Eurovision Song Contest Sweden 2016

First Semi-Final
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Second Semi-Final
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Grand Final
Saturday, May 14, 2016

After Måns Zelmerlöw won the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Austria with the song called Heroes, Eurovision Song Contest 2016 took place in Stockholm, Sweden. This was the sixth time Sweden hosted the competition. Total of 42 countries participated, also including Australia that was announced to be part of the competition at least until 2023. The first Semi-Final was held on May 10th and the second Semi-Final was held on May 12th. The winner was selected at the Grand Final on May 14th. The winner of the competition was Jamala from Ukraine with the song called 1944. The song gained a total of 534 points. This was the second Eurovision Song Contest victory for Ukraine.

For the first time Czech Republic managed to qualify for the final since its debut in 2007, while it was the first time ever when Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece didn’t qualify from the semi-finals.

On 18 February 2016 the EBU announced a new voting system where both juries and televoters would give their own set of points meaning that the overall amount of points would be doubled from the previous years. Also the representatives would only announce the 12 points from the jury and points from 1-8 and 10 would be displayed on the screen and points from the televotes are combined together and are announced to each country after all the jury votes.

In the original line up there was also Romania’s Ovidiu Anton with a song called Moment of Silence. However due to the debts by Televiziunea Română (TVR) to the EBU, Romania was expelled from EBU and wasn’t allowed to participate in the contest. As the announcement came on 22 April 2016, the official album of the contest was already produced and Romania’s entry remained on the album.

The contest also had few issues with the jury votes. Russian jury member Anastasia Stotskaya streamed footage of the Russian jury deliberation during the dress rehearsal of the first semi-final on 9 May on the live-streaming social media site. The video showed jury members who were not paying attention to the performances and one member claimed supporting Armenia as “husband is Armenian”. The video also showed a glimpse of Stotskaya’s voting results. On 10th of May 2016 EBU stated that Stotskaya’s voting results would be invalid and Russia would provide a replacement judge for the Grand Final.

Also one Danish jury member submitted her ranking for the second Semi-Final and Grand Final in the opposite order, ranking her favorite entry in last place and the least favorite first. The mistake didn’t affect the overall ranking, but the correct results would have left the United Kingdom and Ukraine without any points from the Danish jury and would have reduced the gap between Ukraine and Australia.

Grand Final

Order Country Song Performed by Points Ranking
1
Flag of Belgium
Belgium What's The Pressure Laura Tesoro 181 10
2
Flag of Czech Republic
Czech Republic I Stand Gabriela Gunčíková 41 25
3
Flag of The Netherlands
The Netherlands Slow Down Douwe Bob 153 11
4
Flag of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Miracle Samra 117 17
5
Flag of Hungary
Hungary Pioneer Freddie 108 19
6
Flag of Italy
Italy No Degree Of Separation Francesca Michielin 124 16
7
Flag of Israel
Israel Made Of Stars Hovi Star 135 14
8
Flag of Bulgaria
Bulgaria If Love Was A Crime Poli Genova 307 4
9
Flag of Sweden
Sweden If I Were Sorry Frans 261 5
10
Flag of Germany
Germany Ghost Jamie-Lee 11 26
11
Flag of France
France J'ai cherché Amir 257 6
12
Flag of Poland
Poland Color Of Your Life Michał Szpak 229 8
13
Flag of Australia
Australia Sound Of Silence Dami Im 511 2
14
Flag of Cyprus
Cyprus Alter Ego Minus One 96 21
15
Flag of Serbia
Serbia Goodbye (Shelter) Sanja Vučić ZAA 115 18
16
Flag of Lithuania
Lithuania I've Been Waiting for This Night Donny Montell 200 9
17
Flag of Croatia
Croatia Lighthouse Nina Kraljić 73 23
18
Flag of Russia
Russia You Are The Only One Sergey Lazarev 491 3
19
Flag of Spain
Spain Say Yay! Barei 77 22
20
Flag of Latvia
Latvia Heartbeat Justs 132 15
21
Flag of Ukraine
Ukraine 1944 Jamala 534 1
22
Flag of Malta
Malta Walk On Water Ira Losco 153 12
23
Flag of Georgia
Georgia Midnight Gold Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz 104 20
24
Flag of Austria
Austria Loin d'ici ZOË 151 13
25
Flag of United Kingdom
United Kingdom You're Not Alone Joe and Jake 62 24
26
Flag of Armenia
Armenia LoveWave Iveta Mukuchyan 249 7

First Semi-Final

Order Country Song Performed by Points Ranking
1
Flag of Finland
Finland Sing It Away Sandhja 51 15
2
Flag of Greece
Greece Utopian Land Argo 44 16
3
Flag of Moldova
Moldova Falling Stars Lidia Isac 33 17
4
Flag of Hungary
Hungary Pioneer Freddie 197 4
5
Flag of Croatia
Croatia Lighthouse Nina Kraljić 133 10
6
Flag of The Netherlands
The Netherlands Slow Down Douwe Bob 197 5
7
Flag of Armenia
Armenia LoveWave Iveta Mukuchyan 243 2
8
Flag of San Marino
San Marino I Didn't Know Serhat 68 12
9
Flag of Russia
Russia You Are The Only One Sergey Lazarev 342 1
10
Flag of Czech Republic
Czech Republic I Stand Gabriela Gunčíková 161 9
11
Flag of Cyprus
Cyprus Alter Ego Minus One 164 8
12
Flag of Austria
Austria Loin d'ici ZOË 170 7
13
Flag of Estonia
Estonia Play Jüri Pootsmann 24 18
14
Flag of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Miracle Samra 185 6
15
Flag of Montenegro
Montenegro The Real Thing Highway 60 13
16
Flag of Iceland
Iceland Hear Them Calling Greta Salóme 51 14
17
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina Ljubav Je Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala 104 11
18
Flag of Malta
Malta Walk On Water Ira Losco 209 3

Second Semi-Final

Order Country Song Performed by Points Ranking
1
Flag of Latvia
Latvia Heartbeat Justs 132 8
2
Flag of Poland
Poland Color Of Your Life Michał Szpak 151 6
3
Flag of Switzerland
Switzerland The Last Of Our Kind Rykka 28 18
4
Flag of Israel
Israel Made Of Stars Hovi Star 147 7
5
Flag of Belarus
Belarus Help You Fly IVAN 84 12
6
Flag of Serbia
Serbia Goodbye (Shelter) Sanja Vučić ZAA 105 10
7
Flag of Ireland
Ireland Sunlight Nicky Byrne 46 15
8
Flag of North Macedonia
North Macedonia Dona Kaliopi 88 11
9
Flag of Lithuania
Lithuania I've Been Waiting for This Night Donny Montell 222 4
10
Flag of Australia
Australia Sound Of Silence Dami Im 330 1
11
Flag of Slovenia
Slovenia Blue And Red ManuElla 57 14
12
Flag of Bulgaria
Bulgaria If Love Was A Crime Poli Genova 220 5
13
Flag of Denmark
Denmark Soldiers Of Love Lighthouse X 34 17
14
Flag of Ukraine
Ukraine 1944 Jamala 287 2
15
Flag of Norway
Norway Icebreaker Agnete 63 13
16
Flag of Georgia
Georgia Midnight Gold Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz 123 9
17
Flag of Albania
Albania Fairytale Eneda Tarifa 45 16
18
Flag of Belgium
Belgium What's The Pressure Laura Tesoro 274 3

Participants