The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and a final on 14 May 2016, held at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, and presented by Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (SVT), which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Heroes" by Zelmerlöw himself.
Broadcasters from forty-two countries participated in the contest. , , , and returned after absences from recent contests, while also continued participating after debuting as a special guest in 2015. did not enter, largely due to (RTP)'s insufficient promotion of its music-based media, while (TVR) had for , but it was disqualified due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU.
The winner was with the song "1944", performed and written by Jamala. , , , and host country rounded out the top five. This was the first time since the introduction of professional jury voting in 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 managed to qualify for the final for the first time in five attempts since its debut in , while both and failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time, 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 : 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 for the contest, beating the 2015 viewing figures by over 5 million.
Location
Venue The contest took place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 contest. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this was the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.
Bidding phase Host broadcaster (SVT) announced on 24 May, the day after winning the 2015 contest, that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm was their first choice venue. However, other cities and arenas were invited to apply, and those making a bid had approximately three weeks to submit their offer to SVT. SVT announced on 1 June the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest: SVT had to have access to the venue at least 4–6 weeks before the contest to build the stage and rig up lighting and technology. A press centre with a specific size had to be made available at the venue. A specific number of hotels and hotel rooms had to be made available in the vicinity of the venue. The host city had to be near a major airport. An announcement regarding the venue was expected from SVT by midsummer, with the Ericsson Globe announced as the venue on 8 July.
Key
Host venue City Venue Notes Gothenburg Scandinavium Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 Ullevi Proposal was dependent on the construction of a roof to cover the stadium. The idea was rejected due to costs. Linköping Saab Arena — Malmö Malmö Arena Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Withdrew its bid on 11 June 2015, citing unavailability during the rehearsal weeks of the contest. Örnsköldsvik Fjällräven Center — Sandviken and GävleGöransson Arena If this option were chosen, Sandviken would have hosted the three live shows in the Göransson Arena, while Gävle would have hosted satellite events such as smaller concerts and shows. Stockholm Annexet — Globe Arena Host venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 and the final of Melodifestivalen in 1989 and between 2002 and 2012 inclusive. Friends Arena Venue of the final of Melodifestivalen since 2013. Friends Arena is the biggest football stadium and indoor venue in Sweden and the Nordic countries. However, it was reportedly not part of Stockholm's bid. Hovet — Tele2 Arena SVT announced on 24 May 2015 that Tele2 Arena was its first choice venue for the contest. However, it was not possible to use the venue due to the 4–6 week organisation requirement, which would impact on the pre-scheduled home games of Hammarby Fotboll.
Other sites
The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, it was open from 6 to 13 May 2016.
The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located in a temporary building on the quay next to the water in front of the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
The EBU announced on 14 March 2016 that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm would host a live event running alongside the final of the contest on 14 May. Eurovision the Party, hosted by Sanna Nielsen, allowed fans to watch the final on a big screen and featured backstage material from the Globe Arena such as Nielsen conducting exclusive interviews and appearing with hosts Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw. The results of the Swedish jury vote was also announced live from the event by Gina Dirawi. A pre-party and after-party was also held and featured performances from former contest winners Carola and Loreen as well as Danny Saucedo, Panetoz and DJ Tim Henri. Executive producer Johan Bernhagen has stated that the event complements existing events being held at the Eurovision Village and the EuroClub, and it is hoped that Eurovision the Party would become an annual event in the host city of the contest.
Participants
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members and to associate member Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) from .
Participating broadcasters had until 15 September 2015 to submit their applications for participation in the contest, and until 10 October to withdraw their applications without facing financial sanctions. It had been initially announced on 26 November 2015 that 43 countries would participate in the contest, equalling the record number of participants set in and . However, was disqualified from participation on 22 April 2016, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.
Four countries returned after absences from recent contests: since , and since and since . Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015, but by invitation of the EBU due to the associate membership status of SBS. 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. did not enter, largely due to (RTP)'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 (TVR) to the EBU.
