contest no. 63
Eurovision 2018: Lisbon
The 63rd Eurovision Song Contest was held on Saturday, 12 May 2018 at Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. 43 countries took part. Israel won with “Toy” by Netta, on 529 points.
How would you have voted? Rank all 43 songs from 2018
- Final
- Saturday, 12 May 2018
- Semi-finals
- Tuesday, 8 May 2018 and Thursday, 10 May 2018
- Venue
- Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal
- Host broadcaster
- Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP)
- Presenters
- Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah, Catarina Furtado, Filomena Cautela
- Directors
- Troels Lund, Paula Macedo, Pedro Miguel
- For the EBU
- Jon Ola Sand
- Slogan
- All Aboard!
- Entries
- 43 countries
- Returning
- Russia
- Voting
- Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs.
The story
Toy wins, China's censor cuts two songs, and a man grabs the microphone
Portugal had needed 53 years to win the contest and earn the right to host it. When it finally did, in the Altice Arena in Lisbon, it came last.
All aboard
Forty-three countries took part, equal to the record, and for once nobody who had been there the year before stayed away. Russia returned after its absence from Kyiv. Macedonia was blocked for ten days over its broadcaster’s unpaid debts, and then let in.
Four women presented, under the slogan “All Aboard!”
The hosts made one neat link to their own history. During the second semi-final they showed a short documentary about Portugal’s entry of 1974 — the song that was used as the signal for the Carnation Revolution.
An injury in rehearsal
The Czech Republic’s singer, Mikolas Josef, hurt his back during his first rehearsal and ended up in hospital. He told his followers that he could not walk.
He recovered in time. He qualified from his semi-final and finished sixth in the final, by a distance the best result his country had ever had.
What China did not see
The contest was shown in China by Mango TV. During the first semi-final two songs were simply cut out.
One was Albania’s. Chinese television had recently banned performers from showing tattoos. The other was Ireland’s, whose staging showed a same-sex couple. Rainbow flags, and other performers’ tattoos, were blurred as well.
The EBU ended its partnership with Mango TV, saying that censorship was not in line with its values. China did not see the second semi-final or the final.
The man with the microphone
In the final the United Kingdom’s singer, SuRie, was partway through her song when a man ran onto the stage, pulled the microphone out of her hand and began shouting into it.
He had reached the stage by climbing along a camera track. SuRie carried on and completed the song. She was offered the chance to perform it again, and declined. She said later that her hand had been bruised.
A returning winner
Norway sent Alexander Rybak, the winner of 2009. He won his semi-final. In the final he came fifteenth.
The result
The juries and the public wanted different things. The juries’ favourite was Austria’s Cesár Sampson, with Sweden second.
The public’s favourite was Israel. Netta’s “Toy” was third with the juries and first with viewers, and won on 529 points. Cyprus was second with Eleni Foureira’s “Fuego”, on 436 — the best result Cyprus has had. Austria finished third and Germany fourth.
It was Israel’s fourth win.
Afterwards Netta was accused on social media of appropriating Japanese culture: she had performed in a kimono, with rows of lucky-cat figurines behind her. The argument reached British breakfast television.
Portugal’s own song collected 39 points. A year after its first victory, the host finished twenty-sixth of twenty-six.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Eurovision Song Contest 2018”, and the EBU statements and press reports it cites.
The shows, night by night
What opened each show, and what filled the interval while the votes came in.
-
Tuesday, 8 May 2018
First semi-final
19 songs, 10 went through to the final
Our sources don’t record how this one opened or what filled the interval.
