The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2023, held at M&S Bank Arena Liverpool in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and presented by Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham, and Julia Sanina, with Graham Norton joining for the final. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which staged the event on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), which had won the for with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra but was unable to stage the event due to the Russian invasion of the country.
Broadcasters from thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, three fewer than in 2022. , , and opted not to participate, primarily due to the economic impact of the 2021–2023 global energy crisis.
The winner was with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her with Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. , , , and completed the top five. Sweden won the combined vote and jury vote, and finished second to Finland in the televote. Loreen became the second performer to win the contest twice, after Irish singer Johnny Logan; it was also the seventh win for Sweden, tying 's record for the most Eurovision victories.
The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 162 million viewers in 38 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition. A total of 15.6 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok. The broadcast of the contest won the British Academy Television Award for Best Live Event, and Waddingham received a British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance nomination for her role as a co-presenter.
Location
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The 2023 contest was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the ninth time that the United Kingdom had hosted the contest, having previously done so in , , , , , , , and . The selected venue was the 11,000-seat M&S Bank Arena Liverpool a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the ACC Liverpool complex. The "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, took place outside the Walker Art Gallery on 7 May 2023, followed by the Opening Ceremony at St George's Hall.
In conjunction with the contest, Liverpool held a cultural festival called "EuroFest", which featured collaborations between British and Ukrainian artists. The Pier Head was the location of the Eurovision Village, where a stage hosted performances by Ukrainian artists, local artists, current and previous Eurovision entrants, and other groups. It also held screenings of the three live shows. Entry to the Village was free of charge except during the final. The EuroClub, which took place at Camp and Furnace, hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.
Host country selection
The was won by with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, which, according to Eurovision tradition, made Ukraine the presumptive host of the 2023 contest. The country had hosted the contest twice before, in and , both times in Kyiv. Between May and June 2022, the Ukrainian government and UA:PBC, the nation's public broadcaster, discussed hosting the contest with the EBU. The chairman of UA:PBC, , Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other Ukrainian politicians expressed their willingness to host the event, and an organising committee was formed.
Despite this, the EBU announced on 17 June 2022 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that UA:PBC could not give the security and operations guarantees required to host the contest, and that the event could therefore not be held in Ukraine. The EBU then entered discussions with the BBC, the 2022 runner-up, and on 25 July announced that the 2023 contest would be hosted in the United Kingdom. It was the first time since that the contest was not hosted by the previous edition's winning country.
The decision not to host in Ukraine was initially met with disappointment. UA:PBC published a statement in which Chernotytskyi requested further talks with the EBU, and Oleh Psiuk of Kalush Orchestra published an open letter criticising the decision, co-signed by Ukraine's previous Eurovision winners, Ruslana and Jamala, as well as Ukraine's minister of culture Oleksandr Tkachenko. This stance was supported by Boris Johnson, who was the British prime minister at the time, Nadine Dorries, who was the British culture secretary at the time, the Polish broadcaster , and Poland's deputy prime minister and minister of culture Piotr Gliński. The announcement on 25 July that the BBC would host the contest was supported by UA:PBC.
Host city bidding phase
The host city bidding process ran from 25 July to 7 October 2022, with candidates judged against a set of criteria to demonstrate that they could host an event on the scale of the Eurovision Song Contest. During the first stage of the process, the BBC received expressions of interest from 20 UK cities and towns, seven of which were longlisted on 12 August 2022: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. These cities had until 8 September to develop their bids in detail for evaluation by the BBC, which also conducted visits to the cities throughout the month. On 27 September, Glasgow and Liverpool were announced to have made the shortlist, and on 7 October, the EBU and the BBC announced Liverpool as the host city.
