Eurovision Song Festival
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Also known as |
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| Genre | Song contest |
| Created by | Marcel Bezençon |
| Based on | Sanremo Music Festival |
| Presented by | List of presenters |
| Theme music composer | Marc-Antoine Charpentier |
| Opening theme | Te Deum: Marche en rondeau (prelude) |
| Ending theme | Te Deum: Marche en rondeau (prelude) |
| Country of origin | List of countries |
| Original language(s) | English and French |
| No. of episodes | 63 contests |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Hosted by previous winner (with some exceptions) (List of host cities) |
| Running time |
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| Production company(s) | European Broadcasting Union |
| Distributor | Eurovision |
| Release | |
| Picture format | |
| Original release | 24 May 1956 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
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| External links | |
| www.eurovision.tv | |
| Production website | |
The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often simply called Eurovision, is an international song competition held primarily among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner. Over 40 countries are currently eligible to compete and since 2015 Australia has been allowed as a guest entrant.
Winning the Eurovision Song Contest often provides a short-term career boost for artists, but rarely results in long-term success. Exceptions are ABBA (winner in 1974 for Sweden), Bucks Fizz (winner in 1981 for the United Kingdom), and Celine Dion (winner in 1988 for Switzerland), all of whom launched successful careers.
Based on the Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951, Eurovision has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956, making it the longest-running annual international television contest and one of the world's longest-running television programmes. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events, with audience figures of between 100 million and 600 million internationally. It has been broadcast in several countries that do not compete, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and China. Since 2000, it has been broadcast online via the Eurovision website. The contest has been described as having kitsch appeal.
Ireland holds the record for most victories, with seven wins, including four times in five years in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996. Under the current voting system, in place since 2015, the highest-scoring winner is Salvador Sobral of Portugal who won the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine, with 758 points; under the previous system, the highest-scoring winner was Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points in 2009.
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