Eurovision Song Contest 2016

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2015 contest with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the contest was held at the Globe Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2016. The three live shows were presented by Petra Mede and the previous year's winner Måns Zelmerlöw.

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Come Together
Eurovision 2016 Official Logo.jpg
Dates
Semi-final 110 May 2016 (2016-05-10)
Semi-final 212 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
Final14 May 2016 (2016-05-14)
Host
VenueGlobe Arena
Stockholm, Sweden
Presenter(s)
Directed by
Executive supervisorJon Ola Sand
Executive producer
Host broadcasterSveriges Television (SVT)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/stockholm-2016 Edit this at Wikidata
Participants
Number of entries42
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries
  • Portugal in the Eurovision Song ContestSpain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Slovakia in the Eurovision Song ContestAustria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Turkey in the Eurovision Song ContestCyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Morocco in the Eurovision Song ContestLiechtenstein in the Eurovision Song ContestAndorra in the Eurovision Song ContestMonaco in the Eurovision Song ContestPoland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song ContestLebanon in the Eurovision Song ContestTunisia in the Eurovision Song ContestA coloured map of the countries of Europe
    About this image
         Finalist countries     Did not qualify from the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2016
Vote
Voting systemEach country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs.
Nul points in finalNone[a]
Winning song
2015 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 2017

Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine returned after absences from recent contests, while Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015. Portugal did not enter, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of its music-based media, while Romania had planned to participate, but was disqualified due to repeated non-payment of debts by its national broadcaster to the EBU.

The winner was Ukraine with the song "1944", performed and written by Jamala. Australia, Russia, Bulgaria and host country Sweden rounded out the top five. This was the first time since the introduction of professional jury voting in 2009 that the overall winner won neither the jury vote, which was won by Australia, nor the televote, which was won by Russia, with Ukraine placing second in both. "1944" is the first song containing lyrics in Crimean Tatar to win the contest.

The Czech Republic managed to qualify for the final for the first time in five attempts since its debut in 2007, while both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, the latter being absent from the final for the first time since 2000. In the final, Australia's second-place finish was an improvement on its fifth-place finish in 2015, while Bulgaria finished fourth, its best result since its debut and first participation in a final since 2007.

The contest was the first to implement a voting system change since 1975: each country's professional jury points were announced largely as before, while the results of each national televote were combined and announced in reverse order. It was also the first contest to be broadcast on live television in the United States, and the EBU recorded a record-breaking 204 million viewers worldwide for the contest, beating the 2015 viewing figures by over 5 million.

LocationEdit

 
Globe Arena, Stockholm - host venue of the 2016 contest

VenueEdit

The contest took place in the Globe Arena in Stockholm, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 contest. The Globe Arena has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this was the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.[1]

Bidding phaseEdit

Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue, while the eliminated cities are marked in red.

Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) announced on 24 May, the day after winning the 2015 contest, that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm was their first choice venue. However, other cities and arenas were invited to apply, and those making a bid had approximately three weeks to submit their offer to SVT.

SVT announced on 1 June the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest:[2]

  • SVT had to have access to the venue at least 4–6 weeks before the contest to build the stage and rig up lighting and technology.
  • A press centre with a specific size had to be made available at the venue.
  • A specific number of hotels and hotel rooms had to be made available in the vicinity of the venue.
  • The host city had to be near a major airport.

An announcement regarding the venue was expected from SVT by midsummer,[3][4] with the Ericsson Globe announced as the venue on 8 July.[5]

Key     Host venue

City[2] Venue Notes
Gothenburg Scandinavium Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985
Ullevi Proposal was dependent on the construction of a roof to cover the stadium. The idea was rejected due to costs.[6]
Linköping Saab Arena
Malmö[7] Malmö Arena Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Withdrew its bid on 11 June 2015, citing unavailability during the rehearsal weeks of the contest.[7]
Örnsköldsvik[8] Fjällräven Center
Sandviken and Gävle[9] Göransson Arena If this option were chosen, Sandviken would have hosted the three live shows in the Göransson Arena, while Gävle would have hosted satellite events such as smaller concerts and shows.[10]
Stockholm[11]
Annexet
Globe Arena   Host venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 and the final of Melodifestivalen in 1989 and between 2002 and 2012 inclusive.
Friends Arena Venue of the final of Melodifestivalen since 2013. Friends Arena is the biggest football stadium and indoor venue in Sweden and the Nordic countries. However, it was reportedly not part of Stockholm's bid.[11][12]
Hovet
Tele2 Arena SVT announced on 24 May 2015 that Tele2 Arena was their first choice venue for the contest.[3][13] However, it was not possible to use the venue due to the 4–6 week organisation requirement, which would impact on the pre-scheduled home games of Hammarby Fotboll.[12] The EBU announced on 14 March 2016 that Tele2 Arena would host Eurovision The Party, and the results of the Swedish jury vote would be announced live from the event.[14]

FormatEdit

The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 16 March 2015 at a Heads of Delegation meeting in Vienna, with the semi-finals taking place on 10 and 12 May, and the final on 14 May 2016.[15] These were subject to change depending on SVT,[16] but were later confirmed when Stockholm was announced as the host city.[5]

Discussions were held in 2014 between the EBU and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) regarding the inclusion of a guest performance from the ABU TV Song Festival at the contest. The EBU confirmed on 16 July 2015 that they would be looking into the possibility of the proposal, which was discussed at the ABU General Assembly in 2014.[17]

SVT proposed a change of start time of the contest from 21:00 CEST to 20:00 CEST on 9 September, arguing that such a change would help to promote family viewing of the contest, especially in eastern Europe when it would run late into the night.[18] However, the EBU published the public rules of the contest on 28 October, which stated that the start time would remain at 21:00 CEST.[19]

The EBU announced on 23 September that rather than using clips from their respective music videos, extended clips from the dress rehearsals of the six acts who qualified directly to the final (the "Big Five" and host nation Sweden) would be shown as previews during the semi-final in which they were allocated to vote.[20]

The core team for the contest was announced by SVT and the EBU on 26 October. Johan Bernhagen and Martin Österdahl were executive producers, while Tobias Åberg was head of production. The three live shows were directed by Sven Stojanović and the contest was produced by Christer Björkman.[21]

New voting systemEdit

The EBU announced on 18 February 2016 that a new voting system would be implemented at the contest for the first time since 1975. The new system, inspired by the voting system of Melodifestivalen, involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Televoting votes from all the countries would be pooled. After viewers cast their votes, the results of each professional jury would be presented, with countries receiving 1–8 and 10 points being displayed on-screen, instead of 1–7 as had been the case since 2006, and the national spokesperson announcing only the country to which they award 12 points. After the results of the professional juries were presented, the televoting points from all participating countries would be combined, providing one score for each song. The new voting system would also be used to determine the qualifiers from each semi-final, but, as before, the qualifiers are announced in a random order.[22][23]

As the new voting system would give equal weight to jury and televoting results, a national jury result could not be used as a backup result for the televoting or vice versa. Therefore, if a country could not deliver a valid televoting/jury result, a substitute result would be calculated by the jury/televoting result of a pre-selected group of countries approved by the contest's Reference Group. The Director General of Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), Carlo Romeo, stated on 23 February that the use of a substitute televoting result discriminated against microstates like San Marino, which only used a professional jury due to their use of the Italian phone system and would therefore have its voting representation diminished under the new system, and criticised the EBU for not contacting its members before making the decision.[24][25]

Other sitesEdit

The EBU announced on 14 March 2016 that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm would host a live event running alongside the final of the contest on 14 May.[14] Eurovision The Party, hosted by Sanna Nielsen, allowed fans to watch the final on a big screen and featured backstage material from the Globe Arena such as Nielsen conducting exclusive interviews and appearing with hosts Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw. The results of the Swedish jury vote was also announced live from the event by Gina Dirawi. A pre-party and after-party was also held and featured performances from former contest winners Carola and Loreen as well as Danny Saucedo, Panetoz and DJ Tim Henri.[26][27] Executive producer Johan Bernhagen has stated that the event complements existing events being held at the Eurovision Village and the EuroClub, and it is hoped that Eurovision The Party would become an annual event in the host city of the contest.[14]

PresentersEdit

 
Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede, hosts of the 2016 contest.

