The Eurovision Song Contest () was first held in 1956. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954 through its Eurovision transmission network, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) commissioned an international song competition, from an idea proposed by Sergio Pugliese and developed by Marcel Bezençon, and originally based on the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy.

70 contests have been held since its first edition, and 1,789 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage The contest has seen numerous changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of relegation in the 1990s, and subsequently semi-finals in the 2000s, as a response to growing numbers of interested participants. The rules of the contest have also seen multiple changes over the years, with the voting system and language criteria being modified on several occasions.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international televised music competition in the world, as determined by Guinness World Records, and around 40 countries now regularly take part each year. Several other competitions have been inspired by Eurovision in the years since its formation, and the EBU has also created a number of complimentary contests which focus on other aspects of music and culture. The of the contest was the first to be cancelled, as no competitive event was able to take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition overview

+ Table key ◇ Contest cancelled Edition Year Date of final Hostbroadcaster(s) Venue Host city Countries Winning country Total Final 1st SRG SSR/RSI Teatro Kursaal Lugano 7 2nd ARD/HR Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks Frankfurt 10 3rd NTS AVRO Studios Hilversum 4th RTF Palais des Festivals Cannes 11 5th BBC Royal Festival Hall London 13 6th RTF Palais des Festivals Cannes 16 7th CLT Villa Louvigny Luxembourg City 8th BBC BBC Television Centre London 9th DR Tivolis Koncertsal Copenhagen 10th RAI Sala di Concerto della RAI Naples 18 11th CLT Villa Louvigny Luxembourg City 12th ORF Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg Vienna 17 13th BBC Royal Albert Hall London 14th TVE Teatro Real Madrid 16 15th NOS RAI Expositie-en-Congrescentrum Amsterdam 12 16th RTÉ Gaiety Theatre Dublin 18 17th BBC Usher Hall Edinburgh 18th CLT Nouveau Théâtre Municipal Luxembourg City 17 19th BBC Brighton Dome Brighton 20th SR Stockholmsmässan Stockholm 19 21st NOS Nederlands Congresgebouw The Hague 18 22nd BBC Wembley Conference Centre London 23rd TF1 Palais des Congrès de Paris Paris 20 24th IBA International Convention Centre Jerusalem 19 25th NOS Nederlands Congres Centrum The Hague 26th RTÉ RDS Simmonscourt Dublin 20 27th BBC Harrogate International Centre Harrogate 18 28th ARD/BR Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle Munich 20 29th RTL Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg Luxembourg City 19 30th SVT Scandinavium Gothenburg 31st NRK Grieghallen Bergen 20 32nd RTBF Palais de Centenaire Brussels 22 33rd RTÉ RDS Simmonscourt Dublin 21 34th SRG SSR/TSR Palais de Beaulieu Lausanne 22 35th JRT/RTZ Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Zagreb 36th RAI Cinecittà (Studio 15) Rome 37th SVT Malmö Isstadion Malmö 23 38th RTÉ Green Glens Arena Millstreet 25 39th Point Theatre Dublin 40th 23 41st NRK Oslo Spektrum Oslo 42nd RTÉ Point Theatre Dublin 25 43rd BBC National Indoor Arena Birmingham 44th IBA International Convention Centre Jerusalem 23 45th SVT Stockholm Globe Arena Stockholm 24 46th DR Parken Stadium Copenhagen 23 47th ETV Saku Suurhall Tallinn 24 48th LTV Skonto Hall Riga 26 49th TRT Abdi İpekçi Arena Istanbul 36 24 50th NTU Palace of Sports Kyiv 39 51st ERT O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall Athens 37 52nd YLE Hartwall Areena Helsinki 42 53rd RTS Belgrade Arena Belgrade 43 25 54th C1R Olimpiyskiy Arena Moscow 42 55th NRK Telenor Arena Oslo 39 56th ARD/NDR Esprit Arena Düsseldorf 43 57th İTV Baku Crystal Hall Baku 42 26 58th SVT Malmö Arena Malmö 39 59th DR B&W Hallerne Copenhagen 37 60th ORF Wiener Stadthalle Vienna 40 27 61st SVT Ericsson Globe Stockholm 42 26 62nd UA:PBC International Exhibition Centre Kyiv 63rd RTP Altice Arena Lisbon 43 64th IPBC Expo Tel Aviv Tel Aviv 41 65th 16 May ◇ NPO, NOS andAVROTROS ◇ Rotterdam Ahoy ◇ Rotterdam ◇ 41 ◇ 26 ◇ NPO, NOS andAVROTROS Rotterdam Ahoy Rotterdam 39 26 66th RAI Palasport Olimpico Turin 40 25 67th BBC M&S Bank Arena Liverpool Liverpool 37 26 68th SVT Malmö Arena Malmö 25 69th SRG SSR St. Jakobshalle Basel 26 70th ORF Wiener Stadthalle Vienna 35 25 71st BNT Arena Burgas Burgas colspan="3"

Contest themes and slogans An individual slogan has been associated with each edition of the contest since 2002, with the exception of 2009. This slogan is decided by the host broadcaster and is then used to develop the contest's visual identity and design. This slogan is typically used by the producers in planning and formulating the show's visual identity, and is channelled into the contest's stage design, the opening and interval acts, and the "postcards": short videos interspersed between the entries which usually highlight the host country, and in many cases introduce the competing acts. The slogan of the 2023 contest, "United by Music", was announced on 14 November 2023 to be retained for future editions of the event. For the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland, the host broadcaster SRG SSR introduced a motto for that year's event, "Welcome Home", which was included in addition to the "United by Music" slogan within the visual identity and design.

