Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest
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The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the 2023 contest, and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set from their professional jury and the other from televoting, with only televoting used in the semi-finals, and both jury and televoting in the final.[1][2]
Small, demographically-balanced juries made up of ordinary people had been used to rank the entries, but after the widespread use of telephone voting in 1998 the contest organizers resorted to juries only in the event of a televoting malfunctions. In 2003, Eircom's telephone polling system malfunctioned. Irish broadcaster RTÉ did not receive the polling results from Eircom in time, and substituted votes by a panel of judges.[3] Between 1997 and 2003 (the first years of televoting), lines were opened to the public for only five minutes after the performance and recap of the final song. Between 2004 and 2006, the lines were opened for ten minutes, and from 2007 to 2009, they were opened for fifteen minutes. In 2010, viewers were allowed to vote during the performances, but this was rescinded for the 2012 contest. Since the 2004 contest, the presenters will start the televoting window with the phrase "Europe, start voting now!". This invitation also applies to Australia from 2015 to 2023 ("Europe and Australia, start voting now!"), and to the non-participating countries from 2023 onwards ("Europe, Australia, and the rest of the world, start voting now!"). At the end of the voting period, the presenters will invite viewers and the audience to stop with a ten-second final countdown along with the phrase "Europe, stop voting now!".[4] The United Kingdom is not able to vote via SMS or the smartphone app due to legislation implemented after the 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal.
The BBC contacted regional juries by telephone to choose the 1956 winners, and the European Broadcasting Union (producers of the contest) later began contacting international juries by telephone. This method continued to be used until 1993. The following year saw the first satellite link-up to juries.[5]
To announce the votes, the contest's presenters connect by satellite to each country in turn and inviting a spokesperson to read the country's votes in French or English. The presenters originally repeated the votes in both languages, but since 2004 the votes have been translated due to time constraints. To offset increased voting time required by a larger number of participating countries, since 2006 only countries' 8-, 10-, and 12-point scores were read aloud; one- to seven-point votes were added automatically to the scoreboard while each country's spokesperson was introduced. The scoreboard displays the number of points each country has received and, since 2008, a progress bar indicating the number of countries which have voted. Since 2016, only the 12-point score is read aloud due to the new voting system, meaning that the nine scoring countries were added automatically to the scoreboard (1-8 and 10 points). In addition, the televoting points were combined and the presenters announced them in order, starting from the country with the lowest score and ending with the country with the highest score from the televoting. Beginning with the 2019 contest, the televoting points are announced by the presenters based on the juries' rankings in reverse order.
Year | Points | Voting system |
---|---|---|
1956 | (10–1) × 2 | Two jurors per country rated each song on a scale of 1 to 10 points.[6] |
1957–1961 | 10–1 | Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs. |
1962 | 3–1 | Ten-member juries awarded points to their three favourite songs. |
1963 | 5–1 | Twenty-member juries awarded points to their five favourite songs. |
1964–1966 | 5, 3, 1 / 6, 3 / 9 | Ten-member juries distributed 9 points in three possible ways. If all their votes went to one single song, it got all the 9 points, if they went to two songs, they got 6 and 3 points, and if they went to three or more, the top three got 5, 3 and 1 points. No jury ever gave 9 points to a single song, but Belgium used the 6-3 system in 1965. |
1967–1969 | 10–1 | Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs. |
1970 | Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs. A tie-breaking round was available. | |
1971–1973 | 10–2 | Two-member juries (one aged over 25 and the other under 25, with at least 10 years between their ages) rated songs between 1 and 5 points. |
1974 | 10–1 | Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs. |
1975–1996 | 12, 10, 8–1 | All countries had at least eleven jury members (raised to sixteen in 1988) that would award points to their top ten songs. From 1975 to 1979, the scores were announced in the order in which the songs performed, while the ascending format of going from 1-8 points, 10 points and finally 12 points, was introduced in 1980. |
1997 | Twenty countries had jury members and five countries used televote to decide which songs would get points.[7] | |
1998–2000 | All countries should use telephone voting to decide which songs would receive points. In exceptional circumstances (e.g. weak telephone system) where televoting was not possible at all, a jury was used.[8][9][10] | |
