Tel Aviv, Israel hosted the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Israel won the right to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 following the win of Netta’s “Toy” in Lisbon, Portugal. Tel Aviv Convention Center welcomed guests from around the world for the event. The semi-finals took place Tuesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 16. The Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest was held Saturday, May 18.
This edition was the third time Israel hosted Eurovision and the first for Tel Aviv, with the 1999 and 1979 editions hosted in Jerusalem. This was also the first time KAN served as the broadcaster in charge of the event, following the closure of IBA in 2017.
The winning song was “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands. North Macedonia, competing for the first time under their new moniker, won the jury portion of the scoreboard with the song “Proud” by Tamara Todevska. The public vote was won by “Spirit in the Sky” by Norway’s group KEiiNO.
Selection Season Info
Participating Countries
Participants selected their entries via several different methods:
- Internal Selection: The broadcaster selected the act and the song. Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, San Marino, and Switzerland used this method.
- National Final: The broadcaster will hold a one-off competition to determine their act and song. Australia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom selected their acts and songs this way.
- Festival: The broadcaster holds a slightly longer competition, usually with one or two semi-finals and a grand final. Sometimes the competition will take place over the course of a week (Italy’s Sanremo or Albania’s Festivali i Këngës) or over a couple of weekends (Portugal’s Festival da Cancão or Iceland’s Söngvakeppnin). Croatia, Estonia, France, Latvia, Romania, and Serbia used this process.
- Selection Series: The broadcaster holds a long-form competition to determine their artist and song, usually with multiple rounds of winnowing down options. Georgia (Georgia Idol), Hungary (A Dal), Lithuania (Marathon), and Sweden (Melodifestivalen) are prime examples.
- Hybrid: A broadcaster may use one method to determine their artist and another method to select their song.
- Finland’s broadcaster selected Darude as their artist, but used the national final UMK to have the public choose his song.
- Israel’s broadcaster used HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star) to select Kobi Marimi, but his song was chosen internally.
- Michela Pace won Malta’s version of The X Factor and won the right to go to Eurovision, but her song was internally selected.
- Spain’s Operacion Triunfo matches contestants from the show with songs for a special Eurovision round. Miki won the Eurovision round a few weeks after Famous won OT2018.
First Semi-Final
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 First Semi-Final
| Running Order | Country | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cyprus | Tamta | Replay | 95 (4) | 54 (10) | 149 | 9 |
| 2 | Montenegro | D-Moll | Heaven | 31 (13) | 15 (16) | 46 | 16 |
| 3 | Finland | Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman | Look Away | 9 (16) | 14 (17) | 23 | 17 |
| 4 | Poland | Tulia | Fire of Love (Pali się) | 60 (11) | 60 (8) | 120 | 11 |
| 5 | Slovenia | Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl | Sebi | 74 (7) | 93 (5) | 167 | 6 |
| 6 | Czech Republic | Lake Malawi | Friend of a Friend | 157 (1) | 86 (6) | 242 | 2 |
| 7 | Hungary | Joci Pápai | Az Én Apám | 65 (9) | 32 (14) | 97 | 12 |
| 8 | Belarus | Zena | Like It | 78 (6) | 44 (11) | 122 | 10 |
| 9 | Serbia | Nevena Božović | Kruna | 91 (5) | 65 (7) | 156 | 7 |
| 10 | Belgium | Eliot Vassamillet | Wake Up | 40 (12) | 20 (15) | 70 | 13 |
| 11 | Georgia | Oto Nemsadze | Keep on Going | 29 (14) | 33 (13) | 62 | 14 |
| 12 | Australia | Kate Miller-Heidke | Zero Gravity | 121 (3) | 140 (2) | 261 | 1 |
| 13 | Iceland | Hatari | Hatrið mun sigra | 70 (8) | 151 (1) | 221 | 3 |
| 14 | Estonia | Victor Crone | Storm | 65 (10) | 133 (3) | 198 | 4 |
| 15 | Portugal | Conan Osíris | Telemóveis | 8 (17) | 43 (12) | 51 | 15 |
| 16 | Greece | Katerine Duska | Better Love | 131 (2) | 54 (9) | 185 | 5 |
| 17 | San Marino | Serhat | Say Na Na Na | 26 (15) | 124 (4) | 150 | 8 |
Second Semi-Final
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Second Semi-Final