After his victory in the 2015 contest, Måns Zelmerlöw announced his interest in hosting the 2016 contest.[28] His experience as a television presenter includes Melodifestivalen 2010[29] and SVT sing-along show Allsång på Skansen.[30] Christer Björkman told Expressen on 25 May that Gina Dirawi, Petra Mede and Sanna Nielsen were also being considered as hosts,[31] but it was reported on 1 June that SVT was considering Zelmerlöw and Dolph Lundgren as co-hosts.[32] Expressen reported on 19 August that Mede and Zelmerlöw were SVT's first choice of hosts,[33] while it was announced at a press conference on 14 December that they would indeed co-host.[34]

The press conferences were presented by Jovan Radomir and Catarina Rolfsdotter-Jansson, who also provided commentary from the red carpet event in front of the Stockholm Palace, before the official welcome party at Stockholm City Hall on 8 May 2016.[35][36]

Semi-final allocation drawEdit

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at Stockholm City Hall on 25 January 2016, hosted by Alexandra Pascalidou and Jovan Radomir.[37] The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the "Big Five" and host country Sweden would have to vote. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. The EBU originally announced that the running order would be revealed on 5 April,[38] however for undisclosed reasons this was later put back to 8 April.[39] Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final, while nineteen countries were planned to participate in the second semi-final, but this was reduced to eighteen on 22 April due to the disqualification of Romania. From each semi-final, ten countries joined the "Big Five" and Sweden in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries participated.

The thirty-seven semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, which were published by the EBU on 21 January, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Sweden and Germany were pre-allocated to vote and perform in the first and second semi-final respectively due to requests from their respective broadcasters, which were approved by the EBU.[40][41]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Pot 5 Pot 6

Opening and interval actsEdit

 
Justin Timberlake performed "Rock Your Body" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" during the interval of the final.

The EBU announced on 1 May 2016 that the opening act of the first semi-final would be a performance of "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw,[42] while the opening act of the second semi-final would be a musical theatre comedy song entitled "That's Eurovision", composed by Matheson Bayley and written by Bayley, Edward af Sillén and Daniel Réhn, and performed by Zelmerlöw and Mede.[43] The opening act of the final was a parade of flags similar to final opening ceremonies since 2013, themed as a tribute to Swedish fashion design and dance music with artists being welcomed on stage in a catwalk fashion show with flags being projected onto 26 dresses designed by Bea Szenfeld.[44]

The interval acts of both semi-finals were sketches choreographed by Fredrik Rydman: "The Grey People" in the first semi-final and "Man vs Machine" in the second semi-final respectively. The EBU announced on 9 May that one of the interval acts of the final would be a world premiere live performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!" and "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake.[45] He was the first "global megastar" in the contest's 61-year-history to perform during the interval.[46] Other interval acts in the final included a sketch called "Love Love Peace Peace", a pastiche of past entries which featured appearances from Lordi and Alexander Rybak, winners of the contest in 2006 and 2009 respectively and performed by Zelmerlöw and Mede,[47] a sketch starring Lynda Woodruff, played by Sarah Dawn Finer, and a performance of "Fire in the Rain" and "Heroes" by Zelmerlöw, from his albums Chameleon and Perfectly Damaged respectively.[48]

During the live broadcast of the final on Logo TV in the United States, Timberlake's performance was replaced by a reprise of "The Grey People" from the first semi-final, while the official DVD release removed it entirely. In an interview with The Guardian, the contest's Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, revealed that this was due to rights restrictions.[49][50][51]

Participating countriesEdit

 
  Participating countries in the first semi-final
  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final
  Participating countries in the second semi-final
  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final

Participating countries had until 15 September 2015 to submit their applications for participation in the contest, and until 10 October to withdraw their applications without facing financial sanctions.[52] It had been initially announced on 26 November 2015 that 43 countries would participate in the contest, equalling the record number of participants set in 2008 and 2011.[53] However, Romania were disqualified from participation on 22 April 2016, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.[54]

Four countries returned after absences from recent contests: Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2012, Bulgaria and Croatia since 2013 and Ukraine since 2014. Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015, but by invitation of the EBU due to the associate membership status of the Special Broadcasting Service. However, instead of pre-qualifying for the final and voting in all three live shows, as was the case in 2015, Australia entered the second semi-final and voted only in that semi-final and the final. Portugal did not enter, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, as well as a poorly structured selection process,[55] while Romania were disqualified from participation on 22 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the EBU.[54]

Returning artistsEdit

Seven artists returned after having previously participated in the contest. Deen returned after previously representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, finishing ninth in the final with the song "In the Disco".[56]

Kaliopi returned after previously representing Macedonia in 2012, finishing 13th in the final with the song "Crno i belo". She was also selected to represent Macedonia in 1996 with "Samo ti", but was eliminated in a non-televised pre-qualifying round.[57]

Poli Genova returned after previously representing Bulgaria in 2011, finishing 12th in the second semi-final with the song "Na inat".[58]

Bojan Jovović returned for Montenegro as part of Highway after previously representing Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as part of No Name, finishing seventh in the final with the song "Zauvijek moja".[59]

Ira Losco returned after previously representing Malta in 2002, finishing in second place with the song "7th Wonder".[60]

Donny Montell returned after previously representing Lithuania in 2012, finishing 14th in the final with the song "Love Is Blind".[61]

Greta Salóme returned after previously representing Iceland in 2012 with Jónsi, finishing 20th in the final with the song "Never Forget".[62]

Armenian backing vocalist Monica previously represented Armenia in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

Sahlene, who represented Estonia in 2002, returned as a backing vocalist for Australia.

Martina Majerle, who represented Slovenia in 2009 and provided backing vocals numerous times for Croatia 2003, Montenegro 2008, 2014 and Slovenia 2007, 2011, 2012, returned as a backing vocalist for Croatia.

Semi-final 1Edit

Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final. France, Spain, and Sweden voted in this semi-final.[41][63] The highlighted countries qualified for the final.[64]

  Qualifiers
R/O[65] Country Artist Song Language Points Place[66]
1   Finland Sandhja "Sing It Away" English 51 15
2   Greece Argo "Utopian Land" English, Greek[d] 44 16
3   Moldova Lidia Isac "Falling Stars" English 33 17
4   Hungary Freddie "Pioneer" English 197 4[e]
5   Croatia Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" English 133 10
6   Netherlands Douwe Bob "Slow Down" English 197 5
7   Armenia Iveta Mukuchyan "LoveWave" English 243 2
8   San Marino Serhat "I Didn't Know" English 68 12
9   Russia Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" English 342 1
10   Czech Republic Gabriela Gunčíková "I Stand" English 161 9
11   Cyprus Minus One "Alter Ego" English 164 8
12   Austria Zoë "Loin d'ici" French 170 7
13   Estonia Jüri Pootsmann "Play" English 24 18
14   Azerbaijan Samra "Miracle" English 185 6
15   Montenegro Highway "The Real Thing" English 60 13
16   Iceland Greta Salóme "Hear Them Calling" English 51 14[f]
17   Bosnia and Herzegovina Dalal and Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala "Ljubav je" Bosnian 104 11
18   Malta Ira Losco "Walk on Water" English 209 3

Semi-final 2Edit

Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final.[41][63] Romania were originally planned to perform twelfth in this semi-final, but were disqualified due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU, resulting in countries originally planned to perform thirteenth or later to do so one place earlier.[54] The highlighted countries qualified for the final.[68]

