THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST WINNERS

Fifty-nine songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The Contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. The Contest's winner has been determined using numerous voting techniques throughout its history; centre to these have been the awarding of points to countries by juries or televoters. The country awarded the most points is declared the winner. The first Eurovision Song Contest was not won on points, but by votes (two per country), and only the winner was announced.



There have been 55 Contests, with one winner each year except the tied 1969 Contest, which had four. Twenty-five different countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the Contest on their debut—the first Contest, in 1956. The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland, with seven. Portugal is the country with the longest history in the Contest without a win; it made its forty-fourth appearance at the 2010 Contest. The only person to have won more than once as performer is Ireland's Johnny Logan, who performed "What's Another Year" in 1980 and "Hold Me Now" in 1987. Logan is also one of only five songwriters to have written more than one winning entry ("Hold Me Now" 1987 and "Why Me?" 1992, performed by Linda Martin). This unique distinction makes Logan the only person to have three Eurovision victories to his/her credit, as either singer, songwriter or both. The other four songwriters with more than one winning entry to their credit are, Willy van Hemert (Netherlands, 1957 and 1959), Yves Dessca (Monaco, 1971 and Luxembourg, 1972), Rolf Løvland (Norway, 1985 and 1995) and Brendan Graham (Ireland, 1994 and 1996).



Winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a unique opportunity for the winning artist(s) to capitalise on their success and surrounding publicity by launching or furthering their international career. However, throughout the history of the Contest relatively few names have gone on to be huge international stars. The most notable winning Eurovision artists whose career was directly launched into the spotlight following their win were ABBA, who won the Contest for Sweden in 1974 with their song "Waterloo". ABBA went on to be one of the most successful bands of their time. Another notable winner who subsequently achieved international fame and success was Céline Dion, who won the Contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".





Winners Year Country Song Performer Host city

1956 Switzerland "Refrain" Lys Assia Lugano

1957 Netherlands "Net als toen" Corry Brokken Frankfurt

1958 France "Dors, mon amour" André Claveau† Switzerland Hilversum

1959 Netherlands "Een beetje" Teddy Scholten† Cannes

1960 France "Tom Pillibi" Jacqueline Boyer London

1961 Luxembourg "Nous les amoureux" Jean-Claude Pascal† Cannes

1962 France "Un premier amour" Isabelle Aubret Luxembourg

1963 Denmark "Dansevise" Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann London

1964 Italy "Non ho l'età" Gigliola Cinquetti Copenhagen

1965 Luxembourg "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" France Gall Naples

1966 Austria "Merci Chérie" Udo Jürgens Luxembourg

1967 United Kingdom "Puppet on a String" Sandie Shaw Vienna

1968 Spain "La, la, la" Massiel Spain "Vivo cantando" Salomé Madrid

United Kingdom "Boom Bang-a-Bang" Lulu

Netherlands "De troubadour" Lenny Kuhr

1969 France "Un jour, un enfant" Frida Boccara†

1970 Ireland "All Kinds of Everything" Dana Amsterdam

1971 Monaco "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" Séverine Dublin

1972 Luxembourg "Après toi" Vicky Leandros Edinburgh

1973 Luxembourg "Tu te reconnaîtras" Anne-Marie David Luxembourg

1974 Sweden "Waterloo" ABBA Brighton

1975 Netherlands "Ding-A-Dong" Teach-In Stockholm

1976 United Kingdom "Save Your Kisses for Me" Brotherhood of Man The Hague

1977 France "L'oiseau et l'enfant" Marie Myriam London

1978 Israel "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta Paris

1979 Israel "Hallelujah" Gali Atari and Milk and Honey Jerusalem

1980 Ireland "What's Another Year?" Johnny Logan The Hague

1981 United Kingdom "Making Your Mind Up" Bucks Fizz Dublin

1982 Germany "Ein bißchen Frieden" Nicole Harrogate

1983 Luxembourg "Si la vie est cadeau" Corinne Hermès Munich

1984 Sweden "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" Herreys Luxembourg

1985 Norway "La det swinge" Bobbysocks Gothenburg

1986 Belgium "J'aime la vie" Sandra Kim Bergen

1987 Ireland "Hold Me Now" Johnny Logan Brussels

1988 Switzerland "Ne partez pas sans moi" Céline Dion Dublin

1989 Yugoslavia "Rock Me" Riva Lausanne

1990 Italy "Insieme: 1992" Toto Cutugno Zagreb

1991 Sweden "Fångad av en stormvind" Carola Rome

1992 Ireland "Why Me" Linda Martin Malmö

1993 Ireland "In Your Eyes" Niamh Kavanagh Millstreet

1994 Ireland "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan Dublin

1995 Norway "Nocturne" Secret Garden Dublin

1996 Ireland "The Voice" Eimear Quinn Oslo

1997 United Kingdom "Love Shine a Light" Katrina and the Waves Dublin

1998 Israel "Diva" Dana International /Birmingham

1999 Sweden "Take Me to Your Heaven" Charlotte Nilsson /Jerusalem

2000 Denmark "Fly on the Wings of Love" Olsen Brothers/ Stockholm

2001 Estonia "Everybody" Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL/ Copenhagen

2002 Latvia "I Wanna" Marie N Marija Naumova, /Tallinn

2003 Turkey "Everyway That I Can" Sertab Erener/ Riga

2004 Ukraine "Wild Dances" Ruslana Ruslana,/ Istanbul

2005 Greece "My Number One" Helena Paparizou /Kiev

2006 Finland "Hard Rock Hallelujah" Lordi /Athens

2007 Serbia "Molitva" Marija Šerifović /Helsinki

2008 Russia "Believe" Dima Bilan /Belgrade

2009 Norway "Fairytale" Alexander Rybak /Moscow

2010 Germany "Satellite" Lena Meyer-Landrut /Oslo

2011  Azerbaijan  "Running scared"  Eldar and Nigar /Düsseldorf