Every song and who went through ↓ Every vote, country by country →
-
Thursday, 10 May 2018
Second semi-final
18 songs, 10 went through to the final
- in the interval
-
- The presenters a dance medley of “Puppet on a String”, “Dschinghis Khan”, “Making Your Mind Up”, “Euphoria” and Riverdance
- A short documentary on Portugal’s 1974 entry, “E depois do adeus”, and its part in the Carnation Revolution
Every song and who went through ↓ Every vote, country by country →
-
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Final
26 songs
- opened by
-
- Ana Moura and Mariza the fado singers, with “Fado loucura” and “Barco negro”
- The flag parade to music by the scratch duo Beatbombers
- in the interval
-
- Branko a medley with Sara Tavares and Plutónio, Dino D’Santiago and Mayra Andrade
- Salvador Sobral last year’s winner sang “Mano a mano”, then “Amar pelos dois” as a duet with Caetano Veloso, with Júlio Resende at the piano
The final
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Semi-final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | Netta winner! | “Toy” English · Stav Beger, Doron Medalie | 529 | 22 | SF1 · 1st 283 pts |
| 2 | Cyprus | Eleni Foureira | “Fuego” English · Didrick, Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov | 436 | 25 | SF1 · 2nd 262 pts |
| 3 | Austria | Cesár Sampson | “Nobody but You” English · Johan Alkenäs, Sebastian Arman, Borislav Milanov, Joacim Persson, Cesár Sampson | 342 | 5 | SF1 · 4th 231 pts |
| 4 | Germany | Michael Schulte | “You Let Me Walk Alone” English · Nisse Ingwersen, Katharina Müller, Michael Schulte, Thomas Stengaard | 340 | 11 | Straight to the final |
| 5 | Italy | Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro | “Non mi avete fatto niente” Italian · Andrea Febo, Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro | 308 | 26 | Straight to the final |
| 6 | Czech Republic | Mikolas Josef | “Lie to Me” English · Mikolas Josef | 281 | 14 | SF1 · 3rd 232 pts |
| 7 | Sweden | Benjamin Ingrosso | “Dance You Off” English · Benjamin Ingrosso, MAG, K Nita, Louis Schoorl | 274 | 20 | SF2 · 2nd 254 pts |
| 8 | Estonia | Elina Nechayeva | “La forza” Italian · Ksenia Kuchukova, Mihkel Mattisen, Elina Nechayeva, Timo Vendt | 245 | 6 | SF1 · 5th 201 pts |
| 9 | Denmark | Rasmussen | “Higher Ground” English · Niclas Arn, Karl Eurén | 226 | 15 | SF2 · 5th 204 pts |
| 10 | Moldova | DoReDoS | “My Lucky Day” English · John Ballard, Philipp Kirkorov | 209 | 19 | SF2 · 3rd 235 pts |
| 11 | Albania | Eugent Bushpepa | “Mall” Albanian · Eugent Bushpepa | 184 | 12 | SF1 · 8th 162 pts |
| 12 | Lithuania | Ieva Zasimauskaitė | “When We're Old” English · Vytautas Bikus | 181 | 4 | SF1 · 9th 119 pts |
| 13 | France | Madame Monsieur | “Mercy” French · Jean-Karl Lucas, Émilie Satt | 173 | 13 | Straight to the final |
| 14 | Bulgaria | Equinox | “Bones” English · Brandon Treyshun Campbell, Dag Lundberg, Borislav Milanov, Joacim Persson | 166 | 18 | SF1 · 7th 177 pts |
| 15 | Norway | Alexander Rybak | “That's How You Write a Song” English · Alexander Rybak | 144 | 7 | SF2 · 1st 266 pts |
| 16 | Ireland | Ryan O'Shaughnessy | “Together” English · Mark Caplice, Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Ryan O'Shaughnessy | 136 | 24 | SF1 · 6th 179 pts |
| 17 | Ukraine | Mélovin | “Under the Ladder” English · Mélovin, Mike Ryals | 130 | 1 | SF2 · 6th 179 pts |
| 18 | Netherlands | Waylon | “Outlaw in 'Em” English · Jim Beavers, Ilya Toshinskiy, Waylon | 121 | 23 | SF2 · 7th 174 pts |
| 19 | Serbia | Sanja Ilić and Balkanika | “Nova deca (Нова деца)” Serbian · Aleksandar Sanja Ilić, Tatjana Karajanov Ilić, Danica Krstajić | 113 | 10 | SF2 · 9th 117 pts |
| 20 | Australia | Jessica Mauboy | “We Got Love” English · Anthony Egizii, Jessica Mauboy, David Musumeci | 99 | 16 | SF2 · 4th 212 pts |
| 21 | Hungary | AWS | “Viszlát nyár” Hungarian · Bence Brucker, Dániel Kökényes, Soma Schiszler, Örs Siklósi, Áron Veress | 93 | 21 | SF2 · 10th 111 pts |
| 22 | Slovenia | Lea Sirk | “Hvala, ne!” Slovene · Tomy DeClerque, Lea Sirk | 64 | 3 | SF2 · 8th 132 pts |
| 23 | Spain | Amaia and Alfred | “Tu canción” Spanish · Raúl Gómez García, Sylvia Ruth Santoro López | 61 | 2 | Straight to the final |
| 24 | United Kingdom | SuRie | “Storm” English · Nicole Blair, Sean Hargreaves, Gil Lewis | 48 | 9 | Straight to the final |
| 25 | Finland | Saara Aalto | “Monsters” English · Saara Aalto, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Ki Fitzgerald | 46 | 17 | SF1 · 10th 108 pts |
| 26 | Portugal | Cláudia Pascoal | “O jardim” Portuguese · Isaura | 39 | 8 | Straight to the final |
The semi-finals
Every song in each semi-final, in finishing order. 17 songs didn’t reach the final.