  Qualifiers
R/O[65] Country Artist Song Language Points Place[69]
1   Latvia Justs "Heartbeat" English 132 8
2   Poland Michał Szpak "Color of Your Life" English 151 6
3   Switzerland Rykka "The Last of Our Kind" English 28 18
4   Israel Hovi Star "Made of Stars" English 147 7
5   Belarus Ivan "Help You Fly" English 84 12
6   Serbia Sanja Vučić Zaa "Goodbye (Shelter)" English 105 10
7   Ireland Nicky Byrne "Sunlight" English 46 15
8   Macedonia Kaliopi "Dona" (Дона) Macedonian 88 11
9   Lithuania Donny Montell "I've Been Waiting for This Night" English 222 4
10   Australia Dami Im "Sound of Silence" English 330 1
11   Slovenia ManuElla "Blue and Red" English 57 14
12   Bulgaria Poli Genova "If Love Was a Crime" English, Bulgarian 220 5
13   Denmark Lighthouse X "Soldiers of Love" English 34 17
14   Ukraine Jamala "1944" English, Crimean Tatar 287 2
15   Norway Agnete "Icebreaker" English 63 13
16   Georgia Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz "Midnight Gold" English 123 9
17   Albania Eneda Tarifa "Fairytale" English 45 16
18   Belgium Laura Tesoro "What's the Pressure" English 274 3

FinalEdit

26 countries participated in the final, with all 42 participating countries eligible to vote. The running order for the final was revealed after the second semi-final qualifiers' press conference on 13 May.[70]

  Winner
R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place[71]
1   Belgium Laura Tesoro "What's the Pressure" English 181 10
2   Czech Republic Gabriela Gunčíková "I Stand" English 41 25
3   Netherlands Douwe Bob "Slow Down" English 153 11
4   Azerbaijan Samra "Miracle" English 117 17
5   Hungary Freddie "Pioneer" English 108 19
6   Italy Francesca Michielin "No Degree of Separation" Italian, English 124 16
7   Israel Hovi Star "Made of Stars" English 135 14
8   Bulgaria Poli Genova "If Love Was a Crime" English, Bulgarian 307 4
9   Sweden Frans "If I Were Sorry" English 261 5
10   Germany Jamie-Lee "Ghost" English 11 26
11   France Amir "J'ai cherché" French, English 257 6
12   Poland Michał Szpak "Color of Your Life" English 229 8
13   Australia Dami Im "Sound of Silence" English 511 2
14   Cyprus Minus One "Alter Ego" English 96 21
15   Serbia Sanja Vučić ZAA "Goodbye (Shelter)" English 115 18
16   Lithuania Donny Montell "I've Been Waiting for This Night" English 200 9
17   Croatia Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" English 73 23
18   Russia Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" English 491 3
19   Spain Barei "Say Yay!" English 77 22
20   Latvia Justs "Heartbeat" English 132 15
21   Ukraine Jamala "1944" English, Crimean Tatar 534 1
22   Malta Ira Losco "Walk on Water" English 153 12
23   Georgia Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz "Midnight Gold" English 104 20
24   Austria Zoë "Loin d'ici" French 151 13
25   United Kingdom Joe and Jake "You're Not Alone" English 62 24
26   Armenia Iveta Mukuchyan "LoveWave" English 249 7

Detailed voting resultsEdit

Semi-final 1Edit

  Qualifiers
Split results of semi-final 1
Place Combined Jury Televoting
Country Points Country Points Country Points
1   Russia 342   Malta 155   Russia 194
2   Armenia 243   Russia 148   Austria 133
3   Malta 209   Armenia 127   Hungary 119
4   Hungary 197[g]   Czech Republic 120   Armenia 116
5   Netherlands 197[g]   Netherlands 102   Netherlands 95
6   Azerbaijan 185   Azerbaijan 92   Cyprus 93
7   Austria 170   Croatia 80   Azerbaijan 93
8   Cyprus 164   Hungary 78   Bosnia and Herzegovina 78
9   Czech Republic 161   Cyprus 71   Malta 54
10   Croatia 133   Montenegro 46   Croatia 53
11   Bosnia and Herzegovina 104   Austria 37   San Marino 49
12   San Marino 68   Finland 35   Czech Republic 41
13   Montenegro 60   Iceland 27   Iceland 24
14   Iceland 51[h]   Bosnia and Herzegovina 26   Greece 22
15   Finland 51[h]   Moldova 24   Finland 16
16   Greece 44   Greece 22   Estonia 15
17   Moldova 33   San Marino 19   Montenegro 14
18   Estonia 24   Estonia 9   Moldova 9
Detailed jury voting results of semi-final 1[72][73]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Jury vote
Finland
Greece
Moldova
Hungary
Croatia
Netherlands
Armenia
San Marino
Russia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Austria
Estonia
Azerbaijan
Montenegro
Iceland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malta
France
Spain
Sweden
Contestants
Finland 51 35 16 4 2 8 7 2 5 3 4
Greece 44 22 22 3 7 3 6 3
Moldova 33 24 9 3 6 6 5 4
Hungary 197 78 119 7 3 8 3 4 12 6 5 8 1 2 4 5 10
Croatia 133 80 53 5 5 3 12 2 1 1 6 7 7 3 7 7 5 6 3
Netherlands 197 102 95 12 1 4 6 2 4 12 10 6 12 2 12 1 8 4 6
Armenia 243 127 116 7 10 10 5 5 5 12 10 5 2 12 5 7 12 3 12 5
San Marino 68 19 49 3 10 6
Russia 342 148 194 6 12 12 10 6 1 7 3 12 8 1 12 8 10 8 10 2 8 12
Czech Republic 161 120 41 10 8 8 12 4 5 4 5 5 10 6 2 4 8 12 3 1 6 7
Cyprus 164 71 93 8 7 2 10 10 8 1 10 1 8 4 1 1
Austria 170 37 133 3 2 6 5 2 4 1 12 2
Estonia 24 9 15 1 2 2 1 1 2
Azerbaijan 185 92 93 2 5 7 3 7 6 10 3 4 4 7 5 3 6 7 5 8
Montenegro 60 46 14 6 10 10 3 7 3 7
Iceland 51 27 24 4 1 1 7 4 1 3 4 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 104 26 78 1 4 1 2 2 10 6
Malta 209 155 54 8 4 6 12 7 8 12 5 8 8 8 12 8 4 10 6 2 10 7 10
Detailed televoting results of semi-final 1[72]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Televote
Finland
Greece
Moldova
Hungary
Croatia
Netherlands
Armenia
San Marino
Russia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Austria
Estonia
Azerbaijan
Montenegro
Iceland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malta
France
Spain
Sweden
Contestants
Finland 51 35 16 1 7 2 6
Greece 44 22 22 7 3 12
Moldova 33 24 9 5 2 2
Hungary 197 78 119 4 7 6 8 6 6 7 6 6 6 8 5 7 6 6 1 8 7 5 4
Croatia 133 80 53 2 4 2 5 3 4 2 1 6 8 12 1 2 1
Netherlands 197 102 95 6 2 6 5 4 6 3 4 10 8 4 10 7 4 6 10
Armenia 243 127 116 1 8 8 2 3 12 8 12 12 7 4 1 3 3 3 4 12 10 3
San Marino 68 19 49 3 6 4 5 4 5 4 10 2 1 5
Russia 342 148 194 8 10 10 10 10 8 12 12 8 10 7 12 12 10 12 7 12 8 8 8
Czech Republic 161 120 41 3 3 3 4 2 2 2 1 1 3 1 4 2 3 7
Cyprus 164 71 93 7 12 7 2 3 8 5 8 4 2 6 1 5 5 2 6 5 3 2
Austria 170 37 133 10 5 7 8 7 10 5 3 10 5 3 10 6 8 6 1 10 12 7
Estonia 24 9 15 12 1 2
Azerbaijan 185 92 93 12 12 10 7 10 8 7 7 10 10
Montenegro 60 46 14 6 8
Iceland 51 27 24 5 1 3 3 3 4 5
Bosnia and Herzegovina 104 26 78 12 7 1 4 7 12 5 12 6 12
Malta 209 155 54 1 5 4 1 1 10 2 1 5 2 8 4 4 5 1

12 pointsEdit

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury and televote in the first semi-final. Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points (12 points apiece from professional jury and televoting) to the specified entrant.

