The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place for the first time in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's first victory at the 2017 contest in Kiev with the song "Amar pelos dois", performed by Salvador Sobral. The contest consisted of two semi-finals and a final held on 8, 10 and 12 May 2018 respectively.
No country made its debut or withdrew from competing while Russia returned after withdrawing from the 2017 edition, following the ban of their representative from entering Ukraine, host country of 2017 contest.
It was won by Netta Barzilai who represented her home country Israel with the song "Toy". This was the country's fourth victory, coming 20 years after their previous win.
Location[]
Key[]
City | Venue | Capacity | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Braga | Braga Exhibition Park | 15,000 (after renovation) | Agro-industrial park inaugurated in 1981 and further expanded in 1987 with a 6,500 m2 (70,000 sq ft) exhibition hall able to hold 3,000 people, and in 1990 with a congress centre and auditorium for 1,200 people. Renovation works starting in 2017 and ending in the first trimester of 2018 would increase the exhibition hall capacity to 15,000. |
Gondomar | Multiusos de Gondomar Coração de Ouro | 8,000 | Multi-purpose indoor arena inaugurated in 2007, with a total capacity for 8,000 people (4,400 seats). Hosted the 2007 UEFA Futsal Championship final tournament. |
Guimarães | Multiusos de Guimarães | 10,000 | Multi-purpose indoor arena inaugurated in 2001, with a total capacity for 10,000 people (3,000 seats) Selected by RTP to host the final of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, the Festival da Canção, on 4 March 2018. |
Lisbon | MEO Arena | 20,000 | Multi-purpose indoor arena inaugurated in 1998, it is the country's largest indoor venue with a total capacity for 20,000 people. Hosted the Expo '98, the 1999 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, the 2000 ATP Finals, the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the 2003 World Men's Handball Championship, the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, the UEFA Futsal Cup Final Four (2001–02, 2009–10 and 2014–15), and the 2016 Web Summit. |
Santa Maria da Feira | Europarque | 11,000 | Largest convention centre in the Porto Metropolitan Area, inaugurated in 1995. Hosted the European Council of June 2000, the Festival da Canção final in 2001, and the UEFA Euro 2004 final tournament draw. It was the option supported by the Metropolitan Council of Porto. |
Venue[]
The International Exhibition Centre has a capacity of approximately 11,000 attendees and is the largest exhibition centre in Kyiv. Located in the western part of the Livoberezhna microdistrict, it opened in October 2002, and its head since its construction was Anatoly Tkachenko.
Format[]
Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals will take place on 29 January 2018, . The thirty-seven semi-finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
---|---|---|
Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
Participants[]
Returning artists[]
Artist | Note |
---|---|
Waylon | Represented The Netherlands as part of The Common Linnets at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen performing the song "Calm After the Storm". They finished as runner-up to Conchita Wurst. |
Cesár Sampson | Appeared as a backing vocalist for Bulgaria in the 2016 Contest in Stockholm and again as an off-stage vocalist for Bulgaria the following year in Kiev. |
Jessica Mauboy | Appeared as a guest performer in the interval act during the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen with her song "Sea of Flags". |
SuRie | Appeared as a backing singer for the 2015 and 2017 entries for Belgium in Vienna and Kiev respectively. |
Lea Sirk | Appeared as a backing singer and offstage vocalist for the 2014 and 2016 entries for Slovenia in Copenhagen and Stockholm respectively. |
Alexander Rybak | Represented his home country of Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow and gave the country its third win with the highest amount of winning points under the old voting system. |
Semi Final 1[]
Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. The countries highlighted qualified for the final:
Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Azerbaijan | Aisel | "X My Heart" | English | - | 11 | 94 |
02 | Iceland | Ari Ólafsson | "Our Choice" | English | - | 19 | 15 |