Key: Host city Shortlisted Longlisted Submitted a bid + City/town Venue Notes Aberdeen ^P&J Live Aberdeen—Belfast ^SSE Arena Belfast—Birmingham *Resorts World Arena Birmingham Supported by Birmingham City CouncilBrighton—Withdrew its proposal on 11 August 2022, citing lack of required infrastructure and venueBristol ^YTL Arena Bristol—CardiffMillennium StadiumWithdrew its proposal on 3 August 2022, citing unavailability of the proposed venueDarlington ^The Darlington ArenaProposal was dependent on the construction of a roof to cover the arena; supported by Darlington Borough Council and Tees Valley Combined AuthorityDerry—Withdrew its proposal on 8 August 2022, citing lack of a suitable venue and supporting accommodation infrastructureEdinburgh ^—Supported by Edinburgh City CouncilGlasgow ‡OVO HydroSupported by Glasgow City CouncilLeeds *First Direct Arena LeedsSupported by Leeds City CouncilLiverpool † M&S Bank Arena LiverpoolSupported by Liverpool City CouncilLondon ^—London met the criteria but was not longlisted, as the BBC and the British government aimed to "move events and opportunities outside the capital".Manchester *AO Arena ManchesterSupported by Manchester City CouncilNewcastle *Utilita Arena NewcastleSupported by Newcastle City CouncilNottinghamMotorpoint Arena NottinghamWithdrew its proposal on 9 August 2022, citing the proposed venue's incapability to meet EBU requirementsSheffield *Utilita Arena SheffieldSupported by Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined AuthoritySunderlandStadium of LightWithdrew its proposal on 10 August 2022, citing unavailability of the proposed venueWolverhampton——
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. Associate member did not need an invitation for the 2023 contest, as it had previously been granted permission to participate until at least this year.
On 20 October 2022, the EBU announced that 37 countries would participate in the 2023 contestthe lowest number of participating countries in a single edition since with , and , which had participated in the , opting not to participate in 2023 for financial reasons. This was also the first contest where the participated under its shortened English name of Czechia.
The contest featured four representatives who also previously performed as lead vocalists for the same country. Two of them had competed in : Loreen won that year's contest representing , while Pasha Parfeni represented that year and later provided backing vocals for . Also returning as lead artists were Marco Mengoni, who had represented , and Monika Linkytė, who had represented alongside Vaidas Baumila. In addition, Gustaph had previously provided backing vocals for and , and Iru had won Junior Eurovision for as a member of Candy.
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2023 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Albina and Familja Kelmendi "" Albanian AMPTV Brunette "Future Lover" English, Armenian Elen Yeremyan SBS Voyager "Promise" English ORF Teya and Salena "Who the Hell Is Edgar?" English, Italian İTV TuralTuranX "Tell Me More" English VRT Gustaph "Because of You" English HRT Let 3 "" Croatian CyBC Andrew Lambrou "Break a Broken Heart" English ČT Vesna "My Sister's Crown" English, Czech, Ukrainian, Bulgarian DR Reiley "Breaking My Heart" English ERR Alika "Bridges" English Yle Käärijä "Cha Cha Cha" Finnish La Zarra "" French GPB Iru "Echo" English NDR Lord of the Lost "Blood & Glitter" English ERT Victor Vernicos "What They Say" English Victor Vernicos Jørgensen RÚV Diljá "Power" English RTÉ Wild Youth "We Are One" English IPBC Noa Kirel "Unicorn" English RAI Marco Mengoni "" Italian LTV Sudden Lights "" English LRT Monika Linkytė "Stay" English PBS The Busker "Dance (Our Own Party)" English TRM Pasha Parfeni "" Romanian AVROTROS Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper "Burning Daylight" English NRK Alessandra "Queen of Kings" English, Italian TVP Blanka "Solo" English RTP Mimicat "" Portuguese TVR Theodor Andrei "D.G.T. (Off and On)" Romanian, English SMRTV Piqued Jacks "Like an Animal" English RTS Luke Black "" Serbian, English Luka Ivanović RTVSLO Joker Out "" Slovene RTVE Blanca Paloma "Eaea" Spanish SVT Loreen "Tattoo" English SRG SSR Remo Forrer "Watergun" English UA:PBC Tvorchi "Heart of Steel" English, Ukrainian BBC Mae Muller "I Wrote a Song" English
Other countries