2001–2002 | Every broadcaster was free to make a choice between the full televoting system and the mixed 50/50 system to decide which songs would receive points. In exceptional circumstances where televoting was not possible, only a jury was used.[11][12] | |
2003 | All countries should use telephone/SMS voting to decide which songs would receive points. In exceptional circumstances where televoting was not possible at all, only a jury was used.[13] | |
2004–2008; 2009 (semi-finals) | All countries use televoting and/or SMS-voting to decide which songs would receive points. Back-up juries are used by each country (with eight members) in the event of a televoting failure. | |
2009 (final); 2010–2012 | All countries use televoting and/or SMS-voting (50%) and five-member juries (50%), apart from San Marino which was 100% jury due to country size. This is so called jury–televote 50/50. In the event of a televoting failure, only a jury is used by that country; in the event of a jury failure, only televoting is used by that country. The two parts of the vote were combined by awarding 12, 10, 8–1 points to the top ten in each discipline, then combining the scores. Where two songs were tied, the televote score took precedence. | |
2013–2015 | The same as in 2009–12, except jury and televote are combined differently. The jurors and televoting each rank all the competing entries, rather than just their top ten. The scores are then added together and in the event of a tie, the televote score takes precedence.[14][15] | |
2016–2017 | (12, 10, 8–1) × 2 | The jury and the televote each award an independent set of points. First the jury points are announced and then the televoting points are calculated together before being added to the jury points, effectively doubling the points which can be awarded in total.[16] |
2018–2022 | The same as in 2016–17, but the points from a country's jury are now calculated using an exponential weight model that gives more weight to higher-ranked songs and lessens the impact of one juror placing a song much lower in their rankings.[17] | |
2023– | 12, 10, 8–1 (semi-finals) (12, 10, 8–1) × 2 (final) |
In the semi-finals, only the televote is used to decide which songs would receive points. Juries are used by each country as a back-up in the event that the televoting cannot deliver a valid result. In the final, the jury and the televote each award an independent set of points. If the jury of a country cannot deliver a valid result, the televoting result of that country is used in its place. If the televoting cannot deliver a valid result, an aggregated result is used, and in case that too fails, the jury result is used. In all three shows, online votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated and awarded as one set of points.[1][2] |
This section needs to be updated. (April 2023) |
The most-used voting system (other than the current one) was last used for the 1974 contest. This system was used from 1957 to 1961 and from 1967 to 1969. Ten jurors in each country each cast one vote for their favourite song. In 1969 this resulted in a four-way tie for first place (between the UK, the Netherlands, France, and Spain), with no tie-breaking procedure. A second round of voting in the event of a tie was introduced to this system the following year.
From 1962 to 1966, a voting system similar to the current one was used. In 1962, each country awarded its top three 1, 2 and 3 points; in 1963 the top five were awarded 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 points, and from 1964 to 1966, each country usually awarded its top three 1, 3 and 5 points. With the latter system, a country could choose to give points to two countries instead of three (giving 3 to one and 6 to the other); in 1965, Belgium awarded the United Kingdom 6 points and Italy 3. Although it was possible to give one country 9 points, this never occurred.
The 1971, 1972, and 1973 contests saw the jurors "in vision" for the first time. Each country was represented by two jurors: one older than 25 and one younger, with at least 10 years' difference in their ages. Each juror gave a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 5 points to each song. In 1974 the previous system of ten jurors was used, and the following year the current system was introduced. Spokespeople were next seen on screen in 1994 with a satellite link to the venue.
The 2004 contest had its first semi-final, with a slight change in voting: countries which did not qualify from the semifinal would be allowed to cast votes in the final. This resulted in Ukraine's Ruslana finishing first, with a record 280 points. If the voting had been conducted as it had been from 1956 to 2003 (when only finalist countries could vote), Serbia and Montenegro's Željko Joksimović would have won the contest with 190 points: a 15-point lead over Ruslana, who would have scored 175 points. To date, non-qualifying countries are still allowed to vote in the final. In 2006, Serbia and Montenegro were able to vote in the semi-final and the final despite their non-participation due to a scandal in the selection process (which resulted in Macedonia entering the final instead of Poland).
