The return of the Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest event in the world of live music, was seen by 183 million viewers this year.

The Grand Final of the 65th edition of Eurovision, had 4 percent more television audience participation than the 2019 Eurovision, has announced the EBU, reports Zeri.info.

Eurovision has also had a massive increase in young audiences, with the final night viewership between the ages of 15-24 increasing by 7 percent.

Online, during Eurovision week, 50.6 million viewers in 234 countries watched the official YouTube channel, up 28% from 2019. Ages 18–34 accounted for 71% of those watching live content.

Also, there has been an increase in all official Eurovision websites on all social networks.

An average of 4.3 million spectators watched the Eurovision final in Italy which won the competition, while in the host country in the Netherlands, Eurovision was watched by 5.4 million people.

France, ranked second in the competition for the first time since 1991, gave its best audience of the last decade, with 5.5 million viewers, 15% more than in 2019.

7.4 million viewers watched in the UK – the highest number since 2014 and 6% more than in 2019.

Germany continues to offer the largest audience in it for the 11th year in a row with 7.8 million viewers, or 3% more than in 2019.

Iceland ranked 4th once again had the largest share of view from any market with 99.9%.

Finland reached it to the Grand Final after a year absent in 2019 and gave its best audience a record 1.4 million viewers, accounting for 81.4% of TV viewing in Finland.

We recall that this year Eurovision was won by the Italian group “Maneskin” and as is the tradition, next year’s edition will take place in Italy, for which Kosovo has also expressed interest in participating by opening a petition calling on the EBU to to accept Kosovo in this race. / Voice

The singer of the Italian group “Maneskin” who won Eurovision did not consume cocaine during the finale of the show. This is the result of the drug test, which the members of the group were forced to undergo as soon as they arrived in Italy.

Recall that a bizarre episode was captured by the cameras during the night of the show and went viral on social media. Damiano David was seen lowering his head to the table in a suspicious manner, as many alluded that he was consuming cocaine.

Shortly after the news the group categorically denied the allegations saying David had looked down because guitarist Thomas Raggi had broken a glass.

Italy took first place at Eurovision with the song “Zitti e buoni”. The Italian group snatched the top prize with 524 points, followed by France with 499 points and Switzerland with 432./a2cnn

Italy has won Eurovision after 31 years being represented by the group “Maneskin” with the song “Zitti e Buoni” a rock song. Italy was declared the winner only after the public vote going to a total of 524 points.

Albania represented by Angela Peristeri with the song Karma received only 57 points which rank it in 21st place. Peristeri received 22 points from the professional jury of 39 participating countries of Eurovision 2021 and 35 points were from the public. Albania was voted by professional juries by:

In second place was ranked France which received a total of 499 points. Switzerland which was represented by ‘Gjon’s Tears’, a young man of Albanian origin was very close to victory. He was the most evaluated by the professional juries, collecting 267 points, but he received very few votes from the public, making him finish in the 3rd place with 432 points in the final ranking.

Malta

After the victory of Portugal in 2017, Malta became the country with the longest Eurovision experience without a victory. The island country made its debut at the competition in 1971, but withdrew from the competition in 1975 after poor results.

The Maltese have been participating again since the competition in Rome in 1991, and since then they have never missed the biggest music festival in Europe.

Twice, Malta was close to victory – in 2002 and 2005, and they have the same number of bronze medals they deserved in Malmö in 1992 and Birmingham in 1998.

If it is a consolation, the representatives of Malta at the “Children’s Eurovision Song Contest” are much more successful – they recorded as many as two victories, and one of those victories was brought by Destini, this year’s representative at the big Eurovision Song Contest.

Cyprus

Since 1981, when Cyprus was first part of the “Eurosong”, the inhabitants of the island in the eastern Mediterranean have been waiting for victory.

Unlike Malta, Cyprus rarely failed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest – Cypriot songs were not only heard in 1988 in Dublin and in 2001 and 2014, both times in Copenhagen.

Cyprus was closest to victory in Lisbon in 2018, when Greek singer Eleni Fureira managed to take second place.

Lithuania

Since the competition in Dublin in 1994, Lithuania has been trying to win the “Eurosong”. It is the only Baltic country that did not win, as Estonia (2001) and Latvia (2002) succeeded.

However, they did not always participate. After their debut, when they took the last place without a single point, the Lithuanians withdrew from the competition until 1998, and skipped the competitions in 2000 and 2003.

They achieved the best placement in 2006, when the Lithuanian representatives took the sixth place. They were confident then, as the group “LT United” performed the song We Are The Winners, alluding to victory.

Albania

Songs from Albania were first heard at the “Eurovision Song Contest” in Istanbul in 2004, at the biggest competition so far, when the semi-final evening was introduced.

Since its debut, Albania has never missed an opportunity to present its songs at the biggest music spectacle.

Albania’s best ranking was recorded in Baku in 2012, when Ron Nishli took fifth place.

Moldova

The “Eurovision Song Contest” in Kiev in 2005 was the first for Moldova, which we have watched every year since.

The Moldovans did not give up the competition even when they were last in the semifinals in 2014.

They recorded the greatest success in 2017 in the city where they made their debut. Then Moldova won the third place.

Bulgaria

Another country for which the Kiev “Eurosong” was the first in 2005 was Bulgaria.

Unlike Moldova, the representatives of Bulgaria did not compete in 2014 and 2015, but in recent years they have recorded high rankings.

