2 months ago

Dates: Semi-final 1: 9 May 2023 - Semi-final 2: 11 May 2023 - Final 13 May 2023
Host venue: Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Presenters: Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham, Julia Sanina, Graham Norton (final)
Directed by Nikki Parsons, Richard Valentine, Ollie Bartlett
Executive supervisor: Martin Österdahl - Executive producer: Andrew Cartmell
Host broadcaster: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as Ukraine—the winner of the 2022 contest with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra—was unable to host the event due to the Russian invasion of the country. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) acting as host broadcaster on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC). The contest was held at Liverpool Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2023. The three live shows were presented by British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Irish television presenter Graham Norton joining for the final.

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia ceasing their participation, mainly due to the economic impact of the global energy crisis. The winner was Sweden with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Finland, Israel, Italy, and Norway rounded out the top five. Sweden won the combined vote and jury vote, and came second to Finland in the televote. Loreen became the second performer to win the contest twice, after Irish singer Johnny Logan; it was also the seventh win for Sweden, tying Ireland's record for the most Eurovision victories.

The EBU announced on 17 June 2022 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that UA:PBC could not give the security and operations guarantees required to host the contest, and that the event could therefore not be held in Ukraine. The EBU then entered discussions with the BBC, the 2022 runner-up, and on 25 July announced that the 2023 contest would be hosted in the United Kingdom. It was the first time since 1980 that the contest was not hosted by the previous year's winning country.

The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 162 million viewers in 38 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition. A total of 15.6 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok. Making use of 360° drone technology, each postcard began in a selected location in Ukraine, then one in the United Kingdom, before moving to the artist's country of origin, where the artist took part in an activity of their choice.

37 countries participated in the 2023 contest – the lowest number of participating countries in a single edition since 2014 – with Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia, which had participated in the 2022 contest, opting not to participate in 2023 for financial reasons. This was also the first contest where the Czech Republic participated under its shortened English name of Czechia. The budget was contributed to by Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (£2 million each), the British government (£10 million), and the BBC (£8 million to £17 million). The overall budget was not made public, but was estimated to be at around £24.7 million (€28.3 million), including expenditures by the host city.

Final

The final took place on 13 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with the jury and televote of all thirty-seven participating countries, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" online vote, eligible to vote. The running order for the final was published on 12 May 2023. Sweden won the contest with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Sweden won with 583 points, also winning the jury vote. Finland came second with 526 points and won the televote, with Israel, Italy, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Estonia, Australia and Czechia completing the top ten. Albania, Portugal, Serbia, the United Kingdom, and Germany occupied the bottom five positions.

The final was opened by Kalush Orchestra performing their winning song "Stefania" and their latest single "Changes". Among those who appeared in the pre-recorded portion of the opening were Bolt Strings, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joss Stone, Ballet Black, Ms Banks, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. This was followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by four former Ukrainian Eurovision entrants performing new spins on their competing songs mixed with British classics: Go_A with "Shum", Jamala with her winning song "1944", Tina Karol with "Show Me Your Love", and Verka Serduchka with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai". The interval acts included Sam Ryder performing his new single "Mountain" with Queen's Roger Taylor, and "The Liverpool Songbook", a homage to Liverpool's music heritage featuring six former Eurovision entrants singing their own version of songs from the host city: Mahmood with "Imagine", Netta with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", Daði Freyr with "Whole Again", Cornelia Jakobs with "I Turn to You", Sonia with "Better the Devil You Know", and Duncan Laurence, together with the aforementioned artists, the presenters, and Ruslana in a pre-recorded appearance at the Golden Gate in Kyiv, with "You'll Never Walk Alone". ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus also appeared in a short video skit on the recent commercial successes to come out of the contest. Duncan Laurence performed together with the guest artists and the presenters as part of an interval act in the final. Ruslana can be seen on the LED background, in a pre-recorded appearance from the Golden Gate in Kyiv.

Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place

1 Austria Teya and Salena "Who the Hell Is Edgar?" 120 15
2 Portugal Mimicat "Ai coração" 59 23
3 Switzerland Remo Forrer "Watergun" 92 20
4 Poland Blanka "Solo" 93 19
5 Serbia Luke Black "Samo mi se spava" 30 24
6 France La Zarra "Évidemment" 104 16
7 Cyprus Andrew Lambrou "Break a Broken Heart" 126 12
8 Spain Blanca Paloma "Eaea" 100 17
9 Sweden Loreen "Tattoo" 583 1
10 Albania Albina and Family "Duje" 76 22
11 Italy Marco Mengoni "Due vite" 350 4
12 Estonia Alika "Bridges" 168 8
13 Finland Käärijä "Cha Cha Cha" 526 2
14 Czechia Vesna "My Sister's Crown" 129 10
15 Australia Voyager "Promise" 151 9
16 Belgium Gustaph "Because of You" 182 7
17 Armenia Brunette "Future Lover" 122 14
18 Moldova Pasha Parfeni "Soarele și luna" 96 18
19 Ukraine Tvorchi "Heart of Steel" 243 6
20 Norway Alessandra "Queen of Kings" 268 5
21 Germany Lord of the Lost "Blood & Glitter" 18 26
22 Lithuania Monika Linkytė "Stay" 127 11
23 Israel Noa Kirel "Unicorn" 362 3
24 Slovenia Joker Out "Carpe Diem" 78 21
25 Croatia Let 3 "Mama ŠČ!" 123 13
26 United Kingdom Mae Muller "I Wrote a Song" 24 25