Eurovision Song Contest

The history of the ESC

The idea for a «Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne», as the event was called originally and up until 2001, was conceived in 1955 by Marcel Bezençon, former director-general of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG) and head of the Programme Commission at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). During a conference of the Programme Commission in late January 1955 in Monaco, he proposed the idea of a European pop song contest, inspired by the Sanremo Music Festival, which had been held in Italy since 1951.

On 19 October 1955, the EBU General Assembly decided to establish a «Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne». The first edition took place in Lugano in 1956. In honour of its creator, the Marcel-Bezençon Award has been presented at the Eurovision Song Contest every year since 2002 for the best song, best artistic performance, and best composer. The winners are chosen in three categories by accredited journalists, commentators and the participating composers.

Format

Since 1957 every participating broadcaster has submitted a song to the ESC. The competition is usually held in the country that won the previous year's event. There have only been a small number of exceptions from this, most recently in 2023. Because of the growth in the number of participating countries due to the accession of many Eastern European countries to the EBU, a qualifying round was held between 2004 and 2007. Since 2008, two qualifying rounds are held as semi-finals.

The semi-finals and final each consist of two parts: in the first part, lasting around two hours, the participants present their entries, while in the second part, the participating countries award their points. In the semi-final this part takes around 15 minutes as the finalists are announced in random order and without reading out the individual scores from the participating countries. In the final, the second part lasts about an hour. The transition from the first to second part, and therefore the period in which viewers can vote, lasts about 15 minutes and is filled by an interval act on stage.

The participating countries

All countries that are members of the EBU are eligible to take part. These are the majority of European countries, plus some non-European countries from the Mediterranean region. Israel was for a long time the only EBU member outside of Europe that regularly participated in the ESC, and, since the 2000s, it has been joined by Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Due to Eurovision's popularity in Australia, the country has been allowed to participate as an «associate EBU member» since 2015.

Every EBU member is entitled to take part in the ESC, but there is no obligation to do so. As a result, the number of participants can vary from one year to the next. At the first contest in 1956, seven countries took part, with two entries each: the host country Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Italy. In the subsequent years, more and more countries showed an interest in the competition. Yugoslavia was an EBU member and the only socialist country to participate regularly between 1961 and 1991.

Since the EBU expansion in 1990, Central and East European countries, which previously competed in the Intervision Song Contest, have been able to participate. However, to avoid extending the length of the event significantly, the number of participants was limited, which meant that not all countries could compete every year. In 1993, there was a separate pre-qualifying round for Eastern Europe, with seven East European countries battling it out for three starting places. From 1994 onwards, the number of participants was limited to 25 (and reduced to 23 in 1995). Under the relegation system, the best 19 countries qualified for the competition the following year, while the rest had to miss out on a place.

A new procedure was introduced in 1996 due to a further increase in the number of countries wanting to take part. All entrants - with the exception of hosts Norway - had to undergo internal audio pre-qualifying selection by a jury. Following the elimination of the German entry during this pre-qualifying round, Germany threatened not to help pay for future events. As a result it was decided that the four – since 2011 five– members contributing the largest share of the EBU's budget would be granted direct entry every year from 1999. This meant that Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy (after it returned to the ESC in 2011) were automatically eligible to take part, regardless of their place in the previous year's contest. These countries are known as «The Big Five» («The Big Four» until 2010). Since the introduction of qualifying rounds in 2004, this rule means that these countries qualify directly for the final. This special rule has been criticised by some participating countries as «buying a place in the final», and Turkey has not taken part since 2013 because of it.

To date, all European countries – apart from Liechtenstein and the Vatican – have participated in the ESC. In the Arab world, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, and the Lebanon are EBU members, but only Morocco has ever taken part (1980 competition). Australia took part in the competition in 2015 as a «one-off special guest to mark the competition's 60th anniversary» according to the EBU, qualifying directly for the final. Since 2016 Australia has continued to take part in the contest as an associate EBU member, but has to qualify in one of the semi-finals.

The qualifying rounds

In order to give every country the chance to take part again, qualifying rounds have been held since 2004, in which all active members of the EBU (barring the «Big Five») can participate. From 2004 to 2007, one qualifying round was held, from which the ten best-placed songs, plus the «Big Four», the host country, and the countries in places two to ten from the previous year made it to the final. Since 2008, two qualifying rounds («semi-finals») have been held, from which the ten best-placed songs, as well as the «Big Four» («Big Five» since 2011) and the hosts qualify for the final. Splitting countries with cultural, geographic and linguistic ties across two different semi-finals is intended to reduce the bias in scoring that comes as a result of cultural affinity and proximity.

