The Eurovision Song Contest, sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner.
Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959. In the early 2000s, the competition was the most popular television programme in Sweden; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the semi-finals averaged 3.3 million viewers, and over an estimated four million people in Sweden watched the final, almost half of the Swedish population.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece had hosted the contest - 32 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.
SuperStar Search Slovakia was a casting television show based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show was a contest to determine the best young singer in Slovakia and was shown by the national TV network STV from season 1 & 2. Season 3 was broadcast by private TV-channel Markíza.
The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the 2016 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 tele-voting.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the 2008 contest with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. It was the first time Russia had hosted the contest - 14 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Channel One (C1R), the contest was held at the Olimpiysky Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and the final on 16 May 2009. The semi-finals were presented by Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov, while the final was presented by Ivan Urgant and Alsou Abramova.
Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, making their second appearance at the contest. Arash and Aysel Teymurzadeh represented Azerbaijan at the contest as a duo after Teymurzadeh was internally selected by the Azeri broadcaster, İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti (İTV). Initially Arash was the author of the selected song and was later invited to perform it alongside Teymurzadeh.
Armenia debuted at the European Song Contest EuroVoice in 2010, in Athens, Greece. Armenia is one of the countries that participated in the first contest. In 2010, Armenia was represented by the group Bambir with a song "That's Fine With Us" and took 3rd place.
Melodifestivalen 2012 is a Swedish song contest that was held between 4 February and 10 March 2012. It selected the fifty-second Swedish entry to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Glorious" written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Andres Ballinas and Tony Cornelissen. The song was performed by Cascada. The German entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden was selected through the national final Unser Song für Malmö, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 14 February 2013 and featured ten competing acts with the winner by the votes of a five-member expert jury panel, a radio vote and a public vote. "Glorious" performed by Cascada was selected as the German entry for Malmö after gaining the most points following the combination of votes.
Armenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Fly with Me" which was selected internally by the Armenian broadcaster Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV). It was performed by singer Artsvik who was chosen through the national final Depi Evratesil.
Depi Evratesil is an Armenian music entertainment show created by the Armenian broadcaster AMPTV. It was used as the Armenian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "This Is Love" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Romy Papadea and John Ballard. The song was performed by Demy. Initially, two artists were to compete in a national final (Demy and the contestants at the fourth edition of the Greek X Factor, Stereo Soul. However, these plans were abandoned on 13 January when Demy and Dimitris Kontopoulos were instead internally selected to represent the nation. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation held a national final on 6 March 2017, at which three songs written by Kontopoulos were performed by Demy. The song with the highest percentage was selected represent the country. Eventually, "This Is Love" performed by Demy was selected as the Greek entry for the 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Belarus participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 26 November 2017. The Belarusian entry for the 2017 contest in Tbilisi, Georgia was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). A national final, which took place on 25 August 2017, saw ten competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. Helena Meraai won the national final by receiving the most votes from both the professional jury and televoters and she represented Belarus in Georgia with the song "I Am The One".
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced that they will use a national final in order to find the Greek representative in Lisbon, after two consecutive years of internal selection. This decision was later reversed when all but one of the competing finalists' record labels were unable to provide a guarantee of the €20,000 fee requested by ERT, and thus "Oniro mou" sung by Gianna Terzi was internally selected.
Armenia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which took place on 26 November 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Armenian broadcaster Armenian Public Television (ARMTV) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Michael Grigoryan, also known as Misha, was internally selected on 18 July 2017 as the Armenian representative. His song for the contest, "Boomerang", was revealed on 23 October 2017.
Armenia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 which took place on 25 November 2018 in Minsk, Belarus. The Armenian broadcaster Armenian Public Television (ARMTV) is responsible for organising their entry for the contest.
Armenia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held in Gliwice, Poland on 24 November 2019. The Armenian broadcaster Armenian Public Television (ARMTV) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Karina Ignatyan was chosen with her song "Colours of your dream".
Israel originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions, which organisied the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poland hosted and won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held in Gliwice. The country's artist and song was selected through Szansa na sukces, organised by the Polish national broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP).