12 points awarded by juries
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
5   Russia   Azerbaijan,   Cyprus,   Greece,   Moldova,   Sweden
4   Armenia   Malta,   Montenegro,   Russia,   Spain
  Netherlands   Estonia,   Finland,   Iceland,   San Marino
3   Malta   Armenia,   Austria,   Hungary
2   Czech Republic   Bosnia and Herzegovina,   Croatia
1   Austria   France
  Croatia   Netherlands
  Hungary   Czech Republic
12 points awarded by televoting
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6   Russia   Armenia,   Azerbaijan,   Estonia,   Iceland,   Malta,   San Marino
4   Armenia   Czech Republic,   France,   Netherlands,   Russia
  Bosnia and Herzegovina   Austria,   Croatia,   Montenegro,   Sweden
2   Azerbaijan   Hungary,   Moldova
1   Austria   Spain
  Croatia   Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Cyprus   Greece
  Estonia   Finland
  Greece   Cyprus

Semi-final 2Edit

  Qualifiers
Split results of semi-final 2
Place Combined Jury Televoting
Country Points Country Points Country Points
1   Australia 330   Australia 188   Ukraine 152
2   Ukraine 287   Belgium 139   Australia 142
3   Belgium 274   Ukraine 135   Belgium 135
4   Lithuania 222   Israel 127   Poland 131
5   Bulgaria 220   Lithuania 104   Bulgaria 122
6   Poland 151   Bulgaria 98   Lithuania 118
7   Israel 147   Georgia 84   Latvia 68
8   Latvia 132   Latvia 64   Macedonia 54
9   Georgia 123   Serbia 55   Belarus 52
10   Serbia 105   Slovenia 49   Serbia 50
11   Macedonia 88   Macedonia 34   Georgia 39
12   Belarus 84   Belarus 32   Albania 35
13   Norway 63   Norway 29   Norway 34
14   Slovenia 57   Switzerland 25   Ireland 31
15   Ireland 46   Poland 20   Denmark 24
16   Albania 45   Ireland 15   Israel 20
17   Denmark 34   Denmark 10   Slovenia 8
18   Switzerland 28   Albania 10   Switzerland 3
Detailed jury voting results of semi-final 2[74][75]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Jury vote
Latvia
Poland
Switzerland
Israel
Belarus
Serbia
Ireland
Macedonia
Lithuania
Australia
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Denmark
Ukraine
Norway
Georgia
Albania
Belgium
Germany
Italy
United Kingdom
Contestants
Latvia 132 64 68 6 6 7 4 2 7 10 3 6 2 5 1 5
Poland 151 20 131 1 3 3 1 4 3 2 3
Switzerland 28 25 3 1 5 1 7 2 7 1 1
Israel 147 127 20 2 8 10 1 7 7 6 6 10 4 5 5 7 5 6 4 10 12 8 4
Belarus 84 32 52 1 4 1 2 6 2 6 5 2 3
Serbia 105 55 50 5 1 3 5 12 3 8 3 8 2 5
Ireland 46 15 31 2 4 2 3 2 2
Macedonia 88 34 54 8 12 2 12
Lithuania 222 104 118 12 3 8 4 10 5 3 5 7 1 3 10 8 8 2 3 3 1 8
Australia 330 188 142 8 10 12 12 8 4 6 4 12 5 12 12 12 12 8 10 12 7 12 10
Slovenia 57 49 8 3 6 8 7 1 4 1 6 7 6
Bulgaria 220 98 122 7 5 4 3 4 2 10 8 2 8 6 7 10 7 6 4 5
Denmark 34 10 24 3 4 3
Ukraine 287 135 152 10 12 5 10 7 10 10 8 8 4 1 6 12 5 5 6 10 6
Norway 63 29 34 2 6 4 5 6 1 4 1
Georgia 123 84 39 6 7 5 2 3 1 1 10 7 4 1 8 10 7 12
Albania 45 10 35 8 2
Belgium 274 139 135 4 2 7 6 12 12 3 5 12 12 10 8 10 7 10 8 4 7
Detailed televoting results of semi-final 2[74]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Televote
Latvia
Poland
Switzerland
Israel
Belarus
Serbia
Ireland
Macedonia
Lithuania
Australia
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Denmark
Ukraine
Norway
Georgia
Albania
Belgium
Germany
Italy
United Kingdom
Contestants
Latvia 132 64 68 5 5 7 7 12 5 2 3 3 8 3 3 5
Poland 151 20 131 4 7 6 6 1 10 1 7 4 6 6 12 10 7 12 12 10 10
Switzerland 28 25 3 3
Israel 147 127 20 1 2 6 2 2 1 1 1 2 2
Belarus 84 32 52 7 8 3 5 1 6 4 1 10 6 1
Serbia 105 55 50 12 10 2 12 5 2 1 6
Ireland 46 15 31 1 2 2 1 1 7 4 2 4 7
Macedonia 88 34 54 4 2 12 4 10 8 12 2
Lithuania 222 104 118 10 3 5 10 12 8 3 7 6 12 10 4 8 4 4 12
Australia 330 188 142 8 10 6 12 7 7 8 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 4 6 10 10 3 6
Slovenia 57 49 8 4 3 1
Bulgaria 220 98 122 3 4 3 10 8 8 5 8 3 10 5 3 5 6 5 7 7 7 7 8
Denmark 34 10 24 2 1 1 4 3 1 5 2 5
Ukraine 287 135 152 12 12 5 7 12 6 4 6 10 3 8 12 5 4 12 5 6 8 12 3
Norway 63 29 34 3 3 2 2 2 1 10 1 10
Georgia 123 84 39 5 7 2 2 8 1 8 5 1
Albania 45 10 35 10 12 3 2 8
Belgium 274 139 135 6 6 8 8 4 10 6 5 4 12 7 10 12 4 7 3 8 6 5 4

12 pointsEdit

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury and televote in the second semi-final. Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points (12 points apiece from professional jury and televoting) to the specified entrant.

12 points awarded by juries
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
9   Australia   Belgium,   Bulgaria,   Denmark,   Israel,   Italy,   Lithuania,   Norway,   Switzerland,   Ukraine
4   Belgium   Australia,   Belarus,   Ireland,   Slovenia
2   Macedonia   Albania,   Serbia
  Ukraine   Georgia,   Poland
1   Georgia   United Kingdom
  Israel   Germany
  Lithuania   Latvia
  Serbia   Macedonia
12 points awarded by televoting
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6   Ukraine   Belarus,   Bulgaria,   Georgia,   Italy,   Latvia,   Poland
3   Poland   Belgium,   Germany,   Ukraine
  Lithuania   Ireland,   Norway,   United Kingdom
2   Belgium   Australia,   Denmark
  Macedonia   Albania,   Serbia
  Serbia   Slovenia,   Switzerland
1   Albania   Macedonia
  Australia   Israel
  Latvia   Lithuania

