Fact & Figures about Eurovision Song Contest

Hello! Today I'm gonna show you some fact & figures about ESC.

FACT SHEET HISTORY

? The first ever Eurovision Song Contest was
held on the 24 May, 1956, in Lugano,
Switzerland

? In 56 years, over 1,300 songs have competed
in the Eurovision Song Contest

• Noel Kelehan conducted five winners (1980,
1987, 1992, 1993 and 1996)

• Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linden
conducted for seven different countries
(Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland

• Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song
Contest three times. In 1980 and 1987 he
represented Ireland as performer and won
both times, in 1992 he wrote Linda Martin's
winning entry Why Me

• Poland made the most impressive debut in
1994, when Edyta Gorniak came 2nd with To
Nie Ja, closely followed by Serbia's victory in
2007. Although Serbia & Montenegro had
been represented twice before, it was the first
time that Serbia took part as an independent
country

• Norway could be found at the bottom of the
list as many as ten times! The unfortunates
came last in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981,
1990, 1997, 2001 and 2004. Nevertheless, they
also won three times (in 1985, 1995 and 2009)

• Ireland won a record seven times,
Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom
5 times. Sweden and the Netherlands won 4
times

• ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song
Contest winner. The Swedish pop band won
the contest in 1974

• In 2008, a record number of 43 countries
took part, just like in 2011

• The most covered Eurovision Song Contest
song is Domenico Modugno's Nel Blu Dipinto
Di Blu, also known as Volare. The song has
been covered by famous stars such as Frank
Sinatra, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many
more

• Televoting was introduced in 1997

• In 2004, the first televised Eurovision Song
Contest Semi-Final was held. In 2008, a
second Semi-Final was introduced

• In 2009, some 124 million people watched
the three live shows on television. In 2011, over
105 million people tuned in for the shows

• During the Eurovision Song Contest Final of
2012, more than 1,5 million tweets were posted
with the hashtag #eurovision, peaking already
20 minutes into the live broadcast