+ Individual contest slogans Year Host city Slogan Tallinn A Modern Fairytale Riga A Magical Rendez-vous Istanbul Under the Same Sky Kyiv Awakening Athens Feel the Rhythm Helsinki True Fantasy Belgrade Confluence of Sound Moscow United Colors of Music Oslo Share the Moment Düsseldorf Feel Your Heart Beat! Baku Light Your Fire! Malmö We Are One Copenhagen #JoinUs Vienna Building Bridges Stockholm Come Together Kyiv Celebrate Diversity Lisbon All Aboard! Tel Aviv Dare to Dream Rotterdam ◇ Open Up ◇ Rotterdam Open Up Turin The Sound of Beauty Liverpool United by Music Malmö Basel Vienna Burgas

Origins The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed in 1950, when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) hosted a conference with 23 organisations at the Imperial Hotel in Torquay, England, with the aim of establishing cooperation on creative endeavours and setting a foundation for the exchange of television programmes across borders. "Eurovision" as a term in telecommunications was first used by British journalist George Campey in the Evening Standard in 1951, when he referred to a BBC programme being relayed by Dutch television; the EBU's Eurovision transmission network was subsequently founded in 1954, at the time formed of a series of microwave links across Europe.

In the years following the formation of the EBU a number of big events were transmitted via their infrastructure, including the coronation of Elizabeth II, which was broadcast in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, in addition to the United Kingdom. In September 1953, an EBU meeting in London resulted in a series of international exchange programmes organised the following year, entitled the "European Television Season", and relayed live across Europe through the Eurovision network. The first of these programmes was shown on 6 June 1954, showing coverage of the Narcissus Festival held in Montreux, Switzerland, followed by a tour of Vatican City. Further events were broadcast over the following days, including the Palio di Siena, an athletics meet in Glasgow, a parade by the Royal Navy passing Queen Elizabeth II, and live transmission of football matches from the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland, the first time the FIFA World Cup was accompanied by live television coverage.

Following this summer season of programmes, the EBU formed a "Programme Committee" to investigate new initiatives for cooperation between broadcasters each year, with Marcel Bezençon, Director-General of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), serving as the committee's first President, and Rene McCall, deputy director of the BBC, and Jean d'Arcy, Director of the French broadcaster (RTF), serving as Vice Presidents. This committee met in Monte Carlo in January 1955, and approved two new projects for further study: a European song competition, initially proposed by Sergio Pugliese from the Italian broadcaster (RAI), and a contest of amateur entertainers; the latter idea was eventually discarded. On 19 October 1955, at the annual General Assembly of the EBU, held in the Palazzo Corsini in Rome under the Presidency of the Director-General of the BBC Sir Ian Jacob, the EBU agreed to the organising of the song contest, under the initial title of the European Grand Prix, and accepted a proposal by the Swiss delegation to host the event in Lugano in the spring of 1956. A planning sub-group was formed to establish the rules of the competition, headed by Eduard Hass of SRG SSR, which used the Italian Sanremo Music Festival as a basis for their work, with several amendments and additions made to better reflect this new international version.

1950s

The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the contest, organised by (RSI) on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and held on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland. The regulations for this first contest allowed one participating broadcast organisation from each country to submit two songs of between 3 and 3½ minutes in length, the only edition to permit more than one song per country. Each country was strongly encouraged to hold a national contest to select their competing entries. Seven countries entered the inaugural contest, with entries received from , , , , , the and . Voting in this first contest was held behind closed doors: two jury members from each country situated at the venue ranked the competing songs, including those of their own country. Switzerland's Lys Assia was crowned the contest's first winner, with the song "Refrain". Only the overall winner of the contest was announced at its conclusion, and the full results have never been made public. No known video footage of the event is known to survive beyond newsreel of the winning reprise; audio of most of the contest however does exist.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the second edition of the contest, organised by (HR) on behalf of ARD and held on 3 March 1957 at the Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks in Frankfurt, West Germany. Early rules established that a different broadcaster would take on the task of organising the contest each year, and Germany was selected to host the 1957 event. Ten countries entered this second contest, with the seven original broadcasters joined by , and the , with each country submitting one song for consideration. Taking inspiration from the Festival of British Popular Songs, organised by the BBC in August 1956 which included a scoreboard and voting by regional juries, the contest organisers decided to incorporate these ideas into the pan-European contest, allowing viewers at home to follow the voting procedure. A new voting system was introduced in tandem, with a jury of ten members in each country casting a single vote for their favourite song; jury members from one country could not vote for the song of their own country, a rule which still applies to the present day. The Netherlands was voted the winner, represented by Corry Brokken with the song "Net als toen".