FinalEdit

  Winner
Split results of the final
Place Combined Jury Televoting
Country Points Country Points Country Points
1   Ukraine 534   Australia 320   Russia 361
2   Australia 511   Ukraine 211   Ukraine 323
3   Russia 491   France 148   Poland 222
4   Bulgaria 307   Malta 137   Australia 191
5   Sweden 261   Russia 130   Bulgaria 180
6   France 257   Belgium 130   Sweden 139
7   Armenia 249   Bulgaria 127   Armenia 134
8   Poland 229   Israel 124   Austria 120
9   Lithuania 200   Sweden 122   France 109
10   Belgium 181   Armenia 115   Lithuania 96
11   Netherlands 153[i]   Netherlands 114   Serbia 80
12   Malta 153[i]   Lithuania 104   Azerbaijan 73
13   Austria 151   Italy 90   Latvia 63
14   Israel 135   Georgia 80   Hungary 56
15   Latvia 132   Latvia 69   Cyprus 53
16   Italy 124   Spain 67   Belgium 51
17   Azerbaijan 117   United Kingdom 54   Netherlands 39
18   Serbia 115   Hungary 52   Italy 34
19   Hungary 108   Azerbaijan 44   Croatia 33
20   Georgia 104   Cyprus 43   Georgia 24
21   Cyprus 96   Czech Republic 41   Malta 16
22   Spain 77   Croatia 40   Israel 11
23   Croatia 73   Serbia 35   Spain 10
24   United Kingdom 62   Austria 31   Germany 10
25   Czech Republic 41   Poland 7   United Kingdom 8
26   Germany 11   Germany 1   Czech Republic 0
Detailed jury voting results of the final[76][77]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Jury vote
Austria
Iceland
Azerbaijan
San Marino
Czech Republic
Ireland
Georgia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malta
Spain
Finland
Switzerland
Denmark
France
Moldova
Armenia
Cyprus
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Latvia
Israel
Belarus
Germany
Russia
Norway
Australia
Belgium
United Kingdom
Croatia
Greece
Lithuania
Serbia
Macedonia
Albania
Estonia
Ukraine
Italy
Poland
Slovenia
Hungary
Montenegro
Sweden
Contestants
Belgium 181 130 51 5 3 2 12 10 10 8 4 10 4 6 4 5 5 12 5 4 10 8 3
Czech Republic 41 41 0 4 5 2 6 3 1 1 10 4 2 3
Netherlands 153 114 39 12 4 7 8 3 10 5 7 7 2 3 4 6 3 4 5 2 6 4 1 6 5
Azerbaijan 117 44 73 1 2 2 1 2 10 1 1 7 7 10
Hungary 108 52 56 4 2 10 10 4 1 5 3 1 2 3 7
Italy 124 90 34 10 6 8 5 2 2 12 3 6 3 12 10 3 8
Israel 135 124 11 3 4 3 1 1 7 8 2 5 7 2 12 3 10 2 3 7 6 7 5 3 6 8 7 2
Bulgaria 307 127 180 8 10 3 10 1 6 10 7 1 7 1 8 8 6 5 2 4 10 4 1 3 10 2
Sweden 261 122 139 8 6 12 5 6 12 4 5 6 10 8 8 10 12 4 2 4
Germany 11 1 10 1
France 257 148 109 7 2 5 3 4 7 6 7 1 12 7 5 8 7 6 8 6 8 6 1 10 1 7 1 5 8
Poland 229 7 222 2 1 3 1
Australia 511 320 191 12 10 7 8 10 3 8 8 12 10 6 10 5 10 8 12 5 10 6 6 2 10 12 8 12 7 12 6 8 12 10 5 6 10 6 12 4 12
Cyprus 96 43 53 5 5 2 6 4 7 1 8 4 1
Serbia 115 35 80 8 5 2 2 7 5 6
Lithuania 200 104 96 1 5 3 5 6 7 5 4 1 10 1 10 1 2 7 4 8 5 12 2 3 2
Croatia 73 40 33 6 7 8 2 4 1 1 3 1 1 6
Russia 491 130 361 3 8 12 7 5 4 4 1 7 2 12 6 7 12 6 12 1 7 8 6
Spain 77 67 10 1 2 1 3 8 3 4 4 7 5 6 12 5 5 1
Latvia 132 69 63 1 1 7 3 5 2 3 7 3 8 8 6 7 8
Ukraine 534 211 323 10 12 12 12 6 12 12 3 12 12 7 7 4 2 3 10 2 8 12 12 7 10 12 12
Malta 153 137 16 10 4 6 3 6 6 5 4 3 8 6 7 4 5 8 4 10 2 2 5 10 12 7
Georgia 104 80 24 6 10 3 8 5 7 12 5 10 3 3 8
Austria 151 31 120 1 1 4 4 8 8 5
United Kingdom 62 54 8 8 4 7 12 3 6 4 2 5 3
Armenia 249 115 134 2 2 7 12 2 5 8 12 2 6 2 3 12 4 10 4 3 4 1 10 4
Detailed televoting results of the final[76]
  • Voting procedure used:
  •   100% televoting
  •   100% jury vote
Total score
Jury score
Televoting score
Televote
Austria
Iceland
Azerbaijan
San Marino
Czech Republic
Ireland
Georgia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malta
Spain
Finland
Switzerland
Denmark
France
Moldova
Armenia
Cyprus
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Latvia
Israel
Belarus
Germany
Russia
Norway
Australia
Belgium
United Kingdom
Croatia
Greece
Lithuania
Serbia
Macedonia
Albania
Estonia
Ukraine
Italy
Poland
Slovenia
Hungary
Montenegro
Sweden
Contestants
Belgium 181 130 51 3 8 4 12 1 2 12 5 4
Czech Republic 41 41 0
Netherlands 153 114 39 6 6 3 7 3 10 2 2
Azerbaijan 117 44 73 1 6 7 8 6 8 1 3 2 8 6 10 7
Hungary 108 52 56 7 1 3 2 1 5 3 4 3 3 2 2 10 1 6 3
Italy 124 90 34 7 3 7 1 1 10 1 4
Israel 135 124 11 6 3 2
Bulgaria 307 127 180 5 8 3 5 5 3 2 8 12 4 5 2 12 1 1 7 4 4 5 10 5 8 1 7 8 10 8 2 7 3 2 4 5 4
Sweden 261 122 139 7 12 4 2 2 1 10 12 2 2 1 3 2 7 2 8 2 7 1 1 7 7 1 3 10 1 10 5 7
Germany 11 1 10 2 8
France 257 148 109 1 5 4 4 2 10 3 3 2 6 7 6 4 12 3 1 7 8 2 4 3 2 5 1 1 3
Poland 229 7 222 12 10 3 7 7 10 4 5 5 5 5 7 1 2 6 10 5 4 6 10 5 10 12 10 4 3 6 2 5 1 8 10 4 8 10
Australia 511 320 191 3 8 2 5 1 6 1 3 12 4 7 1 10 5 5 5 5 6 5 1 5 4 8 4 6 5 5 5 6 3 12 4 4 7 3 3 12
Cyprus 96 43 53 1 6 7 7 2 12 3 3 6 1 5
Serbia 115 35 80 4 12 12 12 12 4 12 12
Lithuania 200 104 96 4 8 12 5 6 3 3 8 12 1 12 4 5 3 2 2 6
Croatia 73 40 33 10 4 5 8 6
Russia 491 130 361 8 7 12 10 10 8 8 6 10 8 8 6 4 6 12 12 10 12 3 12 10 12 12 6 5 6 7 8 10 8 12 8 7 12 12 8 8 10 10 10 8
Spain 77 67 10 2 1 2 4 1
Latvia 132 69 63 6 7 6 2 1 5 1 3 3 12 7 5 5
Ukraine 534 211 323 10 10 12 12 4 10 7 4 7 12 4 3 10 10 10 7 10 7 10 8 10 6 10 4 8 2 5 10 6 10 7 6 6 8 12 12 7 12 8 7
Malta 153 137 16 5 5 6
Georgia 104 80 24 1 8 2 4 6 3
Austria 151 31 120 2 4 1 5 2 6 10 1 8 4 4 4 6 4 3 7 8 3 3 6 1 1 6 4 6 6 5
United Kingdom 62 54 8 3 1 4
Armenia 249 115 134 2 8 12 6 12 7 8 8 8 6 7 2 12 7 8 2 7 2 7 1 2

12 pointsEdit

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury and televote in the final. Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points (12 points apiece from professional jury and televoting) to the specified entrant.

