page_title: History of the Eurovision Song Contest
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Eurovision Song Contest / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Sandra Kim, 22 septembre 2012.
context_page_description: The Eurovision Song Contest was first held in 1956, originally conceived through a desire to unite European countries through cross-border television broadcasts following World War II, and in doing so to test the capabilities of international broadcast technology. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954, the European Broadcasting Union commissioned an international song competition, from an idea developed by Sergio Pugliese and Marcel Bezençon and originally based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival.
  64 contests have been held since its first edition, and over 1,500 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage as of 2020. Eurovision has seen many changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of relegation in the 1990s, and subsequently semi-finals in the 2000s, as a response to growing numbers of interested participants. The rules of the contest have also seem multiple changes over the years, with the voting system and language criteria being modified on several occasions.
context_section_description: The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the twenty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by NOS and held on 19 April 1980 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, Netherlands. Israel, having won the previous year, had initially agreed to host the contest, however due to the cost of hosting the event for a second year in a row, IBA eventually declined to host the event. After a number of other broadcasters, including the BBC, appeared reluctant to stage the event, NOS stepped in on the understanding that they could host a scaled-back production, using the same venue as in 1976. The 19 April date proved problematic for Israel as it conflicted with Yom HaZikaron, and after failed attempts to move the date Israel ultimately pulled out, the first and only time that the previous year's winning country was unable to defend its title. Monaco also withdrew from the contest, however the number of competing countries remained steady at 19, with Turkey returning and Morocco making its debut entry, becoming the first African country to compete in the contest. Johnny Logan recorded the first of his three Eurovision wins in The Hague, giving Ireland its second victory with the song "What's Another Year".
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the twenty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 4 April 1981 at the RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland. 20 countries competed in total, with Cyprus making its debut appearance, Israel and Yugoslavia returning, and Morocco and Italy withdrawing, the latter for the first time since the contest was formed. A worldwide audience of around 500 million viewers was expected, with some 30 countries taking the broadcast across Europe, Asia and North Africa. The voting came down to a close contest between Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany, and the UK gained its fourth victory by a 4-point margin over Germany. Bucks Fizz, specially formed for the contest, would have great success in the following years, and their Eurovision winning song "Making Your Mind Up" would go on to become a Europe-wide hit.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the twenty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by the BBC and held on 24 April 1982 at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Harrogate, United Kingdom. 18 countries competed in total, with France and Greece withdrawing. French broadcaster TF1 in withdrawing criticised the contest's musical quality and describing it as a "monument to drivel", where as Greece, which would have performed second on the night, was forced to pull out a few weeks before the contest when it was discovered that its intended entry had been previously released and based on a Greek folk song. Germany dominated the voting and would win with the biggest margin yet seen under the current system (61 points), as well as gaining a new record number of 12 points, with 9 juries placing them top. Nicole became the first German act to win the contest, 26 years after their first entry, and during the winning reprise would perform her winning entry "Ein bißchen Frieden" in English, French, Dutch and the original German.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the twenty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) on behalf of ARD and held on 23 April 1983 at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, West Germany. 20 countries were present at Germany's second contest has hosts, with returns from Italy, Greece and France, with the latter represented by a new broadcaster, Antenne 2, following a public outcry over the previous year's absence, however Ireland withdrew for the first time due to a financial crisis at broadcaster RTÉ. Luxembourg recorded its fifth outright win after a close vote over Israel, Sweden and Yugoslavia, with the French singer Corinne Hermès cementing the Grand Duchy as one of the contest's most successful countries with "Si la vie est cadeau".
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1984 was the twenty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 5 May 1984 at the Théâtre Municipal in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 19 countries in total took par
caption: Sandra Kim (pictured in 2012) became the contest's youngest winner in 1986, at 13 years old.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-R1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:04 23:33:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2314", "Image XPTitle": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image XPSubject": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:09:22 22:18:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:09:22 22:18:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "47/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "143/10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1818", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2760", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}