First semi-final Tuesday, 8 May 2018 · 19 songs, 10 went through
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | Netta | “Toy” English · Stav Beger, Doron Medalie | 283 | 7 | Through: 1st in the final |
| 2 | Cyprus | Eleni Foureira | “Fuego” English · Didrick, Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov | 262 | 19 | Through: 2nd in the final |
| 3 | Czech Republic | Mikolas Josef | “Lie to Me” English · Mikolas Josef | 232 | 5 | Through: 6th in the final |
| 4 | Austria | Cesár Sampson | “Nobody but You” English · Johan Alkenäs, Sebastian Arman, Borislav Milanov, Joacim Persson, Cesár Sampson | 231 | 13 | Through: 3rd in the final |
| 5 | Estonia | Elina Nechayeva | “La forza” Italian · Ksenia Kuchukova, Mihkel Mattisen, Elina Nechayeva, Timo Vendt | 201 | 9 | Through: 8th in the final |
| 6 | Ireland | Ryan O'Shaughnessy | “Together” English · Mark Caplice, Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Ryan O'Shaughnessy | 179 | 18 | Through: 16th in the final |
| 7 | Bulgaria | Equinox | “Bones” English · Brandon Treyshun Campbell, Dag Lundberg, Borislav Milanov, Joacim Persson | 177 | 10 | Through: 14th in the final |
| 8 | Albania | Eugent Bushpepa | “Mall” Albanian · Eugent Bushpepa | 162 | 3 | Through: 11th in the final |
| 9 | Lithuania | Ieva Zasimauskaitė | “When We're Old” English · Vytautas Bikus | 119 | 6 | Through: 12th in the final |
| 10 | Finland | Saara Aalto | “Monsters” English · Saara Aalto, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Ki Fitzgerald | 108 | 15 | Through: 25th in the final |
| 11 | Azerbaijan | Aisel | “X My Heart” English · Sandra Bjurman, Dimitris Kontopoulos | 94 | 1 | Out |
| 12 | Belgium | Sennek | “A Matter of Time” English · Alex Callier, Laura Groeseneken, Maxime Tribeche | 91 | 4 | Out |
| 13 | Switzerland | Zibbz | “Stones” English · Laurell Barker, Herman Gardarfve, Corinne Gfeller, Stefan Gfeller | 86 | 17 | Out |
| 14 | Greece | Yianna Terzi | “Oniro mou (Όνειρό μου)” Greek · Aris Kalimeris, Michalis Papathanasiou, Dimitris Stamatiou, Yianna Terzi | 81 | 14 | Out |
| 15 | Armenia | Sevak Khanagyan | “Qami (Քամի)” Armenian · Anna Danielyan, Sevak Khanagyan, Victoria Maloyan | 79 | 16 | Out |
| 16 | Belarus | Alekseev | “Forever” English · Yevgeny Matyushenko, Kirill Pavlov | 65 | 8 | Out |
| 17 | Croatia | Franka | “Crazy” English · Franka Batelić, Branimir Mihaljević | 63 | 12 | Out |
| 18 | Macedonia | Eye Cue | “Lost and Found” English · Darko Dimitrov, Bojan Trajkovski | 24 | 11 | Out |
| 19 | Iceland | Ari Ólafsson | “Our Choice” English · Þórunn Clausen | 15 | 2 | Out |
Second semi-final Thursday, 10 May 2018 · 18 songs, 10 went through
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | Alexander Rybak | “That's How You Write a Song” English · Alexander Rybak | 266 | 1 | Through: 15th in the final |
| 2 | Sweden | Benjamin Ingrosso | “Dance You Off” English · Benjamin Ingrosso, MAG, K Nita, Louis Schoorl | 254 | 15 | Through: 7th in the final |
| 3 | Moldova | DoReDoS | “My Lucky Day” English · John Ballard, Philipp Kirkorov | 235 | 7 | Through: 10th in the final |
| 4 | Australia | Jessica Mauboy | “We Got Love” English · Anthony Egizii, Jessica Mauboy, David Musumeci | 212 | 9 | Through: 20th in the final |
| 5 | Denmark | Rasmussen | “Higher Ground” English · Niclas Arn, Karl Eurén | 204 | 5 | Through: 9th in the final |