By 1971, the string of moderate successes was over, with the trio Peter, Sue & Marc finishing in the bottom half of the table, in 12th place out of 18. However, in 1972, singer Véronique Müller made it back into the top ten, finishing eighth out of 18. Then, from 1975, Switzerland entered its most successful period at the ESC to date, always finishing in the top ten: sixth place in 1975 for Simone Drexel with «Mikado», fourth place in 1976 and revenge for the trio Peter, Sue & Marc with «Djambo, Djambo», sixth place in 1977 for Pepe Lienhard Band with «Swiss Lady» and ninth place in 1978 for Carole Vinci with «Vivre».

In 1979, the trio Peter, Sue & Marc represented Switzerland for the third time, and were joined this time by another trio, Pfuri, Gorps & Kniri. They finished tenth with the song «Trödler & Co». In 1980, singer Paola finished fourth with «Cinéma», while in 1981, the trio Trio Peter, Sue & Marc represented Switzerland for the fourth time in the space of ten years. This time they finished in fourth place with «lo senza te» – their best ever placing in the competition.

In 1982, Switzerland notched up its best result in 19 years with «Amour on t'aime» by singer Arlette Zola, which came third. But that was the end of Switzerland's success at Eurovision for another few years

Céline Dion – a topic of discussion in the Federal Council

In 1986, the song «Pas pour moi» by Daniela Simons delivered a major surprise, coming second – Switzerland's best result since 1963. Then, in 1988, came the belter when singer Céline Dion – unknown in Europe at the time – achieved Switzerland's second and last victory to date with «Ne partez pas sans moi», just a point ahead of the UK. It came down to the line and victory was only revealed when the very last country revealed its scores. While the Brits were celebrating what they believed was a sure-fire win, Yugoslavia awarded Switzerland six points, and the UK zero.

The winning song for Switzerland was composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, while the lyrics were penned by Nella Martinetti. Şereftuğ claimed he had written the song in just 12 minutes. Céline Dion was able to represent Switzerland as – according to the ESC regulations at the time – two out of three elements of the song had to come from the country in question: composer, lyricist and singer. National Councillor Markus Ruf from the Swiss Democrats even submitted an official question to the Federal Council about this on 20 June 1988. He wanted to know how it could be justified in the Council's view that a Canadian could represent Switzerland at Eurovision. Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi responded with his customary humour that thank goodness the Federal Council didn't have to answer the question in the form of regulations or an ordinance. Fortunately, that could be left to others, namely through the ESC regulations. Ogi's actual words (translated): «Nella Martinetti from Ticino penned the lyrics to this year's entry. So on that basis, the Swiss entry can't have been that un-Swiss, National Councillor Ruf. The song was performed by a Canadian. That may indeed come as a surprise. But by all accounts Ms Dion did a very good job (sniggers in the National Council), otherwise the Swiss entry wouldn't have won. Other than that, the song performed was the one that triumphed in the national qualifying round. As I said, the Federal Council doesn't have a seat on that jury. National Councillor Ruf, you will have to take up this matter with them, or – even better – take a seat on the jury yourself! Incidentally, how fortunate we are to live in a country where such earth-shattering topics as the origin of a pop singer can be discussed in the national parliament!» (cheerful applause from the Council)
Feeling somewhat snubbed, Markus Ruf was not satisfied with this response, and went on to ask defiantly whether the Council didn't think there were any very good singers in Switzerland, whether the Council had any sympathy for the fact that not all Swiss were happy with the representation and how he (Adolf Ogi) would react if an Austrian were to represent Switzerland at the next skiing world championships. Ogi retorted: «National Councillor Ruf, to your last question: No, not an Austrian! To the other questions: yes, absolutely.»

For Céline Dion the victory at Eurovision was an important step in her journey to becoming a global star.

The ESC returns to Switzerland

After Céline Dion's success, Switzerland hosted the contest on 6 May 1989 at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne. The event was presented by Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux, in English, French, Italian and German. The group Furbaz from Graubünden finished 13th out of 22 with the only song ever to be sung in Romansh at Eurovision, «Viver senza tei». The contest was won by Yugoslavia with the song «Rock me» by the group Riva.