| Running Order | Country | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armenia | Srbuk | Walking Out | 26 (14) | 23 (15) | 49 | 16 |
| 2 | Ireland | Sarah McTernan | 22 | 13 (18) | 3 (17) | 16 | 18 |
| 3 | Moldova | Anna Odobescu | Stay | 58 (8) | 27 (13) | 85 | 12 |
| 4 | Switzerland | Luca Hänni | She Got Me | 95 (6) | 137 (3) | 232 | 4 |
| 5 | Latvia | Carousel | That Night | 37 (13) | 13 (16) | 50 | 15 |
| 6 | Romania | Ester Peony | On a Sunday | 47 (10) | 24 (14) | 71 | 13 |
| 7 | Denmark | Leonora | Love Is Forever | 53 (9) | 41 (11) | 94 | 10 |
| 8 | Sweden | John Lundvik | Too Late for Love | 150 (2) | 88 (6) | 238 | 3 |
| 9 | Austria | PAENDA | Limits | 21 (16) | 0 (18) | 21 | 17 |
| 10 | Croatia | Roko | The Dream | 26 (15) | 38 (12) | 64 | 14 |
| 11 | Malta | Michela Pace | Chameleon | 107 (4) | 50 (10) | 157 | 8 |
| 12 | Lithuania | Jurijus Veklenko | Run with the Lions | 16 (17) | 77 (8) | 93 | 11 |
| 13 | Russia | Sergey Lazarev | Scream | 93 (7) | 124 (4) | 217 | 6 |
| 14 | Albania | Jonida Maliqi | Ktheju tokës | 38 (12) | 58 (9) | 96 | 9 |
| 15 | Norway | KEiiNO | Spirit in the Sky | 40 (11) | 170 (1) | 210 | 7 |
| 16 | Netherlands | Duncan Laurence | Arcade | 140 (3) | 140 (2) | 280 | 1 |
| 17 | North Macedonia | Tamara Todevska | Proud | 155 (1) | 84 (7) | 239 | 2 |
| 18 | Azerbaijan | Chingiz | Truth | 103 (5) | 121 (5) | 224 | 5 |
Grand Final
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final Participants
| Position | Country | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta | Michela Pace | Chameleon | 87 (10) | 20 (22) | 107 | 14 |
| 2 | Albania | Jonida Maliqi | Ktheju tokës | 43 (17) | 47 (17) | 90 | 17 |
| 3 | Czech Republic | Lake Malawi | Friend of a Friend | 150 (8) | 7 (24) | 157 | 11 |
| 4 | Germany | S!sters | Sister | 24 (21) | 0 (26) | 24 | 25 |
| 5 | Russia | Sergey Lazarev | Scream | 126 (9) | 244 (4) | 370 | 3 |
| 6 | Denmark | Leonora | Love is Forever | 69 (12) | 51 (15) | 120 | 12 |
| 7 | San Marino | Serhat | Say Na Na Na | 12 (23) | 65 (10) | 77 | 19 |
| 8 | North Macedonia | Tamara Todevska | Proud | 247 (1) | 58 (12) | 305 | 7 |
| 9 | Sweden | John Lundvik | Too Late for Love | 241 (2) | 93 (9) | 334 | 5 |
| 10 | Slovenia | Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl | Sebi | 46 (15) | 59 (11) | 105 | 15 |
| 11 | Cyprus | Tamta | Replay | 77 (11) | 32 (20) | 109 | 13 |
| 12 | Netherlands | Duncan Laurence | Arcade | 237 (3) | 261 (2) | 498 | 1 |
| 13 | Greece | Katerine Duska | Better Love | 50 (14) | 24 (21) | 74 | 21 |
| 14 | Israel | Kobi Marimi | Home | 0 (26) | 35 (19) | 35 | 23 |
| 15 | Norway | KEiiNO | Spirit in the Sky | 40 (18) | 291 (1) | 331 | 6 |
| 16 | United Kingdom | Michael Rice | Bigger Than Us | 8 (24) | 3 (25) | 11 | 26 |
| 17 | Iceland | Hatari | Hatrið mun sigra | 46 (16) | 186 (6) | 232 | 10 |
| 18 | Estonia | Victor Crone | Storm | 28 (20) | 48 (16) | 76 | 20 |
| 19 | Belarus | Zena | Like It | 18 (22) | 13 (23) | 31 | 24 |
| 20 | Azerbaijan | Chingiz | Truth | 202 (5) | 100 (8) | 302 | 8 |
| 21 | France | Bilal Hassani | Roi | 67 (13) | 38 (18) | 105 | 16 |
| 22 | Italy | Mahmood | Soldi | 219 (4) | 253 (3) | 472 | 2 |
| 23 | Serbia | Nevena Božović | Kruna | 35 (19) | 54 (13) | 89 | 18 |
| 24 | Switzerland | Luca Hänni | She Got Me | 152 (7) | 212 (5) | 364 | 4 |
| 25 | Australia | Kate Miller-Heidke | Zero Gravity | 153 (6) | 131 (7) | 284 | 9 |
| 26 | Spain | Miki | La Venda | 1 (25) | 53 (14) | 54 | 22 |
#51: Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final Predictions
Ben and Mike have done their rankings, mixed them with other data, and have made their picks for which songs will make it to the Grand Final.
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#52: Eurovision 2019 Grand Final Preview
This is it. The Eurovision 2019 Semi-Finals are done and we know what 26 countries will compete in Saturday's Grand Final. We add our own wild speculation to the...
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#53: Satisfactory Winner
André Durham from Eurovision Obsession joins us to discuss the Eurovision 2019 Grand Final and dig into the semi-final data.
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#50: The Mountaintop
Dave Steeves joins us to discuss the Eurovision auto-qualifiers as we ask the eternal question "Could Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the host country advance if they...
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