Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Eurovision Song Contest 2023
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, after , winner of the with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to meet the demands of hosting the event due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), the contest was held at the Liverpool Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May, and a final on 13 May 2023. The three live shows were presented by British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Irish television presenter Graham Norton joining for the final.
Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with , and ceasing their participation, mainly due to the economic impact of the 2021–2023 global energy crisis.
The winner was with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström and Thomas G:son. , and rounded out the top five. Sweden won the combined vote and jury vote, and came second to Finland in the televote. Loreen became the second performer to win the contest twice, after Irish singer Johnny Logan; it was also the seventh win for Sweden, tying 's record for the most Eurovision victories.
The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 162 million viewers in 38 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition. A total of 15.6 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok.
Location
[{
"type":"Feature",
"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9917,53.3974]},
"properties":{"title":"Liverpool Arena","marker-symbol":"stadium","marker-color":"#f00","marker-size":"large"}
},{
"type":"ExternalData",
"service":"geoshape","ids":"Q5306379",
"properties":{"title":"Liverpool Arena","fill":"#f00","stroke":"#f00"}
},{
"type":"Feature",
"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9995,53.4082]},
"properties":{"title":"Eurovision Village","marker-symbol":"village","marker-color":"#00f"}
},{
"type":"Feature",
"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9805,53.3945]},
"properties":{"title":"EuroClub","marker-symbol":"bar","marker-color":"#00f"}
},{
"type":"Feature",
"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9796,53.41]},
"properties":{"title":"Turquoise Carpet","marker-symbol":"fence","marker-color":"#00f"}
},{
"type":"Feature",
"geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9801,53.4086]},
"properties":{"title":"Opening Ceremony","marker-symbol":"town-hall","marker-color":"#00f"}
}]
The 2023 contest was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the ninth time that the United Kingdom had hosted the contest, having previously done so for winning the previous year in , and , and in place of the previous year's winning country in , and . The selected venue was the 11,000-seat Liverpool Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the ACC Liverpool complex. The "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, took place outside the Walker Art Gallery on 7 May 2023, followed by the Opening Ceremony at St George's Hall.
In conjunction with the contest, Liverpool held a cultural festival called "EuroFest", which featured collaborations between British and Ukrainian artists. The Pier Head was the location of the Eurovision Village, where a stage hosted performances by Ukrainian artists, local artists, current and previous Eurovision entrants, and other groups. It also held screenings of the three live shows. Entry to the Village was free of charge except during the final. The EuroClub, which took place at Camp and Furnace, hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.
Host country selection
The was won by with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, which, according to Eurovision tradition, made Ukraine the presumptive host of the 2023 contest. The country had hosted the contest twice before, in and , both times in Kyiv. Between May and June 2022, the Ukrainian government and UA:PBC, the nation's public broadcaster, discussed hosting the contest with the EBU. The chairman of UA:PBC Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other Ukrainian politicians expressed their willingness to host the event, and an organising committee was formed.
Despite this, the EBU announced on 17 June 2022 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that UA:PBC could not give the security and operations guarantees required to host the contest, and that the event could therefore not be held in Ukraine. The EBU then entered discussions with the BBC, the 2022 runner-up, and on 25 July announced that the 2023 contest would be hosted in the United Kingdom. It was the first time since that the contest was not hosted by the previous year's winning country.
The decision not to host in Ukraine was initially met with disappointment. UA:PBC published a statement in which Chernotytskyi requested further talks with the EBU, and Oleh Psiuk of Kalush Orchestra published an open letter criticising the decision, co-signed by Ukraine's previous Eurovision winners, Ruslana and Jamala, as well as Ukraine's minister of culture Oleksandr Tkachenko. This stance was supported by Boris Johnson, who was the British prime minister at the time, Nadine Dorries, who was the British culture secretary at the time, the Polish broadcaster , and Poland's deputy prime minister and minister of culture Piotr Gliński. The announcement on 25 July that the BBC would host the contest was supported by UA:PBC.
Host city bidding phase
The host city bidding process ran from 25 July to 7 October 2022, with candidates judged against a set of criteria to demonstrate that they could host an event on the scale of the Eurovision Song Contest. During the first stage of the process, the BBC received expressions of interest from 20 UK cities and towns, seven of which were longlisted on 12 August 2022: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. These cities had until 8 September to develop their bids in detail for evaluation by the BBC, which also conducted visits to the cities throughout the month. On 27 September, Glasgow and Liverpool were announced to have made the shortlist, and on 7 October, the EBU and the BBC announced Liverpool as the host city.
