10 countries. In the ensuing years, the name has been trimmed down but the contest has expanded and evolved, producing over 1,700 songs across 52 nations, as well as some of the most inspiring, memorable and—occasionally—bizarre moments in music history. Although Eurovision is a non-political event, international relations have an inevitable impact on how each nation chooses to allocate their “douze points!”—the 12-point maximum score—and fans have learned to embrace the ongoing rivalries and proximity-based alliances as part of Eurovision’s wildly entertaining appeal. By 1965, viewing figures were surpassing the 150 million mark and Eurovision has since served as a launch pad for some of the biggest stars in the world. Swedish pop group ABBA are the competition’s most notable success story—virtually unknown before claiming victory in 1974 with a lively, upbeat performance of “Waterloo”, they went on to become one of the best-selling acts of all time with a legacy that includes a dedicated museum, a long-running West End musical and a groundbreaking virtual concert residency. Eurovision exposure had a similar accelerating effect on the career of a young Céline Dion, who won the contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the evocative torch song “Ne partez pas sans moi”—paving the way to international recognition for the Canadian star. But the contest has also attracted its share of established performers, such as in 1990 when Italian pop maestro Toto Cutugno was a surprise entrant with the eventual winning song, “Insieme: 1992”, a ballad in celebration of the European Union. Eurovision maintains loose borders—Israel, Morocco and Australia are just some of the countries outside Europe to have joined the competition—and artists of any nationality are permitted to represent a participating country, resulting in some unexpected appearances from international figures. In 2021, San Marino entrant Senhit placed 22nd with “Adrenalina”, a collaboration with US rapper Flo Rida, who joined Senhit on stage for the final performance in Rotterdam. While there are no guarantees, fielding an already famous face can give countries the edge when it comes to voting—particularly with the general public.

There have been 70 Eurovision winners in 67 contests—a four-way tie saw the UK, Spain, France and the Netherlands declared joint winners in 1969—but a handful of these performances have been enshrined in public memory. Johnny Logan’s heartbroken 1987 ballad, “Hold Me Now”, wrote the Irish singer-songwriter into the history books as the first artist to win the competition twice, having previously placed first with “What’s Another Year” in 1980. Logan went on to pen “Why Me?” for Linda Martin in 1992, securing the fourth of Ireland’s current seven wins. That was more than any other nation for 27 years, until in 2023, Sweden matched Ireland’s record in one fell swoop, tying their total wins and claiming their own double winner in Loreen. While it may take some time for the other countries to catch up (France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and UK have five wins each), there are still plenty of milestones left to hit. When Duncan Laurence represented the Netherlands in 2019 with the powerful pop ballad “Arcade”, winning was just the beginning: the track went viral on social media a year later, extending the song’s popularity into 2021 when it was revealed as the first Eurovision song to hit the billion streams mark. But it’s not just the facts and figures that make Eurovision winners stand out. Some resonate on a cultural level, such as “Rise Like a Phoenix”, the winning entry for Austria in 2014, which propelled bearded drag queen, Conchita Wurst into the spotlight as a symbol of progress in the fight for equality for the LGBTQ+ community. Others, like the Finnish rock band, Lordi, capture audiences’ imagination through novelty alone—the combination of crunching guitars, monstrous costuming and fiery pyrotechnics was enough to make their performance of “Hard Rock Hallelujah” one of Eurovision’s most memorable moments.

Eccentricity is baked into the DNA of Eurovision. For every tender ballad or rapturous floor-filler, there is at least one eye-popping diversion into the weird and wacky. Unfortunately, John Morrison’s puppet act, Dustin the Turkey, failed to qualify for the final in 2008, but the semi-final performance of “Irelande Douze Pointe”—which involved Dustin being wheeled around the stage in a shopping trolley bedecked with Irish flags—made an impression regardless. It was reportedly booed by the audience in Serbia, where the contest was held that year. Criticism was also aimed at Donatan & Cleo’s “My Słowianie”, Poland’s entry for 2014, which incorporated backing dancers in traditional dress, one of whom was churning butter. The suggestive performance raised eyebrows at the time, but prompted laughter at the 2023 event—hosted by the UK on behalf of Ukraine—where TV presenter Mel Giedroyc could be seen recreating the moment in the background of a segment presented by Hannah Waddingham. Sébastien Tellier’s 2008 performance in Belgrade reached new highs, including a chorus of wigged, bearded and bespectactled backing singers imitating his trademark look as the witty, wildly creative Frenchman entered the stage in a golf buggy and inhaled helium from an inflatable globe to reach his desired pitch. The shock of some of Eurovision’s more unconventional entries is tempered by the awe of others. Even a global pandemic couldn’t contain the charm of Iceland’s 2020 submission, “Think About Things” by Daði Freyr. A favourite to win before organisers were forced to cancel the contest for the first—and, hopefully, only—time, “Think About Things” still managed to dominate the quarantine period with a viral dance challenge inspired by its quirky choreography.

For the most part, Eurovision is a self-contained bubble of music that practically constitutes its own genre, but many songs throughout the competition’s history have transcended the event and become bonafide hits. Tracks like “Satellite”, the 2010 winner from Germany’s Lena Meyer-Landrut, have naturally proved popular with European audiences, selling a million-plus copies across the continent. And critical acclaim for Loreen, the first woman to win the contest twice—once in 2012 for the dance anthem “Euphoria” and again in 2023 with the similarly soaring love song “Tattoo”—has translated into further record-breaking results at a commercial level for the Swedish star. Other songs have made an impact with audiences outside of countries exposed to Eurovision. Domenico Modugno, representing Italy in 1958, only placed third in the contest, but the song “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” landed at the top of the US charts and is one of the most successful Eurovision entries of all time. The following year, Modugno became the first winner of both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the inaugural Grammy Awards—and the track, better known as “Volare”, has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Dean Martin, David Bowie and Barry White. Recently, Italy has seen further global recognition for its Eurovision efforts with 2021 winners, rock band Måneskin and their rebellious stomper “Zitti e buoni”. The instant boost to their career has taken the group to festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury and saw them nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 2023.

From the very beginning, Eurovision has transformed the fortunes of countless artists. But the real power of the competition lies in its singular ability to unite the world through music for one special week every year. The organisation’s core values of diversity and inclusion have made the contest popular with all manner of marginalised groups—particularly queer audiences and artists, who have found acceptance on Eurovision stages since as far back as 1961, when Jean-Claude Pascal won the competition for Luxembourg with “Nous les amoureux”. The lyrics to the star-crossed love song were carefully ambiguous, but Pascal, who had been forced to hide the truth about his own sexuality due to the prevailing attitudes of the time, later revealed that it had been written about a relationship between two men. There would be one more gay Eurovision winner—Katrina Leskanich of the UK’s Katrina and the Waves in 1997—before Dana International, representing Israel, became the competition’s first transgender winner in 1998, and the first winner to openly identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Fast forward to 2024, when Switzerland’s Nemo openly shared their truth in the operatic, genre- and gender-bending “The Code”, which turned them into the competition’s first non-binary winner. Eurovision has also served as a platform for subtle messages of opposition and defiance to violent injustice through songs like Jamala’s “1944”, the winning song for Ukraine in 2016. Though the organisers maintain a level of neutrality akin to that of the Olympics—upholding a ban on songs with explicitly political lyrical content—during times of increasingly polarised division across the world, Eurovision has consistently accepted the challenge of bridging the gap. The simplicity of its mission has such broad appeal that many nations outside of Europe have taken the contest into their hearts—including Australia, who were invited to become permanent participants in 2016, when they placed second with “Sound of Silence” by Dami Im.