With the introduction of two semi-finals in 2008, a new method of selecting finalists was created. The top nine songs (ranked by televote) qualified, along with one song selected by the back-up juries. This method, in most cases, meant that the tenth song in the televoting failed to qualify; this attracted some criticism, especially from Macedonia (who had placed 10th in the televote in both years).[18] In 2010, the 2009 final system was used, with a combination of televoting and jury votes from each country also used to select the semi-finalists.[19] Each participating country had a national jury, consisting of five music industry professionals appointed by national broadcasters.[20][21]
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2022) |
The Russian entry at the 2015 contest, "A Million Voices" by Polina Gagarina, became the first song to get over 300 points without winning the contest (and the only one during the era when each country delivered only one set of points); with a new voting system introduced in 2016, Australia became the first country to get over 500 points without winning the contest. In 2017, Bulgaria became the first non-winning country to score above 600 points, as well as Portugal becoming the first country to get over 750 points – winning the contest as a result of this with the song "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. As the number of voting countries and the voting systems have varied, it may be more relevant to compare what percentage of all points awarded in the competition that each song received (computed from the published scoreboards).[22]
Since the introduction of the 2016 voting system, the Swedish entry at the 2022 contest, "Hold Me Closer" by Cornelia Jakobs, currently holds the record for receiving the highest percentage of maximum points from the juries, receiving 222 out of 240 points (92.50%) in the second semi-final. "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, winner of that year's contest for Ukraine, currently holds the record for receiving the highest percentage of maximum points from the televoting, receiving 439 out of 468 points (93.80%) in the final.[23]
Top five winners by percentage of all votes
This table shows top five winning songs by the percentage from the all votes cast.
Year | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Percentage of all points cast | Percentage of maximum possible points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Italy | Gigliola Cinquetti | "Non ho l'età" | 49 | 34.03% | 65.33% |
1957 | Netherlands | Corry Brokken | "Net als toen" | 31 | 31.00% | 34.44% |
1967 | United Kingdom | Sandie Shaw | "Puppet on a String" | 47 | 27.65% | 29.38% |
1962 | France | Isabelle Aubret | "Un premier amour" | 26 | 27.08% | 57.78% |
1958 | France | André Claveau | "Dors, mon amour" | 27 | 27.00% | 30.00% |
Top five winners by percentage of the maximum possible score
This table shows top five winning songs by the percentage from the maximum possible score a song can achieve.
Contest | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Percentage of all points cast | Percentage of maximum possible points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | Luxembourg | Anne-Marie David | "Tu te reconnaîtras" | 129 | 14.05% | 80.63% |
1976 | United Kingdom | Brotherhood of Man | "Save Your Kisses for Me" | 164 | 15.71% | 80.39% |
1982 | Germany | Nicole | "Ein bißchen Frieden" | 161 | 15.42% | 78.92% |
1997 | United Kingdom | Katrina and the Waves | "Love Shine a Light" | 227 | 15.66% | 78.82% |
2009 | Norway | Alexander Rybak | "Fairytale" | 387 | 15.89% | 78.66% |
Top ten participants by number of points
This table shows top ten participating songs (both winning and non-winning) by the number of points received.
Contest | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Percentage of all points cast | Percentage of maximum possible points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Portugal | Salvador Sobral | "Amar pelos dois" | 758 | 15.56% | 77.03% |
2022 | Ukraine | Kalush Orchestra | "Stefania" | 631 | 13.6% | 67.41% |
2017 | Bulgaria | Kristian Kostov | "Beautiful Mess" | 615 | 12.62% | 62.50% |
2023 | Sweden | Loreen | "Tattoo" | 583 | 13.40% | 66.55% |
2016 | Ukraine | Jamala | "1944" | 534 | 10.96% | 54.27% |
2018 | Israel | Netta | "Toy" | 529 | 10.61% | 52.48% |
2023 | Finland | Käärijä | "Cha Cha Cha" | 526 | 12.09% | 60.05% |
2021 | Italy | Måneskin | "Zitti e buoni" | 524 | 11.58% | 57.46% |
2016 | Australia | Dami Im | "Sound of Silence" | 511 | 10.48% | 51.93% |
2021 | France | Barbara Pravi | "Voilà" | 499 | 11.03% | 54.71% |
Under the 2013–15 voting system, Portugal would have received 17.12% of points in the 2017 contest.[24]
Top ten participants by number of jury points
Contest | Country | Artist | Song | Jury points | Total points | Percentage of points from jury voting | Percentage of maximum possible points from jury voting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Portugal | Salvador Sobral | "Amar pelos dois" | 382 | 758 | 50.4% | 77.64% |
2023 | Sweden | Loreen | "Tattoo" | 340 | 583 | 58.32% | 78.70% |
2016 | Australia | Dami Im | "Sound of Silence" | 320 | 511 | 62.62% | 65.04% |