Key:
Host city
Shortlisted
Longlisted
Submitted a bid
Participating countries
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. Associate member did not need an invitation for the 2023 contest, as it had previously been granted permission to participate until at least this year.
On 20 October 2022, the EBU announced that 37 countries would participate in the 2023 contestthe lowest number of participating countries in a single edition since with , and , which had participated in the , opting not to participate in 2023 for financial reasons. This was also the first contest where the participated under its shortened English name of Czechia.
Returning artists
The contest featured four representatives who also previously performed as lead vocalists for the same country. Two of them had competed in : Loreen won that year's contest representing Sweden, while Pasha Parfeni represented Moldova that year and later provided backing vocals for Aliona Moon in . Also returning as lead artists were Marco Mengoni, who had represented Italy in 2013, and Monika Linkytė, who had represented Lithuania in alongside Vaidas Baumila. In addition, Belgium's Gustaph had previously provided backing vocals for Sennek in and Hooverphonic in , and Georgia's Iru had won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 as a member of Candy.
Other countries
Several EBU member broadcasters made statements confirming non-participation prior to the publication of the official 2023 participants list. The management board of Bulgarian broadcaster BNT, at a meeting on 7 September 2022, decided not to participate in the 2023 contest, citing an expected increase in participation fees; this was later publicly confirmed in several Bulgarian news outlets on 19 October. The Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG and the Macedonian broadcaster MRT also publicly confirmed on 13 and 14 October 2022 respectively that they would not participate in the contest, citing financial contraints. Both RTCG and MRT however confirmed their intentions to broadcast the 2023 contest. Active EBU member broadcasters in and also confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU.
A potential return for to the contest in 2023in what would have been its first participation since was first discussed in November 2021, when it was reported that part of the Monégasque state budget had been reserved for participation in the 2023 contest. However, these plans were curtailed due to the delay in the launch of a new Monégasque public television channel, TVMonaco, which commenced broadcasts in September 2023 instead of the initially outlined period of late 2022. Monaco Media Diffusion, the current EBU member broadcaster for Monaco, subsequently confirmed on 5 September 2022 that the country would not participate in the 2023 event.
Discussions were also reported between the EBU and Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency, an associate member of the EBU, which would have led to being invited to participate in the contest for the first time. Kazakhstan has in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since , with television producer Zhan Mukanov stating that "there is every chance [for Kazakhstan] to enter the adult Eurovision next year" and that the country's participation in the would have a "significant impact" on its chances of debuting in the adult event. The country, however, did not appear on the final list of participants.
Production
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was produced by the British national broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC worked with the BBC to develop and implement Ukrainian elements for the live shows, including theme artwork, background music, selection of presenters, and opening and interval acts. The three shows were produced by BBC Studios Entertainment Productions and BBC Studios Music Productions, part of the BBC's commercial subsidiary BBC Studios.
The senior production team consisted of Martin Green as managing director, Rachel Ashdown as lead commissioner, Andrew Cartmell as executive producer, Lee Smithurst as head of show, Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen as head of contest, and James O'Brien as executive in charge of production. Additional production personnel included multi-camera directors Nikki Parsons, Richard Valentine and Ollie Bartlett, lead creative director Dan Shipton, music director Kojo Samuel, stage designer Julio Himede, head of sound Robert Edwards, and lighting designer Tim Routledge. The Ukrainian consultation team was led by Oksana Skybinska, Tetiana Semenova, and . Background music for the shows was composed by Mykhailo Nekrasov.
The budget was contributed to by Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (each), the British government, and the BBC (to ). The overall budget was not made public, but is estimated to be at around , including expenditures by the host city.
Visual design
On 7 October 2022, along with the host city announcement, the EBU revealed the generic logo for the 2023 contest. The Eurovision heart, which typically has the flag of the host country placed in its centre, contained the Ukrainian flag for this year to reflect the country's win the previous year. The 'Song Contest' text was accompanied below by 'United Kingdom' and further down by 'Liverpool 2023'.
The theme art and slogan for the contest, "United by Music", was unveiled on 31 January 2023. Designed by London-based brand consultancy Superunion and Ukrainian production company Starlight Media, the artwork was built around a string of two-dimensional hearts resembling an electrocardiogram, representing response to rhythm and sound, while the colours were inspired by those of the Ukrainian and British flags. The typeface, Penny Lane, was inspired by 20th-century Liverpool street signs and the city's musical heritage.