| 6 | Ukraine | Mélovin | “Under the Ladder” English · Mélovin, Mike Ryals | 179 | 18 | Through: 17th in the final |
| 7 | Netherlands | Waylon | “Outlaw in 'Em” English · Jim Beavers, Ilya Toshinskiy, Waylon | 174 | 8 | Through: 18th in the final |
| 8 | Slovenia | Lea Sirk | “Hvala, ne!” Slovene · Tomy DeClerque, Lea Sirk | 132 | 17 | Through: 22nd in the final |
| 9 | Serbia | Sanja Ilić and Balkanika | “Nova deca (Нова деца)” Serbian · Aleksandar Sanja Ilić, Tatjana Karajanov Ilić, Danica Krstajić | 117 | 3 | Through: 19th in the final |
| 10 | Hungary | AWS | “Viszlát nyár” Hungarian · Bence Brucker, Dániel Kökényes, Soma Schiszler, Örs Siklósi, Áron Veress | 111 | 13 | Through: 21st in the final |
| 11 | Romania | The Humans | “Goodbye” English · Cristina Caramarcu, Alexandru Matei, Alin Neagoe | 107 | 2 | Out |
| 12 | Latvia | Laura Rizzotto | “Funny Girl” English · Laura Rizzotto | 106 | 14 | Out |
| 13 | Malta | Christabelle | “Taboo” English · Christabelle, Thomas G:son, Muxu, Johnny Sanchez | 101 | 12 | Out |
| 14 | Poland | Gromee Lukas Meijer | “Light Me Up” English · Andrzej Gromala, Lukas Meijer, Mahan Moin, Christian Rabb | 81 | 11 | Out |
| 15 | Russia | Julia Samoylova | “I Won't Break” English · Arie Burshtein, Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi | 65 | 6 | Out |
| 16 | Montenegro | Vanja Radovanović | “Inje (Иње)” Montenegrin · Vladimir Radovanović | 40 | 16 | Out |
| 17 | San Marino | Jessika feat. Jenifer Brening | “Who We Are” English · Jenifer Brening, Stefan Moessle, Mathias Strasser, Christof Straub, Zoë Straub | 28 | 4 | Out |
| 18 | Georgia | Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao | “For You” Georgian · David Malazonia, Mikheil Mdinaradze, Irina Sanikidze | 24 | 10 | Out |
Who showed it, and who talked over it
The channels that carried the contest in 48 countries, with the commentator where our source names one.
-
Albania
- RTSH, RTSH Muzikë, Radio Tirana Andri Xhahu
-
Armenia
- Armenia 1, Public Radio of Armenia Avet Barseghyan and Felix Khachatryan
-
Australia
- SBS Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey
-
Austria
- ORF eins Andi Knoll
-
Azerbaijan
- İTV Azer Suleymanli
-
Belarus
- Belarus-1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin
-
Belgium
- één Peter Van de Veire
- La Une Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys
-
Bulgaria
- BNT 1 Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev
-
Croatia
- HRT 1, HR 2 Duško Ćurlić
-
Cyprus
- CyBC Costas Constantinou and Vaso Komninou
-
Czech Republic
- ČT2 (semi-finals) Libor Bouček
- ČT1 (final) Libor Bouček
-
Denmark
- DR1 Ole Tøpholm
-
Estonia
- ETV Marko Reikop
- ETV+ Aleksandr Hobotov and Julia Kalenda
- Raadio 2 (semi-final 1 and final) Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk
-
Finland
- Yle TV2 Finnish: Mikko Silvennoinen, Swedish: Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos
- Yle TV2 (semi-final 2) Finnish: Saara Aalto
- Yle Radio Suomi Anna Keränen
- Yle Radio Suomi (final) Aija Puurtinen and Sami Sykkö
- Yle X3M Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos
-
France
- France 4 (semi-finals) Christophe Willem and André Manoukian
- France 2 (final) Stéphane Bern, Christophe Willem and Alma
-
Georgia
- 1TV Demetre Ergemlidze
-
Germany
- One Peter Urban
- Das Erste, Deutsche Welle (final) Peter Urban
-
Greece
- ERT2, ERT HD Alexandros Lizardos and Daphne Skalioni