The seven-minute-long opening film in which children's book character Heidi visited the sites of Switzerland, was the longest in ESC history and got people talking. It took a whole 20 minutes before the first entry was introduced. There was also a glitch in the interval programme, when William Tell's arrow narrowly missed the apple, so the successful attempt from the dress rehearsal had to be replayed instead.

When France sent an 11-year-old girl to compete in Lausanne and Israel a 12-year-old boy, the contest attracted public criticism, leading to the EBU introducing a new minimum age of 16 for performers.

The ESC losing streak

In 1991, the then 22-year-old Sandra Simó (now Studer) finished fifth in Rome with «Canzone per te», launching her career as a presenter on SRF. In 1993, singer Annie Cotton came third in Ireland – the best result since Switzerland's victory in 1988. But that was to be the last successful Swiss entry for a while. The subsequent years proved to be a complete washout.

In 1994 the Swiss entry finished near the bottom of the table, 19th out of 25. This poor performance had implications, as due to the many new participating countries and the relegation system, only those in positions 1 to 18 could take part in the contest the following year. Switzerland therefore had to miss the 1995 edition for the first time since the competition started in 1956. Until 1994, Switzerland was the only country besides Germany that had taken part in all the competitions to date.

DJ Bobo and the vampires

In 2007, DJ Bobo represented Switzerland at the ESC in Helsinki. His song «Vampires are Alive» was soon ranking as a favourite, but also caused quite a stir. The Federal Democratic Union FDU even submitted a petition with 50,000 signatures against Bobo's song to the Federal Chancellery in Bern. The FDU claimed that the «satanically-inspired song» was an affront to people's religious sensibilities and that the government needed to intervene «to safeguard public peace». The Evangelical Alliance also took aim at the song, saying that it could be disturbing for mentally unstable adolescents and could send people in difficult life situations over the edge. DJ Bobo still performed the song – but was eliminated in the semi-final after finishing 20th out of 28.

In 2010, there followed another low, when Michael von der Heide performed «Il pleut de l’or» in Oslo – but unfortunately it wasn't raining gold for Switzerland: he finished last in the semi-final and was eliminated. In 2011, Anna Rossinelli competed in the ESC in Düsseldorf with the song «In Love for a While» – while she made it to the final, she only scored 19 points and came last. In 2012 and 2013, the Swiss entries again failed to make it to the final. However, in 2014, singer Sebalter finished fifth in the semi-final, taking Switzerland to the final for the first time in three years. Unfortunately, he only managed 13th place. In the years that followed, Switzerland continued to notch up mid-table results.

Luca Hänni and the new selection process

From 2019 Switzerland introduced a new internal selection process, where the Swiss entry was decided for the first time in a multi-stage process by audiences and expert juries. In addition to a Swiss viewers jury, international audience juries also help decide which artist and song will represent Switzerland at the ESC in several selection rounds. This new process seems to have paid off: the first artist selected in this way was Luca Hänni. He performed the song «She Got Me» in Tel Aviv in 2019. «Make us lucky, Luca!» was the headline in the newspaper Blick. And Luca Hänni didn't disappoint, finishing fourth both in the semi-final and the final. Switzerland achieved the highest ever score in its Eurovision history with this entry.

Switzerland is back

The ESC had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Fribourg singer Gjon's Tears, who had already been selected, was therefore unable to perform «Répondez-moi» and instead represented Switzerland in Rotterdam in 2021 with the song «Tout l'univers». He achieved a fantastic first place in the jury vote and third place overall. Again in 2022, Switzerland made the final with Marius Bear and «Boys Do Cry», but only managed 17th place, finishing in the bottom half of the table. It was particularly frustrating that all 78 points came from the juries, and no points from viewers.

However, the new selection process appeared to have proven successful, with Switzerland again making the final in 2023 with Remo Forrer and the song «Watergun», although he only finished in 20th place – the worst result since 2018.

