7 months ago

Dates: Semi-final 1: 10 May 2016 - Semi-final 2: 12 May 2016 - Final: 14 May 2016
Host venue: Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
Presenters: Petra Mede, Måns Zelmerlöw - Directed by Daniel Jelinek, Robin Hofwander, Sven Stojanović - Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand - Executive producer: Johan Bernhagen, Martin Österdahl - Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2015 contest with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the contest was held at the Globe Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2016. The three live shows were presented by Petra Mede and the previous year's winner Måns Zelmerlöw.

Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine returned after absences from recent contests, while Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015. Portugal did not enter, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of its music-based media, while Romania had planned to participate, but was disqualified due to repeated non-payment of debts by its national broadcaster to the EBU.

The winner was Ukraine with the song "1944", performed and written by Jamala. Australia, Russia, Bulgaria and host country Sweden rounded out the top five. This was the first time since the introduction of professional jury voting in 2009 that the overall winner won neither the jury vote, which was won by Australia, nor the televote, which was won by Russia, with Ukraine placing second in both. "1944" is the first song containing lyrics in Crimean Tatar to win the contest.

The Czech Republic managed to qualify for the final for the first time in five attempts since its debut in 2007, while both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, the latter being absent from the final for the first time since 2000. In the final, Australia's second-place finish was an improvement on its fifth-place finish in 2015, while Bulgaria finished fourth, its best result since its debut and first participation in a final since 2007.

The contest was the first to implement a voting system change since 1975: each country's professional jury points were announced largely as before, while the results of each national televote were combined and announced in reverse order. It was also the first contest to be broadcast on live television in the United States, and the EBU recorded a record-breaking 204 million viewers worldwide for the contest, beating the 2015 viewing figures by over 5 million.

Four countries returned after absences from recent contests: Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2012, Bulgaria and Croatia since 2013 and Ukraine since 2014. Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015, but by invitation of the EBU due to the associate membership status of the Special Broadcasting Service. However, instead of pre-qualifying for the final and voting in all three live shows, as was the case in 2015, Australia entered the second semi-final and voted only in that semi-final and the final. Portugal did not enter, largely due to its national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, as well as a poorly structured selection process, while Romania was disqualified on 22 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the EBU.

One of the interval acts of the final was a world premiere live performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!" and "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake. He was the first "global megastar" in the contest's 61-year-history to perform during the interval.

Semi-final 1

Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final. France, Spain, and Sweden voted in this semi-final.

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1 Finland Sandhja "Sing It Away" 51 15
2 Greece Argo "Utopian Land" 44 16
3 Moldova Lidia Isac "Falling Stars" 33 17
4 Hungary Freddie "Pioneer" 197 4
5 Croatia Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" 133 10
6 Netherlands Douwe Bob "Slow Down" 197 5
7 Armenia Iveta Mukuchyan "LoveWave" 243 2
8 San Marino Serhat "I Didn't Know" 68 12
9 Russia Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" 342 1
10 Czech Republic Gabriela Gunčíková "I Stand" 161 9
11 Cyprus Minus One "Alter Ego" 164 8
12 Austria Zoë "Loin d'ici" 170 7
13 Estonia Jüri Pootsmann "Play" 24 18
14 Azerbaijan Samra "Miracle" 185 6
15 Montenegro Highway "The Real Thing" 60 13
16 Iceland Greta Salóme "Hear Them Calling" 51 14
17 Bosnia and Herzegovina Dalal and Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala "Ljubav je" 104 11
18 Malta Ira Losco "Walk on Water" 209 3