Stage design
The stage design for the 2023 contest was revealed on 2 February 2023. Designed by New York-based set designer Julio Himede, the design was based on "the principles of togetherness, celebration and community", taking inspiration from a wide hug and the "cultural aspects and similarities between Ukraine, the UK and specifically Liverpool". The stage is 450 square metres, with 220 square metres of independently rotating LED screens, over 700 LED floor tiles and more than 1500 metres of LED lights. King Charles III and Queen Camilla (whose coronations were held the week before the contest) inaugurated the stage on 26 April, during an official visit to Liverpool.
Postcards
The "postcards" were 40-second video introductions shown on television whilst the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between February and April 2023 and directed by Tom Cook, with Carlo Massarella and Jane McGoldrick serving as executive producers, the postcards were based on the "United by Music" theme of the contest. Making use of 360° drone technology, each postcard began in a selected location in Ukraine, then one in the United Kingdom, before moving to the artist's country of origin, where the artist took part in an activity of their choice. The three locations appearing in each postcard were connected by a singular theme. Each postcard was bookended with the "little planet effect", which symbolised the interconnections between people. The postcards were produced by London-based production company Windfall Films and Ukrainian production company 23/32, with background music composed by Dmytro Shurov. The following locations were used for each participating country:
Vocal rules
For the third year in a row, delegations had the option to use pre-recorded backing vocals, though each delegation could still use live backing singers—whether on or off stage—or a combination of live and recorded backing vocals. However, all lead vocals and lead dubs performing the melody of the song must still be live. The contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl later stated that the use of pre-recorded backing vocals would continue to be permitted for the foreseeable future.
Presenters
British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina were announced as the presenters for the 2023 contest on 22 February 2023, and they hosted all three shows of the event; Irish television presenter Graham Norton joined them for the final. Norton has served as the BBC's commentator for the contest since , and had previously co-hosted both editions of the Eurovision Dance Contest in and , as well as Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits in 2015.
The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events were hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko (who had co-hosted the ) and Sam Quek, with Richie Anderson providing off-screen commentary. Miroshnychenko also moderated the contest's press conferences, along with Jermaine Foster and Mariia Vynogradova.
Format
Voting system and contest structure
On 22 November 2022, the EBU announced changes to the voting system for the 2023 contest. The results of the semi-finals would be determined solely by televoting, as was the case between and , while the results of the final would be determined by a combination of national juries and televoting, as has been the case since the final. In the event that a country cannot deliver a televoting result in a semi-final, a backup jury result would be used instead. In the final, in the event that a country cannot deliver a televoting result, an aggregated result calculated on the basis of countries with similar voting patterns would be used. If a country's jury is disqualified, the televoting points from that country would be doubled and used as a substitute for that country's jury points in the final. The procedure of using calculated points would remain as a last resort in the event that a country cannot deliver a valid jury or televoting result. Viewers from non-participating countries would also be able to vote in all shows, with their votes being aggregated and presented as one individual set of points under "Rest of the World". Those viewers would be able to cast votes via an online platform, which requires ownership of a credit or debit card for verification.
On 8 May 2023, a change to the semi-final qualifiers announcement format was revealed, where the acts would be on stage to anticipate the announcement of the finalists instead of sitting in the green room, similar to The X Factor. This format was trialled during a dress rehearsal for the first semi-final, before being dropped on the same day due to negative responses.
Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 31 January 2023 at 19:00 GMT (20:00 CET), at St George's Hall. The thirty-one semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots was to reduce the chance of "bloc voting" and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiersthe previous year's winning country and "Big Five" countries , and the would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Stefano Lo Russo, the mayor of previous host city Turin, to Joanne Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool. London-based production company ModestTV was commissioned to produce the broadcast of the ceremony.
Contest overview
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 9 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Fifteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 22 March 2023. Finland won the most points, followed by Sweden, Israel, Czechia, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia. The countries that failed to reach the final were Latvia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Malta. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus , and , as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote.
This semi-final was opened by a dance sketch set to "Together in Electric Dreams", preceded by a pre-recorded segment featuring Paul Hollywood, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Sister Sister, Ricky Tomlinson, and Paul O'Grady in a posthumous appearance. This was followed by co-presenter Julia Sanina performing "" with her husband and fellow The Hardkiss member Valeriy Bebko. The interval acts included Alyosha performing "Ordinary World" with Rebecca Ferguson, and Rita Ora performing a medley of "Ritual", "Anywhere", "I Will Never Let You Down" and "Praising You". The French, German, and Italian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 11 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Sixteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 22 March 2023. Australia won the most points, followed by Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Armenia, Cyprus, Belgium, Albania, and Estonia. The countries that failed to reach the final were Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and San Marino. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus , and the , as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote.