- Deftero Programma, Voice of Greece Dimitris Meidanis
-
Hungary
- Duna Krisztina Rátonyi and Freddie
-
Iceland
- RÚV Gísli Marteinn Baldursson
-
Ireland
- RTÉ2 (semi-finals) Marty Whelan
- RTÉ One (final) Marty Whelan
- RTÉ Radio 1 (semi-final 1) Neil Doherty and Zbyszek Zalinski
- RTÉ 2fm (final) Neil Doherty and Zbyszek Zalinski
-
Israel
- Kan 11, Kan 88 (semi-final 1) Asaf Liberman and Shir Reuven
- Kan 11, Kan 88 (semi-final 2) Itai Herman and Goel Pinto
- Kan 11, Kan 88 (final) Erez Tal and Idit Hershkowitz
-
Italy
- Rai 4 (semi-finals) Carolina Di Domenico and Saverio Raimondo
- Rai 1 (final) Serena Rossi and Federico Russo
- Rai Radio 2 (final) Carolina Di Domenico and Ema Stokholma
-
Latvia
- LTV1 (semi-finals) Toms Grēviņš
- LTV1 (final) Toms Grēviņš and Magnuss Eriņš
-
Lithuania
- LRT, LRT Radijas Darius Užkuraitis and Gerūta Griniūtė
-
Macedonia
- MRT 1, MRT 2 Karolina Petkovska
-
Malta
- TVM
-
Moldova
- Moldova 1, Radio Moldova
-
Montenegro
- TVCG 1, TVCG Sat Dražen Bauković and Tijana Mišković
-
Netherlands
- NPO 1 Jan Smit and Cornald Maas
-
Norway
- NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan
- NRK3 (final) Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby
- NRK P1 (final) Ole-Christian Øen
-
Poland
- TVP1, TVP Polonia Artur Orzech
-
Portugal
- RTP1, RTP Internacional Hélder Reis and Nuno Galopim
- Antena 1, RDP África, RDP Internacional (final) Noémia Gonçalves, António Macedo and Tozé Brito
-
Romania
- TVR 1, TVR HD, TVRi Liliana Ștefan and Radu Andrei Tudor
-
Russia
- Channel One Yana Churikova and Yuriy Aksyuta
-
San Marino
- San Marino RTV, Radio San Marino Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo
-
Serbia
- RTS1, RTS HD, RTS SAT, RTS Planeta (semi-final 1) Silvana Grujić and Tamara Petković
- RTS1, RTS HD, RTS SAT, RTS Planeta (semi-final 2 and final) Duška Vučinić
- Radio Beograd 1 (semi-final 2 and final) Katarina Epstein and Nataša Raketić
-
Slovenia
- TV SLO 2 (semi-finals) Andrej Hofer
- TV SLO 1 (final) Andrej Hofer
-
Spain
- La 2 (semi-finals) Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela
- La 1 (final) Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela
-
Sweden
- SVT1 Sanna Nielsen and Edward af Sillén
-
Switzerland
- SRF zwei (semi-finals) Sven Epiney
- SRF 1 (final) Sven Epiney
- RTS Deux (semi-final 2) Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner
- RTS Un (final) Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner
- RSI La 2 (semi-finals) Clarissa Tami
- RSI La 1 (final) Clarissa Tami
-
Ukraine
- STB Serhiy Prytula
- UA:First (semi-final 1) Timur Miroshnychenko and Mariya Yaremchuk
- UA:First (semi-final 2) Timur Miroshnychenko and Alyosha
- UA:First (final) Timur Miroshnychenko and Jamala
-
United Kingdom
- BBC Four (semi-finals) Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal
- BBC One (final) Graham Norton
- BBC Radio 2 (final) Ken Bruce
Also shown in
-
China
- Mango TV (semi-final 1) Duan Yixuan and Hei Nan
-
Kazakhstan
- Khabar TV Diana Snegina and Kaldybek Zhaysanbay
-
Kosovo
- RTK Alma Bektashi and Agron Krasniqi
-
Slovakia
- Rádio FM (final) Daniel Baláž, Pavol Hubinák, Juraj Malíček, Ela Tolstová and Celeste Buckingham
-
United States
- Logo TV (final) Ross Mathews and Shangela
- WJFD-FM (final) English: Ewan Spence and Lisa-Jayne Lewis, Portuguese: Ana Filipa Rosa
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.