Eurovision Song Contest‬‬ Past Winners : Raysurrection

The Eurovision Song Contest, more commonly known as the Eurovision, is an annual international pop music competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union. The Contest takes place in different countries around Europe. Since it started in 1956, the contest has been hosted by various countries over the years. The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is awarded the prestigious Eurovision trophy. A country that wins the contest one year generally hosts it the following year.

Here are a few interesting facts about the Eurovision Song Contest’s past winners:

Ireland is the country with the most wins (7), followed by Sweden (6), as of 2022.
The United Kingdom has the most second-place finishes (16), Followed by France (4).
The United Kingdom has hosted the contest the most times, with 8 entries.

Photo attribution: Sietske Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

ABBA

Everyone knows how ABBA is. The Swedish group is without a doubt, the best-selling, most successful pop group out of all the Eurovision winners to date. They won the contents in 1974 and the rest, as they say, is history.

The number of their total record sales is not even clear. It is said to be between 150 million to 385 million sold worldwide.

Celine Dion

Celine Dion has won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 with "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi". With her dynamic voice, she had a string of hits throughout the 1990s and beyond. The theme song for the film Titanic is perhaps what most people recognise her for.

According to Wikipedia, Celine Dion was recognized by Los Angeles Times in 2009 as the millennium’s top-earning artist, with combined album sales and concert revenue exceeding $747 million.

Melodifestivalen Winner: Måns Zelmerlöw

Måns Zelmerlöw. Photo credit: Daniel Åhs Karlsson, license CC BY 3.0

Måns Zelmerlöw was crowned the winner of the 2007 Melodifestivalen with his song “ Heroes”. This was his first and so far only win in the competition. The song ended up becoming a huge international success, topping charts all around Europe. Måns has since gone on to release several more successful albums and singles. He tours extensively across Europe, and also regularly appears on Swedish television programmes as a presenter.

Conchita Wurst

Austria’s Conchita Wurst won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Rise Like a Phoenix.” Prior to Wurst's win, Austria had only one other win in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" by Udo Jürgens.

Conchita's real name is Thomas Neuwirth, he describes himself as a drag queen, therefore he describes himself with he/him pronouns while he uses she/her pronouns when in Conchita’s character.

Conchita/Thomas has been successful with her singing and performing career as well as being an LGBTQ advocate throughout Europe.

Katrina and the Waves

The American singer Katrina Leskanich and the British Band The Waves were formed in late 1978, and they had been famous for the song "Walking On Sunshine" until they won the 1997 Eurovision for the UK with the song "Love Shine a Light". The UK has not had success with winning the Contest since. Katrina and the Waves have dissolved since, and each member has been working on their solo projects.

Lordi

Finnish band Lordi has been around since 1992, and they are known for their metal music, masks, and horror-relevant performances. They won Eurovision 2006 with "Hard Rock Hallelujah."

Loreen

Loreen is a Swedish singer, songwriter as well as a record producer. Her song “Euphoria” successfully won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012. She has had a successful career in music and also works as a political activist.

Jamala from Ukraine "1944"

The song tells the story of Jamala's life experiences and journey to success. The lyrics are written in both Ukrainian and Russian, and reflect Jamala's mixed heritage.

The song has been praised for its powerful lyrics and stunning vocals, and Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "1944" in 2014.

The song has been controversial because some people think it celebrates terrorism. There had been attempts to boycott the performances of her song "1944." The song is about the Holodomor, an event in Ukraine that took place during World War II in which millions of people were killed as a result of government-ordered starvation.

Jamala has defended her decision to sing the song, saying that it is important to remember the tragedy of the Holodomor. She says that the song is not about glorifying the genocide, but rather about shedding light on it so that it cannot be repeated.

Many Ukrainians feel passionate about the issue of the Holodomor, and they have been vocal in their support of Jamala. Her performances have attracted large crowds, despite attempts to boycott.