Eurovision Final: All of the Moments From This Year’s Eurovision Song Contest (Published 2023) (2024)

Sweden’s Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with her song “Tattoo,” bringing the prize home again to a country that has been one of the competition’s most successful, after a show marked both by glitter and by statements of solidarity with Ukraine.

Loreen was the bookmaker’s favorite for the competition, thanks to both her catchy track and Eurovision pedigree, having won once before, in 2012. Her victory means that Sweden, a Eurovision-obsessed Scandinavian nation, will host next year’s contest, and has now matched Ireland’s seven victories since the contest began in 1956.

That’s a wrap for the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. In a way there was not much suspense: Loreen was a heavy favorite with “Tattoo” and she ended up winning — making it a total of seven victories for Sweden, tied with Ireland for most ever. This was her second win, after a success in 2012, and she has become only the second person to win Eurovision twice (the first was Johnny Logan, from Ireland).

Loreen scored huge amounts of points from national juries but it quickly became obvious that Finland’s Kaarija had turned into a popular favorite — would public voters propel him to the top, as happened with Ukraine last year?

They almost did, but Loreen had built up such a lead that she prevailed and Kaarija was runner-up — a good day’s work for Nordic countries, with Norway’s Alessandra also ending in the top five.

Loreen’s victory means that Eurovision will be hosted by Sweden in 2024, coincidentally on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s triumph at the contest.

I have to admit that I find “Tattoo” to be an inferior retread of Loreen’s previous Eurovision hit, “Euphoria.” It never really builds and just … hovers. The performance is also so controlled that it made me enjoy Kaarija’s expansive energy even more.

This was a battle between two very different Eurovision music styles. Loreen’s “Tattoo” is a classic, powerful bit of storytelling, compared with Kaarija’s “Cha Cha Cha,” a ridiculous anthem that leans into the surreal nonsense the competition has favored in recent years.

In the end Loreen won, narrowly, because she appealed to the public and jury votes. But with Kaarija receiving so much support from viewers, especially from the crowd, you can’t help but wonder whether he’ll be a Eurovision fixture for years to come.

This means that Sweden is now joint a winner of the most Eurovisions ever — matching Ireland — with seven.

Loreen has won — Eurovision will be back in its spiritual home of Sweden next year. Let’s start preparing the ABBA reunion right now since it’ll be the 50th anniversary of that band’s historic Eurovision win.

It’s hard to overstate Sweden’s passion for Eurovision. The national selection process, Melodifestivalen, draws even bigger ratings than Eurovision itself: Close to 3.5 million people watched the Melodifestivalen final in March (in a country of 10.5 million), as opposed to 2.4 million viewers for Eurovision 2022. But viewership for the contest should be higher this year as Sweden has been an early favorite and could match Ireland’s seven victories. In addition, Swedish songwriters often pen entries for contestants from other countries.

Sweden wins Eurovision! Again!

Sweden only needs 186 points to win. Achievable.

We are seeing some huge discrepancies in the public voting — people went for all or nothing. You either cleaned up or you got crushed, no in between.

Loreen will trump that. She’s a dead cert, surely?

Finland receives 376 public votes, throwing it into the lead. But Loreen could claw it back.

216 public points for Norway — a huge lift from the near bottom of the table.

We now have to watch closeups of crushed entrants, trying to look stoic as they hear the pathetically low number of points the public has awarded them.

Germany and Britain once again performing poorly in the public vote. Eurovision voters really don’t like Europe’s more populous nations.

It is now the most confusing part of the evening, in which the lowest ranking countries from the jury vote receive their public votes. It means that if these countries have performed poorly, they have nowhere to hide.

In 2021, three countries received zero points from the public in quick succession, including Britain.

At the end of the jury vote, Sweden is leading with 328 points. Israel has 177, and Italy is just behind with 176.

The public voting can be starkly different from the jury voting. Last year, for example, Britain was ahead of Ukraine by 91 points at the end of the jury votes, placing Ukraine in fourth position. But Ukraine scored a whopping 439 points from the popular votes, compared to 183 for Britain, vaulting Ukraine to victory.

Suddenly a surge of votes for Belgium, which takes it to nearly triple digits. One thing is clear, though: it has not been a good night for Britain, with Mae Muller currently floating fourth from bottom.

It’s a sign of a great Eurovision when the votes are thrown all over the board like this.

Like millions of viewers, I am now Team Hannah Waddingham until the end of time. She has cemented her “national treasure” status today.

Finally a 12 to Finland, and a HUGE reaction in the room.

The awkward satellite delay between the hosts at the arena and some of the announcers is a Eurovision tradition all in itself. Never change.

If you are new to the Eurovision telecast, you might not be aware that it goes on for about four hours. The reason is that the 26 competing songs are followed by a voting window, and then a painstakingly detailed announcement of the results — which are obtained by combining points allocated by voters at home and by national juries made up of music-industry professionals.

Voting started after the last performance and lasts about 40 minutes. At the end, the participating countries take turns announcing how many points their jury allocated to the contestants — a process that takes a while, since all 37 participants are included, not just the 26 in the final. Each country allocates a total of 58 points in installments of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 or 12 points. (Why they don’t give out 9 or 11 points is one of the universe’s great mysteries.)