The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 7 and 9 May and a final on 11 May 2024, held at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and presented by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (SVT), which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. Mede had previously presented the and contests.
Broadcasters from thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, the same number as in 2023. opted not to participate, and competed for the first time since . The was disqualified from the contest between the second semi-final and the final, but the country retained its right to vote. The inclusion of among the participants in the context of the Gaza war was met with controversy, and additional security measures were put in place for the event.
The winner was with the song "The Code", performed by Nemo who wrote it with Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, and Linda Dale. Switzerland won the combined vote and jury vote, and placed fifth in the televote. won the televote and finished in second place, achieving its best result to date as an independent country, having previously won in as a part of . , , and completed the top five.
The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 163 million viewers in 37 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition, with an additional 7.3 million viewers online on YouTube.
Location
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The 2024 contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen. It was the seventh time Sweden had hosted the contest, having previously done so in , , , , , and . The venue for the contest was the 15,500-seat Malmö Arena, which had previously hosted the contest in 2013.
The Malmö Live event centre hosted several events related to the contest. It was the venue for the "Turquoise Carpet" event on 5 May 2024, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, and the opening and closing ceremonies. The venue also hosted screenings of the live shows, and was the location of the EuroClub, which hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.
A Eurovision Village was created in . It hosted performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public. A "Eurovision Street" was established on , stretching from Triangeln station to the Eurovision Village in . Planned street music performances were affected by the withdrawal of several artists due to Israel's participation in the contest and were ultimately transferred to the Eurovision Village for security reasons. The Euro Fan Café was located at .
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of ABBA's victory at the contest in with "Waterloo", which was also Sweden's first win, a special ABBA World exhibition was held at between 29 April and 12 May 2024.
Bidding phase
After Sweden's win in the 2023 contest, the municipalities of Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik, Partille and Sandviken expressed interest in hosting the 2024 edition. Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) set a deadline of 12 June 2023 for interested cities to formally apply. By 13 June, it had received bids from Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Örnsköldsvik. On 7 July, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik's bids were eliminated. Later that day, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city.
Key: Host city Shortlisted Submitted a bid City Venue Notes References Eskilstuna Stiga Sports Arena Hosted the Second Chance round of in 2020. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. Gothenburg^ Scandinavium Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. Roof needed adjustments for the lighting equipment. Set for demolition after the construction of a new sports facility nearby is completed. Jönköping Husqvarna Garden Hosted the heats of in 2007. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. Malmö† Malmö Arena Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Örnsköldsvik^ Hägglunds Arena Hosted the heats of in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018 and the semi-final in 2023. Partille Partille Arena Hosted Eurovision Choir 2019. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. Sandviken Göransson Arena Hosted one heat of in 2010. Plans included the cooperation of other municipalities in Gävleborg. Stockholm* Friends Arena Hosted all but one final of since 2013. Preferred venue of the Stockholm City Council. Tele2 Arena — Temporary arena Proposal set around building a temporary arena in , motivated by the production needs of the contest and difficulties in finding vacant venues during the required weeks.
Participants
Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all active members.
On 5 December 2023, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 37 countries would participate in the 2024 contest. returned to the contest 31 years after its last participation in . , which participated in the 2023 contest, was provisionally announced as not participating in 2024. This was confirmed on 25 January 2024.
The contest featured two returning artists: Natalia Barbu, who had represented , and Hera Björk, who had represented .
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2024 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Besa "Titan" English AMPTV Ladaniva "" Armenian SBS Electric Fields "One Milkali (One Blood)" English, Yankunytjatjara ORF Kaleen "We Will Rave" English İTV Fahree Ilkin Dovlatov "" English, Azerbaijani RTBF Mustii "Before the Party's Over" English HRT Baby Lasagna "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" English Marko Purišić CyBC Silia Kapsis "Liar" English ČT Aiko "Pedestal" English DR Saba "Sand" English ERR and "" Estonian Yle Windows95man "No Rules!" English Slimane "" French GPB Nutsa Buzaladze "Firefighter" English NDR Isaak "Always on the Run" English ERT Marina Satti "" Greek RÚV Hera Björk "Scared of Heights" English RTÉ Bambie Thug "Doomsday Blue" English IPBC Eden Golan "Hurricane" English, Hebrew RAI Angelina Mango "" Italian LTV Dons "Hollow" English LRT Silvester Belt "" Lithuanian RTL Tali "Fighter" French, English PBS Sarah Bonnici "Loop" English TRM Natalia Barbu "In the Middle" English AVROTROS Joost Klein "" Dutch NRK "" Norwegian TVP Luna "The Tower" English RTP Iolanda "" Portuguese SMRTV Megara "11:11" Spanish RTS Teya Dora "" Serbian RTVSLO Raiven "Veronika" Slovene RTVE Nebulossa "" Spanish SVT Marcus & Martinus "Unforgettable" English SRG SSR Nemo "The Code" English Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil "Teresa & Maria" Ukrainian, English BBC Olly Alexander "Dizzy" English
Other countries Active EBU member broadcasters in , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. The n broadcaster, TVR, remained in talks with the EBU until 25 January 2024, when it decided not to participate for financial reasons.
Production
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was produced by the Swedish national broadcaster (SVT). The core team consisted of Ebba Adielsson as executive producer, as deputy executive producer, Tobias Åberg as executive in charge of production, Johan Bernhagen as executive line producer, Christer Björkman as contest producer, and as TV producer. Additional production personnel included head of production David Wessén, head of legal Mats Lindgren, head of media Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, and executive assistant Linnea Lopez.
Edward af Sillén and wrote the script for the live shows' hosting segments and the opening and interval acts, while Robin Hofwander, and Fredrik Bäcklund served as multi-camera directors. Background music for the shows was composed by Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson. A majority of the production personnel for 2024 previously worked in the previous three editions of the contest held in Sweden: , 2013 and 2016.
Malmö Municipality initially contributed () to the budget of the contest. An additional () was later spent on security measures in the lead-up to and during the event. The total budget was (), with SVT's contribution approximated at ().
Slogan and visual design
On 14 November 2023, the EBU announced that "United by Music", the slogan of the 2023 contest, would be retained for 2024 and future editions. The accompanying theme art for 2024, named "The Eurovision Lights", was unveiled on 14 December. Designed by Stockholm-based agencies Uncut and Bold Scandinavia, it was based on simple, linear gradients inspired by vertical lines found on auroras and sound equalisers, and was built with adaptability across different formats taken into account.
Stage design
The stage design for the 2024 contest, revealed in December 2023, was devised by German production designer Florian Wieder, who had previously designed the sets of six previous conteststhe most recent being in . Lighting and screen content was designed by Swedish designer Fredrik Stormby. The stage featured five movable LED cubes, floors and a backdrop screen along with other lighting, video and stagecraft technology, all set around a cross-shaped centre, with the aim of "creating a unique 360-degree experience" for viewers. The green room was placed behind the backdrop screen, in a similar fashion to the stages for the and contests. Construction of the stage began on 2 April and concluded on 25 April.
Postcards The "postcards" are short video introductions shown on television while the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between February and May 2024, the postcards were composed of footage shot by the participating artists through "selfie-mode", introducing the artists themselves and the country they represent. Archival footage of two of each country's previous entries was also used in each postcard, which ends with a slow-motion shot of each artist.