ESC: The best, most memorable and funniest Swiss ESC performances

A brief summary

Overall, 25 out of a total of 60 Swiss entries have ended up in the top half of the table. But finishing last on nine occasions, including four with «zero points», Switzerland is one of the countries that has most often found itself at the bottom of the table. Switzerland has only been in the final five times since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004, making it (along with Latvia) the country most often eliminated in the semi-finals (eleven times). Nevertheless, Switzerland has notched up two wins to date, three second places (1958, 1963, 1986) and four third places (1961, 1982, 1993, 2021). Having taken part 60 times, it is also one of the countries that has competed the most times. Switzerland has never chosen not to take part, but missed the contests in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003 due to poor results in previous contests, leading to relegation. Even so, Switzerland is still one of the most successful countries in the competition on average.

ESC entries in the Swiss charts

Many Swiss entries were not major commercial successes: the winning song «Ne partez pas sans moi» by Céline Dion only made it to number 11 in the Swiss singles charts. In 1956, when Switzerland won with the song «Refrain» by Lys Assia, the Swiss singles charts didn't exist yet. Overall, only 26 of the 60 entries have made it into the charts, including ten in the Top 10. The most commercially successful track was «Swiss Lady» by Pepe Lienhard Band in 1977, which was also the only entry to reach number one in the Swiss singles charts until 2019.

Also very successful was Simone Drexel in 1975 with «Mikado» at number two, followed by DJ BoBo in 2007 with «Vampires are Alive» and Anna Rossinelli in 2011 with «In Love for a While», both in the Top 3. Then, in 2014, Sebalter entered the charts at number six with «Hunter of Stars». This was not surpassed until 2019, when Luca Hänni topped the charts – the first number one hit since 1977. After Gjon's Tears only just made it into the charts at 100 despite the cancellation of the contest in 2020, his 2021 entry went straight in at number one, but only a week after the contest. At the same time, his previous year's hit «Répondez moi» re-entered the charts, this time at 42.

And now for Nemo

On May 11^th 2024, Nemo (25) from Biel won the ESC in the final in Malmö, Sweden, representing Switzerland with a great performance. In front of 9000 spectators in the arena and an estimated 150 million viewers worldwide in front of the screens, Nemo prevailed against the opposition and won with the song «The Code». Nemo after the victory: «This victory not only belongs to Switzerland and the Swiss music scene, but it is above all a victory for the entire LGBTQIA+ community. I am so proud to be the first non-binary person to win the ‹ESC›!» 

Nemo came out as non-binary in 2023 and uses the pronouns they/them in English. In 2016, Nemo became an overnight rap sensation in Switzerland when their performance on SRF Virus (#Cypher) went viral on social media.

Nemo won four Swiss Music Awards (SMA) in one night at the age of 18, just a year after taking home the SMA Award «SRF 3 Best Talent».

Nemo's song «The Code» was written at an ESC Songwriting Camp, organised in 2023 by the collecting society Suisa in collaboration with Pele Loriano Productions. The song was composed by Nemo, Lasse Nyman, Linda Dale and Benjamin Alasu. Nemo's sister – 22-year-old photographer and creative director, Ella Mettler – was in charge of artistic vision. The song «The Code» combines the musical genres of rap, drum 'n' bass, and opera. Nemo says: «‹The Code› is about the journey I went on when I realised I didn't identify as a man or a woman. The journey to my true self was a long and often difficult one. It's an incredible honour for me to represent Switzerland at the ESC. The Eurovision platform offers a huge opportunity to build bridges between different cultures and generations. That's why it's really important to me as a genderqueer person to stand up for the whole LGBTQIA+ community.»

The performance was staged by Swedish choreographer and theatre director Benke Rydman, who was also responsible for the staging of the Swedish act Mans Zelmerlöw who won the ESC in 2015 with the song «Heroes».

The ESC 2025 in Switzerland

Thanks to Nemo’s victory, the ESC 2025 will be held in Switzerland. For the SRG SSR it is a great honour and responsibility to organize and host the biggest music event in the world. Preparations already begun on the Sunday after the victory in Malmö. An internal SRG SSR task force immediately began the initial work, in a first step focussing on the challenging process of selecting the implementing city.

For more information on the ESC, see:

• SRF «Eurovision Song Contest»
• RTS «Eurosong»
• RSI «Eurovision»
• SWI swissinfo.ch «Die Schweiz am Eurovision Song Contest: Highlights und Misserfolge»
• Eurofans Radio «Home of the Fans of the Eurovision Song Contest»
• Eurovision News, Odds, Songs and Results