12 points awarded by juries
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
11   Ukraine   Bosnia and Herzegovina,   Denmark,   Georgia,   Israel,   Latvia,   Macedonia,   Moldova,   Poland,   San Marino,   Serbia,   Slovenia
9   Australia   Albania,   Austria,   Belgium,   Croatia,   Hungary,   Lithuania,   Netherlands,   Sweden,   Switzerland
4   Russia   Azerbaijan,   Belarus,   Cyprus,   Greece
3   Armenia   Bulgaria,   Russia,   Spain
  Sweden   Czech Republic,   Estonia,   Finland
2   Belgium   Australia,   Ireland
  Italy   France,   Norway
1   France   Armenia
  Georgia   United Kingdom
  Israel   Germany
  Lithuania   Ukraine
  Malta   Montenegro
  Netherlands   Iceland
  Spain   Italy
  United Kingdom   Malta
12 points awarded by televoting
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
10   Russia   Armenia,   Azerbaijan,   Belarus,   Bulgaria,   Estonia,   Germany,   Latvia,   Moldova,   Serbia,   Ukraine
6   Serbia   Bosnia and Herzegovina,   Croatia,   Macedonia,   Montenegro,   Slovenia,   Switzerland
  Ukraine   Czech Republic,   Finland,   Hungary,   Italy,   Poland,   San Marino
3   Armenia   France,   Georgia,   Russia
  Australia   Albania,   Malta,   Sweden
  Lithuania   Ireland,   Norway,   United Kingdom
2   Belgium   Australia,   Netherlands
  Bulgaria   Cyprus,   Spain
  Poland   Austria,   Belgium
  Sweden   Denmark,   Iceland
1   Cyprus   Greece
  France   Israel
  Latvia   Lithuania

SpokespersonsEdit

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:[78]

  1.   Austria – Kati Bellowitsch
  2.   Iceland – Unnsteinn Manúel Stefánsson
  3.   Azerbaijan – Tural Asadov
  4.   San Marino – Irol MC [it]
  5.   Czech Republic – Daniela Písařovicová [cz]
  6.   Ireland – Sinéad Kennedy
  7.   Georgia – Nina Sublatti
  8.   Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ivana Crnogorac
  9.   Malta – Ben Camille
  10.   Spain – Jota Abril [es]
  11.   Finland – Jussi-Pekka Rantanen [fi]
  12.   Switzerland – Sebalter
  13.   Denmark – Ulla Essendrop
  14.   France – Élodie Gossuin
  15.   Moldova – Olivia Furtună
  16.   Armenia – Arman Margaryan
  17.   Cyprus – Loukas Hamatsos
  18.   Bulgaria – Anna Angelova
  19.   Netherlands – Trijntje Oosterhuis
  20.   Latvia – Toms Grēviņš [lv]
  21.   Israel – Ofer Nachshon [he]
  22.   Belarus – Uzari
  23.   Germany – Barbara Schöneberger
  24.   Russia – Nyusha
  25.   Norway – Elisabeth Andreassen
  26.   Australia – Lee Lin Chin
  27.   Belgium – Umesh Vangaver [nl]
  28.   United Kingdom – Richard Osman
  29.   Croatia – Nevena Rendeli
  30.   Greece – Constantinos Christoforou
  31.   Lithuania – Ugnė Galadauskaitė
  32.   Serbia – Dragana Kosjerina [sr]
  33.   Macedonia – Dijana Gogova
  34.   Albania – Andri Xhahu
  35.   Estonia – Daniel Levi Viinalass [et]
  36.   Ukraine – Verka Serduchka
  37.   Italy – Claudia Andreatti
  38.   Poland – Anna Popek [pl]
  39.   Slovenia – Marjetka Vovk
  40.   Hungary – Csilla Tatár
  41.   Montenegro – Danijel Alibabić
  42.   Sweden – Gina Dirawi

Other countriesEdit

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network.[79] The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members and associate member Australia.[53]

Active EBU membersEdit

  •   AndorraRàdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced on 2 September 2015 that Andorra would not participate in the contest.[80]
  •   LebanonTélé Liban (TL) had not ruled out participation as of 15 October 2015, stating in an email: "We are not sure yet, however we are working on it and will keep you updated".[81] However, Lebanon was not on the final list of participating countries announced by the EBU on 26 November.
  •   LuxembourgRTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) announced on 4 September 2015 that Luxembourg would not participate in the contest, due to the financial and organisational strain of a potential participation on the channel, especially with a small financial budget.[82]
  •   MonacoTélé Monte Carlo (TMC) announced on 21 July 2015 that Monaco would not participate in the contest.[83]
  •   PortugalRádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) had encouraged viewers to suggest changes to their selection process, assuming they had chosen to participate in the contest. Portugal has failed to qualify for the final since 2010, which the majority of the Portuguese public believe is because of RTP's current selection format, Festival da Canção.[55] Kátia Aveiro, sister of Cristiano Ronaldo, had launched a campaign on Twitter asking fans to back her bid to represent Portugal.[84] However, RTP announced on 7 October 2015 that Portugal would not participate in the 2016 contest, adding that they were looking forward to participating in the 2017 contest with a restructured selection process.[85] RTP's ombudsman, Jaime Fernandes, stated on 7 November during the television show A Voz do Cidadão that the decision was due not only to poor results in previous contests, but also RTP's rather insufficient promotion of music-related content.[86]
  •   Romania – Romania had originally confirmed their participation in the contest with the song "Moment of Silence", performed by Ovidiu Anton. However, the EBU announced on 22 April 2016 that Televiziunea Română (TVR) had repeatedly failed to pay debts totalling CHF 16 million (14.56 million) by 20 April, the deadline set by the EBU. TVR's failure to repay their debts resulted in their expulsion from the EBU, and consequently Romania's disqualification from the contest.[87] This has led to strong reactions against the decision.[88]
  •   SlovakiaRozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) returned to the Eurovision Young Dancers in 2015, with RTVS explaining that the return of Slovakia to EYD supported domestic production and promoted national culture at a European level. RTVS announced on 28 September 2015 that Slovakia would not participate in the contest.[89] RTVS' PR manager, Juraj Kadáš, explained on 12 April 2016 that Slovakia's absence from the contest since 2012 was not due to poor results, but rather the cost associated with participation.[90]
  •   Turkey – The EBU announced on 2 October 2015 that despite speculation surrounding their participation, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) had yet to make a final decision.[91] However, TRT announced on 3 November that Turkey would not participate in the contest, adding their discontent at the introduction of a mixed voting system to the contest and the pre-qualification of the Big Five for the final. It was later revealed that singer Atiye would have gone to Eurovision 2016.[92][93][94]

Associate EBU membersEdit

  •   Kazakhstan – The EBU announced on 18 December 2015 that Khabar Agency would have associate EBU membership from 1 January 2016. However, Kazakhstan would be unable to debut at the contest as eligibility for participation requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership.[95]

Non-EBU membersEdit

  •   ChinaHunan Television announced its interest in participating in the contest on 22 May 2015, with the EBU responding, saying that "we are open and are always looking for new elements in each Eurovision Song Contest".[96] However, on 3 June, the EBU denied that China would debut at the contest as a guest or full participant.[97]
  •   Faroe Islands – Faroese publication Portal reported on 9 June 2015 that Kringvarp Føroya (KVF) had applied for active EBU membership, a requisite for participation in the contest. However, it was rejected due to the islands' membership of the Danish Realm. Faroese Education Minister Bjørn Kalsø supported participation, saying "the justification so far has been that the countries have to be acknowledged by the United Nations as independent in order to participate. But there is no doubt that we could easily overstep those barriers, if we’re absolutely determined to reach this goal … it is completely up to Kringvarpið … to renew the application regularly, and show the EBU that the Faroe Islands are an equal match to other countries when it comes to participation in the Eurovision Song Contest."[98][99]
  •   Kosovo – Kosovan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Petrit Selimi tweeted on 23 May 2015 that Kosovo, which is not recognised by 15 states in Europe and does not have a national broadcaster with active EBU membership, would debut at the contest. Selimi tweeted that he knew that Kosovo would participate, but did not elaborate on how it would come about.[100] However, on 3 June, the EBU denied that Kosovo would debut at the contest, as Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (RTK) has neither active nor associate EBU membership.[97]
  •   Liechtenstein1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television (1FLTV) announced on 16 September 2015 that Liechtenstein would be unable to debut at the contest due to insufficient funding for EBU membership.[101]

BroadcastsEdit

Most countries sent commentators to Stockholm or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.