Seven artists returned after having previously participated in the contest. Deen returned after previously representing , finishing ninth in the final with the song "In the Disco". Kaliopi returned after previously representing , finishing 13th in the final with the song "Crno i belo". She was also selected to represent with "Samo ti", but was eliminated in a non-televised pre-qualifying round. Poli Genova returned after previously representing , finishing 12th in the second semi-final with the song "Na inat". Ira Losco returned after previously representing , finishing in second place with the song "7th Wonder". Donny Montell returned after previously representing , finishing 14th in the final with the song "Love Is Blind". Greta Salóme returned after previously representing with Jónsi, finishing 20th in the final with the song "Never Forget". Bojan Jovović returned for Montenegro as part of Highway after previously representing as part of No Name, finishing seventh in the final with the song "Zauvijek moja".
Monica, providing backing vocals for Armenia, had previously represented . Sahlene, providing backing vocals for Australia, had represented . Martina Majerle, providing backing vocals for Croatia, had represented and provided backing vocals for , and , and , , and .
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2016 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Eneda Tarifa "Fairytale" English Olsa Toqi AMPTV Iveta Mukuchyan "LoveWave" English SBS Dami Im "Sound of Silence" English ORF Zoë "" French İTV Samra "Miracle" English BTRC Ivan "Help You Fly" English VRT Laura Tesoro "What's the Pressure" English BHRT Dalal and Deen Ana Rucner and Jala "" Bosnian BNT Poli Genova "If Love Was a Crime" English HRT Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" English CyBC Minus One "Alter Ego" English ČT Gabriela Gunčíková "I Stand" English DR Lighthouse X "Soldiers of Love" English ERR Jüri Pootsmann "Play" English Yle Sandhja "Sing It Away" English Amir "" French, English GPB Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz "Midnight Gold" English NDR Jamie-Lee "Ghost" English ERT Argo "Utopian Land" English, Greek Vladimiros Sofianides MTVA Freddie "Pioneer" English RÚV Greta Salóme "Hear Them Calling" English Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir RTÉ Nicky Byrne "Sunlight" English IBA Hovi Star "Made of Stars" English Doron Medalie RAI Francesca Michielin "No Degree of Separation" Italian, English LTV Justs "Heartbeat" English Aminata Savadogo LRT Donny Montell "I've Been Waiting for This Night" English MRT Kaliopi "" () Macedonian PBS Ira Losco "Walk on Water" English TRM Lidia Isac "Falling Stars" English RTCG Highway "The Real Thing" English AVROTROS Douwe Bob "Slow Down" English NRK Agnete "Icebreaker" English TVP Michał Szpak "Color of Your Life" English RTR Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" English SMRTV Serhat "I Didn't Know" English RTS Sanja Vučić Zaa "Goodbye (Shelter)" English Ivana Peters RTVSLO ManuElla "Blue and Red" English RTVE Barei "Say Yay!" English SVT Frans "If I Were Sorry" English SRG SSR Rykka "The Last of Our Kind" English NTU Jamala "1944" English, Crimean Tatar Jamala BBC Joe and Jake "You're Not Alone" English
Other countries Active EBU members
– Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) had encouraged viewers to suggest changes to their selection process, assuming they had chosen to participate in the contest. Portugal had failed to qualify for the final since , which the majority of the Portuguese public believed to be due to RTP's selection format, Festival da Canção. Kátia Aveiro, sister of Cristiano Ronaldo, had launched a campaign on Twitter asking fans to back her bid to represent Portugal. However, RTP announced on 7 October 2015 that Portugal would not participate in the 2016 contest, adding that they were looking forward to participating in the 2017 contest with a restructured selection process. RTP's ombudsman, Jaime Fernandes, stated on 7 November during the television show A Voz do Cidadão that the decision was due not only to poor results in previous contests, but also RTP's insufficient promotion of music-related content.