2022 | United Kingdom | Sam Ryder | "Space Man" | 283 | 466 | 60.72% | 60.47% |
2017 | Bulgaria | Kristian Kostov | "Beautiful Mess" | 278 | 615 | 45.2% | 56.50% |
2018 | Austria | Cesár Sampson | "Nobody But You" | 271 | 342 | 79.24% | 53.77% |
2021 | Switzerland | Gjon's Tears | "Tout l'Univers" | 267 | 432 | 61.8% | 58.55% |
2022 | Sweden | Cornelia Jakobs | "Hold Me Closer" | 258 | 438 | 58.90% | 55.13% |
2018 | Sweden | Benjamin Ingrosso | "Dance You Off" | 253 | 274 | 92.34% | 50.20% |
2021 | France | Barbara Pravi | "Voilà" | 248 | 499 | 49.7% | 54.39% |
Top ten participants by number of televoting points
Contest | Country | Artist | Song | Televote points | Total points | Percentage of points from televoting | Percentage of maximum possible points from televoting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Ukraine | Kalush Orchestra | "Stefania" | 439 | 631 | 69.57% | 93.80% |
2023 | Finland | Käärijä | "Cha Cha Cha" | 376 | 526 | 71.48% | 84.68% |
2017 | Portugal | Salvador Sobral | "Amar pelos dois" | 376 | 758 | 49.6% | 76.42% |
2016 | Russia | Sergey Lazarev | "You Are the Only One" | 361 | 491 | 73.52% | 73.37% |
2017 | Bulgaria | Kristian Kostov | "Beautiful Mess" | 337 | 615 | 54.8% | 68.50% |
2016 | Ukraine | Jamala | "1944" | 323 | 534 | 60.49% | 65.65% |
2021 | Italy | Måneskin | "Zitti e buoni" | 318 | 524 | 60.69% | 69.74% |
2018 | Israel | Netta | "Toy" | 317 | 529 | 59.92% | 62.90% |
2006 | Finland | Lordi | "Hard Rock Hallelujah" | 292 | 292 | 100.00% | 69.52% |
2019 | Norway | Keiino | "Spirit in the Sky" | 291 | 331 | 87.92% | 60.63% |
A tie-break procedure was implemented after the 1969 contest, in which France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom tied for first place. With no tie-breaking system in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners; in protest, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Portugal did not participate the following year.
In 1991, the tie-break procedure was implemented when Sweden and France both had 146 points at the end of the voting. At the time, there was no televoting system, and the tie-break rule was slightly different; the first tie-break rule at the time concerned the number of 12 points each country had received.[25][26] Both Sweden and France had received the maximum 12 points four times; when the number of 10-point scores was counted, Sweden, represented by Carola with "Fångad av en stormvind", claimed its third victory since it received five 10-point scores against France's two. The French entry, "Le Dernier qui a parlé..." performed by Amina, finished second with the smallest-ever losing margin.
The current tie-break procedure was implemented in the 2016 contest. In the procedure, sometimes known as a countback, if two (or more) countries tie, the song receiving more points from the televote is the winner. If the songs received the same number of televote points, the song that received at least one televote point from the greatest number of countries is the winner. If there is still a tie, a second tie-breaker counts the number of countries who assigned twelve televote points to each entry in the tie. Tie-breaks continue with ten points, eight points, and so on until the tie is resolved. If the tie cannot be resolved after the number of countries which assigned one point to the song is equal, the song performed earlier in the running order is declared the winner. The tie-break procedure originally applied only to first place ties or to determine a semi-final qualifier,[27] but since 2008 has been applied to all places.[28]
Year | Use | Description |
---|---|---|
1956–1969 | — | No tie-breaking rules were in place. |
1970–1988 | Only to determine the winner. | The jury decided the winner through a simple vote for their favourite. |
1989–2000 | The winner of a tie is the country that received more 12 points, then 10 points. If the tie cannot be broken in this way, all tied countries are winners.[29] | |
2001–2002 | To determine the winner and the qualifiers for the following year. | The winner of a tie is the country that received more 12 points, then 10 points, all the way down to 1. If the tie cannot be broken in this way, all tied countries are winners.[30] |
2003 | Only to determine the winner. | The winner of a tie is the country that received points from more countries, then the country that received more 12 points, then 10 points, all the way down to 1. If the tie cannot be broken in this way, all tied countries are winners.[31] |
2004–2006 | To determine the winner and the 10th qualifier from the semi-final. | |
2007 | The winner of a tie is the country that received points from more countries, then the country that received more 12 points, then 10 points, all the way down to 1. If the tie cannot be broken in this way, the country that performed earlier wins the tie.[32][33] | |
2008–2015 | Used for all ties. | |
2016–present | The winner of a tie is the country that received more points from the televoting, then the country that received points from more countries in the televoting, then the country that received more 12 points in the televoting, then 10 points, all the way down to 1. If the tie cannot be broken in this way, the country that performed earlier wins the tie. |