Eurovision 2016 is the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Let’s see some awesome facts and trivia about it!
1. The contest will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm.
2. Sweden won at the 2015 contest in Vienna with the song “Heroes”, performed by Måns Zelmerlöw.
3. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this will be the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after 2000.
4. The EBU announced on 18 February 2016 that a new voting system would be implemented at the contest for the first time since 1975. The new system, inspired by the voting system of Melodifestivalen, involves each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. After viewers have cast their votes, the results of each professional jury will be presented, with countries receiving 1-8 and 10 points being displayed on-screen instead of 1-7, which had been the case since 2006, and the national spokesperson only announcing the country receiving 12 points.
5. After the results of the professional juries are presented, the televoting points from all participating countries will be combined, providing one score from each song. The results of countries finishing between 11th and 26th in the public vote will be automatically added to the scoreboard, with only the results of the top ten countries being announced by the hosts. The new voting system will also be used to determine the qualifiers from each semi-final, but as before the qualifiers will be announced in a random order
6. Eurovision The Party, hosted by Sanna Nielsen, will allow fans to watch the final on a big screen and will feature backstage material from the Ericsson Globe such as Nielsen conducting exclusive interviews and appearing with hosts Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw.
7. The results of the Swedish jury vote will also be announced live from the event by Gina Dirawi. A pre-party and after-party will also be held and will feature performances from former contest winners Carola and Loreen as well as Danny Saucedo, Panetoz and DJ Tim Henri.
8. Τhe EBU announced on 9 May that one of the interval acts of the final would be a world premiere live performance of “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake.
9. Other interval acts include a sketch called “Love Love Peace Peace”, a medley of past eurovision songs featuring appearances from Alexander Rybak; the winner of the contest in 2009, and Lordi from 2006, a sketch starring Lynda Woodruff, played by Sarah Dawn Finer, and a performance by Måns Zelmerlöw performing Heroes and Fire in the Rain from his latest album Perfectly Damaged.
10. Deen returned after previously representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, finishing ninth in the final with the song “In The Disco”.
11. Kaliopi returned after previously representing FYROM in 2012, finishing 13th in the final with the song “Crno i belo”.
12. Austria is represented for the first time in its history with a french song!
13. She was also selected to represent FYROM in 1996 with “Samo ti”, but was eliminated in a non-televised pre-qualifying round.
14. Poli Genova returned after previously representing Bulgaria in 2011, finishing 12th in the second semi-final with the song “Na inat”.
15. Greece has been disqualified from the Eurovision 2016 Final for the first time in its history in the competition.
16. Bojan Jovović returned for Montenegro as part of Highway after previously representing Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as part of No Name, finishing seventh in the final with the song “Zauvijek moja”.
17. Ira Losco returned after previously representing Malta in 2002, finishing in second place with the song “7th Wonder”.
18. Donny Montell returned after previously representing Lithuania in 2012, finishing 14th in the final with the song “Love Is Blind”.
19. Greta Salóme returned after previously representing Iceland in 2012 with Jónsi, finishing 20th in the final with the song “Never Forget.
20. Romania were originally planned to perform twelfth in this semi-final, but were forcefully withdrawn due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU, resulting in countries originally planned to perform thirteenth or later to do so one place earlier
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