Eurovision Song Contest: A Ranking System Explained

The Eurovision Song Contest, a globally recognized extravaganza of music and culture, employs a sophisticated ranking system to determine its winner. Over the decades, the system has evolved, striving to balance national preferences with broader appeal. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

The Voting Process

The voting process is two-pronged, combining professional juries and public televoting. Each participating country contributes two separate sets of scores: one from a panel of five music industry professionals (the jury), and the other from the public via telephone, SMS, or app (televoting).

Jury Voting: The jury panel in each country judges the songs based on criteria like vocal capacity, song composition, the originality of the act and the overall impression. They rank all the songs except their own country’s entry. Their individual rankings are then aggregated to produce a final jury ranking for that country.

Televoting: The public in each participating country votes for their favorite songs. They, too, are not allowed to vote for their own country. The number of votes each song receives is tallied, and a national televote ranking is created.

The Points System

Both the jury and televoting rankings are then converted into points. The song ranked highest by each entity (jury and televote) receives 12 points, the second highest receives 10 points, and then points decrease incrementally from 8 down to 1 for the songs ranked 3rd through 10th. This means each country awards points to their top ten songs according to both the jury and the public.

Previously, if there was a tie in the televoting, the jury vote would take precedence. Now, ties are handled differently. The exact rules for handling ties are typically published closer to the event and may be subject to change. Often, the country with the most countries awarding them points wins the tie.

Announcing the Results

The results are revealed in a dramatic and suspenseful manner. First, the spokespersons from each participating country announce the points awarded by their national jury, beginning with the lowest scores and building up to the coveted 12 points. This phase is often filled with national pride and friendly rivalry.

After all the jury votes are announced, the presenters reveal the combined televoting results for all participating countries. This is done by summing up the total points each song received from the televotes of every country. This part of the process can often drastically alter the leaderboard, creating unexpected victories and devastating losses.

The Winner

The song that accumulates the highest total score from both the jury and televoting across all participating countries is declared the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. The winning country then typically hosts the following year’s contest, providing a significant boost to its tourism and cultural profile.

Changes and Controversies

The Eurovision voting system has undergone several revisions over the years, primarily to address concerns about bloc voting (where countries tend to vote for their neighbors) and to ensure a more balanced representation of both professional and public opinion. Despite these efforts, the system remains a subject of debate and scrutiny, with ongoing discussions about its fairness and effectiveness.