03 | Albania | Eugent Bushpepa | "Mall" | Albanian | Yearning | 8 | 162 |
04 | Belgium | Sennek | "A Matter of Time" | English | - | 12 | 92 |
05 | Czech Republic | Mikolas Josef | "Lie to Me" | English | - | 3 | 232 |
06 | Lithuania | Ieva Zasimauskaitė | "When We're Old" | English, Lithuanian | - | 9 | 119 |
07 | Israel | Netta Barzilai | "Toy" | English | - | 1 | 283 |
08 | Belarus | ALEKSEEV | "Forever" | English | - | 16 | 65 |
09 | Estonia | Elina Nechayeva | "La forza" | Italian | The Force | 5 | 201 |
10 | Bulgaria | Equinox | "Bones" | English | - | 7 | 177 |
11 | F.Y.R. Macedonia | Eye Cue | "Lost and Found" | English | - | 18 | 24 |
12 | Croatia | Franka | "Crazy" | English | - | 17 | 63 |
13 | Austria | Cesár Sampson | "Nobody but You" | English | - | 4 | 231 |
14 | Greece | Yianna Terzi | "Óneiró mou" | Greek | My Dream | 14 | 81 |
15 | Finland | Saara Aalto | "Monsters" | English | - | 10 | 108 |
16 | Armenia | Sevak Khanagyan | "Qami" | Armenian | Wind | 15 | 79 |
17 | Switzerland | ZiBBZ | "Stones" | English | - | 13 | 86 |
18 | Ireland | Ryan O'Shaughnessy | "Together" | English | - | 6 | 179 |
19 | Cyprus | Eleni Foureira | "Fuego" | English | Fire | 2 | 262 |
Semi Final 2[]
France, Germany and Italy voted in this semi-final. The countries highlighted qualified for the final:
Final[]
Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Ukraine | MÉLOVIN | "Under the Ladder" | English | - | 17 | 130 |
02 | Spain | Amaia & Alfred | "Tu canción" | Spanish | Your Song | 23 | 61 |
03 | Slovenia | Lea Sirk | "Hvala, ne!" | Slovene, Portuguese | Thanks, no! | 22 | 64 |
04 | Lithuania | Ieva Zasimauskaitė | "When We're Old" | English | - | 12 | 181 |
05 | Austria | Cesár Sampson | "Nobody but You" | English | - | 3 | 342 |
06 | Estonia | Elina Nechayeva | "La forza" | Italian | The Force | 8 | 245 |
07 | Norway | Alexander Rybak | "That's How You Write a Song" | English | - | 15 | 144 |
08 | Portugal | Cláudia Pascoal | "O jardim" | Portuguese | The Garden | 26 | 39 |
09 | United Kingdom | SuRie | "Storm" | English | - | 24 | 48 |
10 | Serbia | Sanja Ilić & Balkanika | "Nova deca" | Serbian | New Children | 19 | 113 |
11 | Germany | Michael Schulte | "You Let Me Walk Alone" | English | - | 4 | 340 |
12 | Albania | Eugent Bushpepa | "Mall" | Albanian | Yearning | 11 | 184 |
13 | France | Madame Monsieur | "Mercy" | French | - | 13 | 173 |
14 | Czech Republic | Mikolas Josef | "Lie to Me" | English | - | 6 | 281 |
15 | Denmark | Rasmussen | "Higher Ground" | English | - | 9 | 226 |
16 | Australia | Jessica Mauboy | "We Got Love" | English | - | 20 | 99 |
17 | Finland | Saara Aalto | "Monsters" | English | - | 25 | 46 |
18 | Bulgaria | Equinox | "Bones" | English | - | 14 | 166 |
19 | Moldova | DoReDoS | "My Lucky Day" | English | - | 10 | 209 |
20 | Sweden | Benjamin Ingrosso | "Dance You Off" | English | - | 7 | 274 |
21 | Hungary | AWS | "Viszlát nyár" | Hungarian | Summer, Gone | 21 | 93 |
22 | Israel | Netta Barzilai | "Toy" | English | - | 1 | 529 |
23 | The Netherlands | Waylon | "Outlaw in 'Em" | English | - | 18 | 121 |
24 | Ireland | Ryan O'Shaughnessy | "Together" | English | - | 16 | 136 |
25 | Cyprus | Eleni Foureira | "Fuego" | English, Spanish | Fire | 2 | 436 |
26 | Italy | Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | Italian | You haven't done anything to me | 5 | 308 |
Incidents[]
Chinese broadcaster censorship[]
During the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV, both Albania and Ireland were edited out of the show, along with their snippets in the recap of all 19 entries. Albania was skipped due to a ban on television performers displaying tattoos that took effect in January 2018 while Ireland was censored due to its representation of a homosexual couple on-stage. A spokesperson for the broadcaster's parent company Hunan TV said they "weren't aware" of the edits made to the programme but nonetheless the EBU terminated its contract with Mango TV. Ireland's representative, Ryan O'Shaughnessy told the BBC in an interview, "they haven't taken this lightly and I think it's a move in the right direction, so I'm happy about it."
Stage invasion[]
During the United Kingdom's performance, a protester ran onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the nation's representative SuRie, which left her shaken. The man was quickly tackled by security and taken away. She was given the opportunity to perform the song again after the other acts had performed, which she declined.