This semi-final featured a pre-recorded spoken word piece on the history of the contest by actor Luke Evans during a break between the competing performances, while the interval acts included "Music Unites Generations", a medley of well-known Ukrainian musical works performed by Mariya Yaremchuk, Otoy and Zlata Dziunka, and a dance sketch choreographed by Jason Gilkison and performed by three drag performers, Miss Demeanour, Miss Mercedes Bends, and Tomara Thomas, along with the Podilya dance ensemble. The sketch, titled "Be Who You Wanna Be", was set to a medley of "Free Yourself", "Free Your Mind", "Free" and the "We Got Love". The British, Spanish and Ukrainian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.
Final
The final took place on 13 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with the jury and televote of all thirty-seven participating countries, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" online vote, eligible to vote. The running order for the final was published on 12 May 2023. Sweden won the contest with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Sweden won with 583 points, also winning the jury vote. Finland came second with 526 points and won the televote, with Israel, Italy, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Estonia, Australia and Czechia completing the top ten. Albania, Portugal, Serbia, the United Kingdom, and Germany occupied the bottom five positions.
The final was opened by Kalush Orchestra performing their winning song "Stefania" and their latest single "Changes". Among those who appeared in the pre-recorded portion of the opening were Bolt Strings, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joss Stone, Ballet Black, Ms Banks, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. This was followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by four former Ukrainian Eurovision entrants performing new spins on their competing songs mixed with British classics: Go_A with "", Jamala with her winning song "1944", Tina Karol with "Show Me Your Love", and Verka Serduchka with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai". The interval acts included Sam Ryder performing his new single "Mountain" with Queen's Roger Taylor, and "The Liverpool Songbook", a homage to Liverpool's music heritage featuring six former Eurovision entrants singing their own version of songs from the host city: Mahmood with "Imagine", Netta with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", Daði Freyr with "Whole Again", Cornelia Jakobs with "I Turn to You", Sonia with "Better the Devil You Know", and Duncan Laurence, together with the aforementioned artists, the presenters, and Ruslana in a pre-recorded appearance at the Golden Gate in Kyiv, with "You'll Never Walk Alone". ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus also appeared in a short video skit on the recent commercial successes to come out of the contest.
Spokespersons
The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order. Unlike in the editions from to , in which the previous host country announced its points first, Ukraine was the first country to announce its jury points, followed by the previous host country, Italy. The current host country, the United Kingdom, announced its points last as usual.
Zlata Ognevich
Kaze
Jānis Pētersons
S10
Ryan Hili
Doina Stimpovschi
Niamh Kavanagh
John Kennedy O'Connor
Narmin Salmanova
Philipp Hansa
Anggun
Elton
Maro
Maja Ciglenečki
Ragnar Klavan
Maléna
Ida Nowakowska
Eda Marcus
Einar Stefánsson
Dragana Kosjerina
Loukas Hamatsos
Ben Adams
Chiara Dubey
Catherine Martin
Tina Müller
Ruth Lorenzo
Ilanit
Farah Abadi
Archil Sulakvelidze
Melani Mekicar
Andri Xhahu
Monika Liu
Catherine Tate
Detailed voting results
Semi-final 1
The ten qualifiers from the first semi-final were determined solely by televoting. All fifteen countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside France, Germany and Italy, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points awarded in the first semi-final. Finland received the maximum score of 12 points from seven of the voting countries, with Israel receiving four sets of 12 points, Moldova, Portugal and Sweden receiving two sets of 12 points each, and Croatia and Czechia each received one maximum score.
Semi-final 2
The ten qualifiers from the second semi-final were determined solely by televoting, with the exception of San Marino who were unable to provide a valid televote result and thus used the votes of their back-up jury. All sixteen countries competing in the second semi-final voted, alongside Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the second semi-final. Australia and Slovenia both received the maximum score of 12 points from three of the voting countries, with Albania, Armenia, Lithuania and Poland receiving two sets of 12 points each, and Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece and Iceland each receiving one maximum score.
Final
The results of the final were determined by televoting and jury voting in all thirty-seven participating countries, plus the Rest of the World aggregate public vote. The announcement of the jury points was conducted by each country individually, with the country's spokesperson announcing their jury's favourite entry that received 12 points, with the remaining points shown on screen. Following the completion of the jury points announcement, the public points were announced as an aggregate by the contest hosts in ascending order starting from the country which received the fewest points from the jury.