It was reported by the EBU that the contest was viewed by a worldwide television audience of over 200 million viewers,[102][103] beating the 2015 record which was viewed by 197 million.[104]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  Albania All shows TVSH, RTSH HD, RTSH Muzikë, Radio Tirana Andri Xhahu [105][106]
  Armenia All shows Armenia 1, Public Radio of Armenia Avet Barseghyan [107][108]
  Australia All shows SBS, SBS Radio 4 Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang [109][110]
  Austria All shows ORF eins Andi Knoll [111]
  Azerbaijan All shows İTV Azer Suleymanli [112][113]
  Belarus All shows Belarus-1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin [114]
  Belgium All shows één Peter Van de Veire [115]
La Une Jean-Louis Lahaye [fr] and Maureen Louys [116][117]
  Bosnia and Herzegovina All shows BHT 1, BHT HD, BH Radio 1 Dejan Kukrić [118]
  Bulgaria All shows BNT 1, BNT HD Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev [119][120]
  Croatia All shows HRT 1 Duško Ćurlić [121]
HR 2 Zlatko Turkalj [hr]
  Cyprus All shows RIK 1, RIK Sat, RIK HD, RIK Triton Melina Karageorgiou [122]
  Czech Republic Semi-finals ČT2 Libor Bouček [cs] [123]
Final ČT1
  Denmark All shows DR1 Ole Tøpholm [124]
  Estonia All shows ETV Marko Reikop [125]
ETV+ Aleksandr Hobotov [126]
SF1/Final Raadio 2 Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk [127]
  Finland All shows Yle TV2, TV Finland
[128][129]
Yle Radio Suomi Sanna Pirkkalainen and Jorma Hietamäki
Yle Radio Vega Eva Frantz [fi] and Johan Lindroos [130]
  France Semi-finals France 4 Marianne James and Jarry [fr] [131]
Final France 2 Marianne James and Stéphane Bern
  Georgia All shows 1TV Tuta Chkheidze and Nika Katsia [132][133]
  Germany Semi-finals Einsfestival, Phoenix Peter Urban [134][135]
Final Das Erste
  Greece All shows ERT1, ERT HD, ERT World Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Kapoutzidis [136]
Deftero Programma, Voice of Greece
  Hungary All shows Duna Gábor Gundel Takács [hu] [137]
  Iceland All shows RÚV, Rás 2 Gísli Marteinn Baldursson [138]
  Ireland Semi-finals RTÉ2 Marty Whelan [139]
Final RTÉ One
SF2/Final RTÉ Radio 1 Neil Doherty and Zbyszek Zalinski
  Israel All shows[j] Channel 1 No commentary; Hebrew subtitles [140][141]
SF2/Final Channel 33 No commentary; Arabic subtitles
IBA 88FM Kobi Menora, Or Vaxman and Nancy Brandes [he]
  Italy Semi-finals Rai 4 Marco Ardemagni [it] and Filippo Solibello [it] [142][143][144]
Final Rai 1 Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo
All shows Rai Radio 2 Marco Ardemagni and Filippo Solibello
  Latvia All shows LTV1 Valters Frīdenbergs [145][146]
Final Toms Grēviņš [lv]
  Lithuania All shows LRT, LRT HD, LRT Radijas Darius Užkuraitis [lt] [147]
  Macedonia All shows MRT 1 Karolina Petkovska [148]
  Malta All shows TVM Arthur Caruana [149][150]
  Moldova All shows Moldova 1 Gloria Gorceag [151][152]
Radio Moldova, Radio Moldova Muzical, Radio Moldova Tineret
  Montenegro All shows TVCG 1, TVCG SAT Dražen Bauković and Tijana Mišković [153][154]
  Netherlands All shows NPO 1, BVN Cornald Maas and Jan Smit [155][156]
SF2 Douwe Bob [157]
  Norway All shows NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan [158]
Final NRK3 Ronny Brede Aase [no], Silje Nordnes [no] and Markus Neby [no] [159]
SF2/Final NRK P1 Ole Christian Øen [160]
  Poland All shows[k] TVP1, TVP Polonia, TVP Rozrywka, TVP HD Artur Orzech [161]
  Russia All shows Russia-1, Russia HD Dmitry Guberniev and Ernest Mackevičius [162]
  San Marino All shows San Marino RTV, Radio San Marino Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo [163]
  Serbia SF1 RTS1, RTS HD, RTS SAT Dragan Ilić [164]
SF2/Final Duška Vučinić [165][166]
  Slovenia Semi-finals TV SLO 2 Andrej Hofer [sl] [167]
Final TV SLO 1
SF2/Final Radio Val 202
All shows Radio Maribor
  Spain Semi-finals La 2 José María Íñigo and Julia Varela [168]
Final La 1
  Sweden All shows SVT1 Lotta Bromé [169]
SR P4 Carolina Norén and Björn Kjellman [170]
  Switzerland Semi-finals SRF zwei Sven Epiney [171]
Final SRF 1
SRF 1, Radio SRF 3 Peter Schneider and Gabriel Vetter [de]
SF2/Final RTS Deux Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner [172]
SF2 RSI La 2 Clarissa Tami [it] [173]
Final RSI La 1 Clarissa Tami and Michele "Cerno" Carobbio [174]
  Ukraine All shows UA:First Timur Miroshnychenko and Tetyana Terekhova [175]
Ukrainian Radio Olena Zelinchenko [176]
  United Kingdom Semi-finals BBC Four Scott Mills and Mel Giedroyc [177][178]
Final BBC One Graham Norton
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country/Territory Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  China All shows Hunan Television Kubert Leung and Wu Zhoutong [179]
  Kazakhstan All shows Khabar TV Diana Snegina and Kaldybek Zhaysanbay [180]
  Kosovo All shows RTK Unknown [181]
  New Zealand Final BBC UKTV Graham Norton [182]
  Portugal All shows RTP1 Hélder Reis [pt] and Nuno Galopim [183][184][185][186]
  Slovakia Final RTVS Unknown [187]
  United States Final Logo TV Carson Kressley and Michelle Collins [188][189]

International sign broadcastEdit

SVT announced on 22 April 2016 that they would offer International Sign broadcasts of all three live shows for the hearing impaired. All three broadcasts were produced by Julia Kankkonen.[190] The performances of competing entries were interpreted by ten sign language performers and the dialogue of hosts were interpreted by three sign language performers:[191][192][193]

  • Markus Aro (Finland)
  • Ebru Bilen Basaran (Denmark)
  • Vivien Batory (Denmark)
  • Laith Fathulla (Sweden)
  • Rafael-Evitan Grombelka (Germany)
  • Amadeus Lantz (Sweden)
  • Georg Marsh (Austria)
  • Amina Ouahid (Sweden)
  • Tommy Rangsjö (Sweden)
  • Pavel Rodionov (Russia)
  • Laura Levita Valytė (Lithuania)
  • Kolbrún Völkudóttir (Iceland)
  • Xuejia Rennie Zacsko (Sweden)

The international sign broadcasts was streamed online alongside the three live shows,[191] with the following countries also televising the broadcasts:

IncidentsEdit

Disqualification of RomaniaEdit

Romania's participation was reported to be in danger on 19 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by Televiziunea Română (TVR) to the EBU, totalling CHF 16 million (€14.56 million) dating back to January 2007.[198][199] The EBU had requested the Romanian government to repay the debt before 20 April or face exclusion from the contest. The EBU announced on 22 April that after the Romanian government had failed to repay the debt by the deadline, TVR were expelled from the EBU, consequently disqualifying Romania from the contest.[200][201] The Director General of the EBU, Ingrid Deltenre, said that while "it is regrettable that we are forced to take this action […] The continued indebtedness of TVR jeopardizes the financial stability of the EBU itself".[202]

