History of the Eurovision Song Contest

Common card · No. 236004

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson) was first held in 1956. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954 through its Eurovision transmission network, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) commissioned an international song competition, from an idea proposed by Sergio Pugliese and developed by Marcel Bezençon, and originally based on the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy. 70 contests have been held since its first edition, and 1,789 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage as of 2026. The contest has seen numerous changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of relegation in the 1990s, and subsequently semi-finals in the 2000s, as a response to growing numbers of interested participants. The rules of the contest have also seen multiple changes over the years, with the voting system and language criteria being modified on several occasions. The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Hans van Dijk for Anefo, CC0