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the final. In the jury vote, Sweden received the maximum score of 12 points from fifteen countries, with Italy and Israel receiving five sets of 12 points. Belgium received the maximum score from three countries, Australia and Finland were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Slovenia and Ukraine were each being awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Finland received the maximum score of 12 points from eighteen countries, followed by Israel and Ukraine which received four sets of 12 points each. Armenia, Italy and Moldova received two sets of maximum scores each, and Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Norway, Poland and Slovenia were each awarded one set of 12 points. The winning country Sweden failed to receive any maximum scores from the public vote.
Broadcasts
All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. While they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. In addition, some non-participating broadcasters air the contest. The European Broadcasting Union also provided international live streams with no commentary of both semi-finals and the final through their official YouTube and TikTok channels. The table below details the broadcasting plans and commentators for the countries that aired the contest. According to the EBU, in total 162 million people watched at least a minute of the television broadcasts, and 15.6 million people watched the online broadcasts. Votes were received from 144 countries, including the 37 competing countries.
Technical issues occurred during the start of the first semi-final, causing most of the on-site commentators to lose connection to their broadcasters for around 15 minutes.
Reception
Commercial impact
After winning the 2023 contest, Sweden's entry "Tattoo" became a commercial success. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart dated 19 May 2023, and later became the first Eurovision song in 27 years to spend two weeks in the UK top five. In total, it spent four weeks in the UK top ten. It also topped the official charts in ten countries, and reached the top ten in a further 17 countries. The day after the final, "Tattoo" garnered 4,275,290 streams on Spotify, thus breaking the record for the most streams achieved by a Eurovision song on a single day, which was previously held by the winning entry "".
Along with "Tattoo", three other entries in the 2023 contest entered the top ten of the UK Singles Chart dated 19 May 2023, which is a first in the history of the chart: Finland's "Cha Cha Cha" at number six, the UK's "I Wrote a Song" at number nine, and Norway's "Queen of Kings" at number ten. On the Billboard Global 200 chart dated 27 May 2023, "Tattoo", "Cha Cha Cha" and "Queen of Kings" entered at numbers 15, 27 and 58, respectively. On the Billboard Global Excl. US chart also dated 27 May 2023, "Tattoo", "Cha Cha Cha" and "Queen of Kings" entered at numbers 7, 13 and 29, respectively, followed by Israel's "Unicorn" at number 153 and Italy's "" at number 174. "" had previously peaked at number 32 following its win at the Sanremo Music Festival 2023, which also doubled as the Italian national final.
Reaction to the results
Sweden's overall victory despite Finland's lead in the televoting sparked controversy among a subset of viewers and members of the live audience. During the jury voting sequence, several occasions when Sweden scored 12 points were disrupted by chanting from Finland's supporters, although the Swedish entrant Loreen, following her win, stated that she did not mind and furthermore appreciated their enthusiasm. While the televote winner failed to win overall on three previous occasions, in , and , 2023 was different in that Finland's lead of 133 points in the televote was the largest to date for an entry that did not win, and it also received the full 12 points from 18 different countries in the televoting, while Sweden did not win 12 points from any.
Broadcasting awards
The 2023 contest was presented with the Changemaker Award at the International Broadcasting Convention, in recognition of "its contribution to society and culture – celebrating a brand that continues to stay relevant and fresh on a huge scale". The award was received on 17 September 2023 by the contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl.
Other awards
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the You're a Vision Award were contested during the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and winner of the 1984 contest Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: the Artistic Award, the Composers Award, and the Press Award. The winners were revealed shortly before the Eurovision final on 13 May.
OGAE
OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2023 poll was also the winner of the contest, "Tattoo" performed by Loreen; the top five results are shown below.
You're a Vision Award
The You're a Vision Award (a word play of "Eurovision"), established in 2022 by the fansite Songfestival.be following the cancellation of the Barbara Dex Award due to its associated negative connotations, aims to "celebrate the creativity and diversity that embody the Eurovision spirit", with the winner being the one with the most notable outfit. Finland's Käärijä won the 2023 award, with Croatia's Let 3 and Belgium's Gustaph completing the top three.
Official album
Eurovision Song Contest: Liverpool 2023 is the official compilation album of the contest. It was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group digitally on 14 April 2023, in CD format on 28 April 2023, and in vinyl format on 26 May 2023. The album features all 37 entries.
Charts
Certifications
See also
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Notes
References
External links
2023
2023 song contests
Events affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Music competitions in the United Kingdom
May 2023 events in the United Kingdom
2023 in British television
Events in Liverpool
Music in Liverpool