However, because the official album of the contest had been produced before the disqualification, the planned Romanian entry, "Moment of Silence", performed by Ovidiu Anton, would remain on both digital and physical copies of the album.[54] The song had been written following the Colectiv nightclub fire in October 2015.[203]

German artist replacementEdit

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) announced on 19 November 2015 that Xavier Naidoo would represent Germany in the contest. However, his selection was criticised due to his history of expressing far-right political views in his actions and lyrics, including a speech made at a protest in 2014 supporting the assertion that the German Reich continues to exist within its pre-World War II borders, his propagation of conspiracy theories surrounding the September 11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis, and a song in which he referred to Baron Rothschild as "Baron Deadschild" and a "schmuck", as well as a collaboration with Kool Savas titled "Wo sind sie jetzt?", which contained homophobic lyrics which were interpreted as associating homosexuality with paedophilia. Critics of his selection included Johannes Kahrs, who branded the decision "unspeakable and embarrassing", the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and Bild.[204][205][206][207]

In light of the negative response and the need to quickly decide a new selection process, NDR withdrew its proposal to send Naidoo on 21 November. ARD co-ordinator Thomas Schreiber stated that "Xavier Naidoo is a brilliant singer who is, according to my own opinion, neither racist nor homophobe. It was clear that his nomination would polarise opinions, but we were surprised about the negative response. The Eurovision Song Contest is a fun event, in which music and the understanding between European people should be the focus. This characteristic must be kept at all costs."[205][208]

Russian jury votesEdit

The EBU announced on 10 May 2016 that they were investigating reports of possible rule violations after Russian jury member Anastasia Stotskaya streamed footage of the Russian jury deliberation during the dress rehearsal of the first semi-final on 9 May on the live-streaming social media site Periscope.[209] The video showed one jury member not paying attention to the Dutch performance, while another jury member was filmed during the Armenian performance stating that she will support Armenia "because [her] husband is Armenian". The video also shows jury members on their phones during other performances, as well as a glimpse of Stotskaya's voting result, which also included notes evaluating performances. The rules of the contest stipulate that all jury members are to evaluate performances individually, without discussing the results with other jury members, a stipulation that was clearly violated by the Russian jury.[210]

The EBU released a statement later on 10 May, stating that following talks with Russia-1, the broadcaster proposed to withdraw Stotskaya, declaring her voting results to be invalid, and provide a replacement judge for the final on 14 May. The statement also clarified that the other four jury members submitted a valid jury vote. The EBU also stated that while streaming a video online from the jury deliberation is not considered to be a breach of the rules of the contest, so long as individual rankings, combined rankings or jury points are kept confidential until after the final, it regards Stotskaya's actions "as not in keeping with the spirit of the contest and potentially prejudicial as it imposes a potential risk of accidentally revealing results".[211]

Protests over official flag policyEdit

In ensuring the apolitical nature of the contest and the safety of attendees, the EBU released an official flag policy on 29 April 2016, which included a list of flags which would be banned from the three live shows. The President of the Basque Country, Iñigo Urkullu, and the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, protested at the specific inclusion of the flag of the Basque Country alongside other flags such as those of some unrecognised nations and the Islamic State, and called on the organisers of the contest to rectify the issue.[212][213] Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) also expressed their concern to the EBU and requested a rectification,[214] with the EBU responding, saying that while the flag of the Basque Country is not specifically forbidden, it is an example of a banned flag, adding that only the "official national flags of the 42 participating countries, or from one of the countries that have recently taken part", "official national flags of any of the other United Nations member states", the flag of Europe and the rainbow flag were permitted.[215][216]

The EBU issued a statement later on 29 April, clarifying that it was not their intention to publish such a document, while acknowledging that the decision to publish a selection of flags of organisations and territories, each of which were "of a very different nature", was an insensitive one, and apologised for any offence caused by the publication of the original flag policy. The EBU also called on both the Avicii Arena and the contest's official ticketing partner AXS to publish an updated flag policy which did not include examples of banned flags.[214]

The EBU released another statement on 6 May, stating that after discussing the matter with several participating delegations, the organisers of the contest had "agreed to relax the flag policy, and to allow national, regional and local flags of the participants" such as the Welsh flag (as Joe Woolford, representing the United Kingdom as part of Joe and Jake, is Welsh) and the Sami flag (as Agnete, representing Norway, is of Sami heritage), as well as the flags of all UN member states, the flag of the EU and the rainbow flag, as stated in the original flag policy. The EBU also proposed a more tolerant approach to other flags as long as attendees respect the apolitical nature of the contest and do not attempt to deliberately obstruct the camera views. Such a proposal was approved by the contest's Reference Group.[217][218][219]

The Spanish Embassy in Stockholm filed a formal complaint to Swedish police on 15 May after a Spanish citizen carrying the flag of the Basque Country had his flag confiscated by security personnel and was asked along with two of his compatriots to leave the venue. After an urgent intervention by the Spanish Consul, who was present in the arena, the flag was returned to the attendees and they were permitted to return to the venue.[220]

Nagorno-Karabakh flag disputeEdit

Despite the official flag policy published by the EBU allowing only "national, regional and local flags of the participants" and banning the flag of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,[221] during the first voting recap of the first semi-final on 10 May, the Armenian representative Iveta Mukuchyan was filmed in the green room holding the flag of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, sparking condemnation from the Azerbaijani press.[222][223] The situation further escalated during the semi-final qualifiers' press conference afterwards, where a member of the Azerbaijani press criticised the Armenian delegation and the EBU for allowing the flag to be shown during the show.[224] Responding to a question on the incident from a journalist from Aftonbladet, Mukuchyan stated: "My thoughts are with my Motherland. I want peace everywhere."[225] Commenting on the situation, the Azerbaijani representative Samra stated that "Eurovision is a song contest and it's all about music."[226]

The EBU and the contest's Reference Group released a joint statement on 11 May, strongly condemning Mukuchyan's actions during the first voting recap of the first semi-final and considering it "harmful" to the overall image of the contest. The Reference Group consequently sanctioned Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV), citing a breach of the rule stating that "no messages promoting any organisation, institution, political cause or other causes shall be allowed in the shows". Furthermore, the Reference Group has pointed out that a further breach of the rules of the contest could lead to disqualification from the contest or future contests.[227] The spokesman for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hikmet Hajiyev, called Mukuchyan's actions "provocative" and unacceptable, claiming that "the Armenian side deliberately resorts to such steps to encourage and promote the illegal formation created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories".[228]

Danish jury resultEdit

BT revealed on 15 May 2016 that Danish professional jury member Hilda Heick, wife of Keld Heick who co-wrote eight Danish entries, had submitted her ranking for the final and the semifinal 2 the wrong way round,[229] ranking her favourite entry 26th while ranking her least-favourite entry first, in direct opposition to what she had intended to do.[230] As a result of Heick's mistake, the points of the Danish jury would have been different:[231]

  • Instead of 10 points, Australia would have received 12;
  • Instead of 7 points, the Netherlands would have received 10;
  • Instead of 5 points, Lithuania would have received 1;
  • Instead of 4 points, Sweden would have received 7;
  • Instead of 2 points, Israel would have received 4;
  • Instead of 1 point, Spain would have received 5;
  • Instead of not receiving points at all, France and Russia would have received 2 and 3 points respectively.

The United Kingdom and Ukraine both would have failed to receive any points from the Danish jury. While the overall result was not affected, the margin between second-placed Australia and first-placed Ukraine would have been reduced from 23 points to 9 points.[232]

Protests against the winnerEdit

The Ukrainian winning song, "1944" by Jamala, is about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 and particularly about the singer's great-grandmother, who lost her daughter while being deported to Central Asia.[233][234][235] Jamala's song was considered by Russian media and lawmakers to be critical of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in Donbas.[236][237]

A petition was started on Change.org on 15 May 2016, which called on the EBU to void the final results in view of the fact that the overall winner only placed second in both the jury and televote.[238] The EBU responded that Ukraine "is, and will remain, the winner" of the contest, and that the result was "valid in accordance with the rules".