Whilst the Americas may not yet have warmed up to the Eurovision Song Contest yet, but over the other side of the Atlantic it is the most watched TV program ever with some 162 million people tuning in.  It all started in 1951 and is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed live and transmitted to national broadcasters via the Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries’ songs to determine a winner.

Although most of the countries that particaipate are European,  over the years they has allowed in countries such as Israel and Australia.  The two must successful countries  so far are Ireland and Sweden who have both won 7 times.  In 1974 the latter introduced ABBA to the world who we know now became one of the best-selling music acts in the history of popular music.

 

 

Date: 11 May 2024
Location: Malmö, Sweden
Hosts: Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman
Participants: 37 countries in Eurovision 2024, 26 in the Grand Final.