The competition in Kiev in 2017 was the most successful for Bulgaria as well – Kristijan Kostov returned home with a silver medal.

San Marino

The smallest country that competes in the “Eurovision Song Contest” made its debut in Belgrade in 2008.

However, the capital of Serbia did not remain in their fond memories, as they were the last in the semifinals, and they even gave up their participation in 2009 and 2010.

San Marino has not given up on the competition in Dusseldorf in 2011, when this year’s representative Senit sang for them.

However, it seems that at the “Eurosong”, size is important, since, except this year, they managed to be in the finals only in 2014 and 2019, and their best placement is 19th place.

The TV show that unites Europe is back after being canceled last year due to the pandemic. The Netherlands is the host of this year, more specifically Rotterdam, and this was the first semi-final.

The race, which this year brings competitors from 39 countries around Europe, as well as Australia and Israel, is one of the biggest events staged since the pandemic began.

It is evolving as the continent begins to emerge from isolation and restrictive measures due to infection.

An audience of 3,500 participants, previously tested for COVID-19, were allowed into the Rotterdam Ahoy Hall to watch the performances.

29 winners from the semifinals will join the contestants from the top five of Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and of course, the host Netherlands, in Saturday’s grand final.

Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia, Sweden, Australia, Northern Macedonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Norway, Croatia, Belgium, Israel, Romania, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Malta participated in the first semifinal, but only 10 of them passed the first stage.

The second semifinal will take place on Thursday, in which the representative of Albania, Anxhela Peristeri, will perform with the song “Karma” ./ Euronews.al

With its breathtaking splendor and organization, Eurovision is back. Forced to cancel the extravagant song festival last year due to the pandemic, the Netherlands is expecting a quality content edition this week, with France as the favorite.

About 3,500 people, provided they present a negative but unmasked test, will take part in the final of the competition in the port city of Rotterdam. Candidates will be locked in a “special bubble”.

Frenchwoman Barbara Pravi, often compared to Edith Piaf, has topped the charts with her song “Voila” and could enable the Hexagon to take its first victory in 44 years. It is followed by Italy and Malta.

While vaccination has facilitated health measures for European countries, the Netherlands has officially authorized public participation in events in late April.

“Waiting for Eurovision in this particular period is not a responsibility we have taken lightly,” said Martin Oesterdahl, the competition’s executive director.

The 2020 edition of Eurovision was canceled for the first time in the history of competitions due to the pandemic.

For spectators accustomed to seeing a wave of flags and artists from around the world embracing each other on their small screens, the 2021 edition promises to be somewhat different.

While most of the candidates, from 39 countries, will travel to Rotterdam, others, like Austria will participate through pre-recorded videos.

National delegations in the country are also subject to strict rules, including strict separation from the public and the obligation to be tested for COVID-19 every 48 hours./ballkanweb

Albania’s representative in Eurovision, Angela Peristeri, has performed today the first rehearsal on the stage of the festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

From the images of the first rehearsal, it is learned that Anxhela will be completely alone, dressed in gold with crystals, while she will not have a ballerina at all, so a usual appearance of Albania in this festival, writes Zeri.info.

Numerous commentators and followers of Eurovision, have described the performance as something common that Albania usually sends to this festival, while they have appreciated Angela’s strong vocals.

Angela’s song “Karma” is currently at the end of polls and betting, giving her little or no chance of winning this festival.

Albania will compete on May 20 on the stage of Eurovision./Zeri

After two starry nights of the best Serbian music there is only one left Beovizija 2020 Show stays and this is the big one.

Tonight, twelve acts that made it through the two semi-finals will take to the stage for the 2020 Beovizija final. And now we want to know who you would like to see flying the Serbian flag this May.

Will we see a familiar face in Rotterdam this year who represents Serbia, or will someone take over the rule of the Balkan republic again?

Be sure to listen to all of the songs and vote in our poll below! You can vote on as many acts as you want, but you can only vote once. Before clicking Submit, check the box next to each action you want to support. We’ll close the poll before the show.

Beovizija 2020: All songs and participants

You can listen to all 12 entries still pending to represent Serbia in Rotterdam in the YouTube playlist embedded below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries

Full list of Beovizija 2020 finalists

Beovizija 2020: format and voting

The outcome of the competition is determined by both a jury and the public. 50% of the votes come from industry experts and the rest from televoting. It is not yet known who the judges will be or how many there will be, but the way the votes will be announced will be the same as last year.

After the judges have awarded all of their points, these will be converted to 12, 10, and 8-1 based on an entrant’s jury ranking. Thus, the televoting results follow in a similar fashion, with the act with the highest rank receiving 12 points, the second highest 10 points, and so on. The artist with the highest number of points at the end will be given the right to represent Serbia at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam in May. It is important to note, however, that RTS has stated that they have the right to choose who will ultimately win the ticket for the Netherlands in case there is any problem with the winner or song.

Beovizija will again be broadcast from RTS’s Studio 8. Viewers can follow the competition on RTS 1 or on the RTS Planeta broadcaster’s online portal. Four presenters will guide the show’s viewers, namely Dragan Kosjerina, Kristina Radenković, Stefan Popović and Jovan Radomir – whom you may remember at the Eurovision 2016 press conferences and as the Serbian jury member for the Swedish Melodifestivalen. The show begins at 9:00 p.m. CET. So delete your calendars!