European Singing Competition 31

Grand Final: Beyonce - "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" & "Crazy in Love" ft Jay-Z

## Countries

### Returning countries

 Algeria
 Belarus
 Belgium
 Bulgaria
 Cyprus
 Egypt
 Ireland
 Lebanon
 Romania

### Withdrawing countries

 Albania
 Estonia
 Greenland
 Israel
 Qatar
 Spain
 Taiwan
 Thailand
 Tunisia
 Uzbekistan

## Vote

### Voting system

Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favorite songs.

### Winning Song

 Australia
"Someone to Stay"

## European Singing Competition

Previous: 30
Next: 32

**European Singing Competition 31**, often referred to as ESC #31, is the thirty-first edition of European Singing Competition. The contest took place in Washington D.C., the United States. This is the second time that the United States hosted the contest. The event was hosted by Emma Stone, Chris Pratt and Nick Jonas. The event was hosted in the Capital One Arena with a capacity of 20,656.The host broadcaster was ABC.

As in the previous editions every nation was obliged to send a staging proposal alongside the song. It was announced that juries and televoters would give two separate scores in the semifinals as well.

Forty-four countries participated in the thirty-first edition. The participating countries, except of the host United States, Morocco, San Marino, Sweden, France and Norway, competed in two semi-finals. Algeria, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Romania and Portugal got promoted after qualifying from the Pre-Qualification Round 8.

This was the first edition where Canada failed to reach the Grand Final.

The winner was Australia with the song "Someone to Stay" by Vancouver Sleep Clinic which scored 386 points, winning by a margin of 21 points in front of the United Kingdom. The podium was completed by Portugal, which finished on the third place, after qualifying for the first time in over 10 editions. The host country the United States ended 20th. Australia won for the first time ever, surpassing their previous best result, a 3rd place they got in the very first edition. The Netherlands and Kazakhstan, meanwhile, got their worst results ever, being the bottom 2 of the 1st semifinal.

## Location

The contest took place for the second time in the United States.

### Bidding phase and host city selection

**Key**:

     Host venue

 Las Vegas
 Indianapolis
 New Orleans
 Chicago

## Returning Artists

Joelle, that represents Luxembourg alongside Redhills, has already sang for the country as part of the band When 'Airy Met Fairy in the 10th edition but failed to qualify ending 12th in the semifinal with their song "Intoxicated". DARA is also returning for Bulgaria after getting the 15th place in the grand final of the 7th edition with her entry "K'vo Ne Chu". Of Monsters and Men are also singing for Iceland, after winning the Icelandic national selection in their second attempt, for the second time after previously ending 9th in the 18th edition with the song "Your Bones", they also represented the country in the inaugural edition of ESC 2nd Chance Contest , where they ended 6th with their entry "Wars". Tulia will also be the first Polish returning entrant after previously participating in the previous edition being the only artist of this edition to be competing twice in a row, they previously ended 13th in the first semifinal with their song "Nieznajomy". Jelena Rozga will represent again her homeland, Croatia, after previously failing to qualify in the 2nd edition, getting 16th in the semifinal with the song "Otrov". Helene Bøksle is also returning after previously ending 12th in the 12th edition with her song "Bifröst".

## Participating countries

### **Semi-final Allocation Draw**

The thirty-eight semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Bulgaria
* Egypt
* Lebanon
* Croatia
* Montenegro
* Serbia
* Slovenia
* Faroe Islands
* Finland
* Iceland
* Belarus
* Georgia
* Kazakhstan
 Pot 5
 * Cyprus
* Greece
* Italy
* Romania
* Portugal
* Czech Republic
* Germany
* Poland
* Switzerland
* Ireland
* Luxembourg
* The Netherlands
* United Kingdom
* Australia
* Canada
* Monaco
* New Zealand

### **Semi-final 1**

Nineteen countries participated in the first semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside  Morocco,  Norway and  Sweden.

### **Semi-final 2**

Nineteen countries participated in the second semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside  France,  San Marino and the host the  United States.

### **Grand Final**

26 countries competed in the final. All 44 countries voted in the final.

## Voting

### Semifinal 1

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the first semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the first semi-final:

### Semifinal 2

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final:

### Final

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the grand final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the grand final: