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Sixty songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The Contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. The Contest's winner has been determined using numerous voting techniques throughout its history; centre to these have been the awarding of points to countries by juries or televoters. The country awarded the most points is declared the winner. The first Eurovision Song Contest was not won on points, but by votes (two per country), and only the winner was announced.
2012 - Sweden
Loreen - "Euphoria"
"Euphoria", performed by Swedish artist and songwriter Loreen, is the current Eurovision Winner. It was released as the third single from her debut studio album Heal (2012). The song was written by Thomas G:son, Peter Boström and produced by Boström and SeventyEight. It is best known as Sweden's winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song won the competition with a total of 372 points, the second-highest point total in the contest's history. The song received the highest number of maximum (12) points of any entry in the contest's history with eighteen countries giving the song their top marks.
"Euphoria" received critical acclaim from most music critics, who enjoyed the style of music. Commercially, the song was an instant success, not in just Sweden, but all over Europe and also in continents like Oceania. It debuted at number twelve in Loreen's home country Sweden, until reaching number one, staying there for six weeks. The song has been certified 9 times Platinum, selling 180,000 copies there.
2011 - Azerbaijan
Ell & Nikki - "Running Scared"
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was won by Ell & Nikki for Azerbaijan with "Running Scared". The Azerbaijani pop duo consists of singers Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal. It was the country's first ever win at the contest. Although Nigar Jamal represented Azerbaijan, she lives in Enfield, North London.
Gasimov and Jamal separately took part in the Azerbaijani national selection, Milli Seçim Turu 2011. They qualified from the semi-finals along with three other artists to the final on 11 February 2011, where they won the right to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany in May 2011. Although it was originally planned to send an individual as Azerbaijan, when the winner was announced, İTV had decided that both Eldar and Nigar would be going to Germany as a duo. As the contest was taking place in a Western European country, the name change was made to prevent confusion of Jamal's first name being interpreted as a racial slur. Their entry, named "Running Scared", was written by Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman from Sweden and Iain Farguhanson from the UK. The duo were aided significantly by the four Swedish backing singers, including Jessica Marberger and Vera Prada who had earlier in the year attempted to represent Sweden as part of Shirley's Angels.
They were the overall winners of the Eurovision final on 14 May which meant that Azerbaijan has the right to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
2010 - Germany
Lena, "Satellite"
"Satellite" was Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. By representing a "big four" country, it was automatically qualified for the final. Germany received a wild card during the running order draw, which allowed the German representatives to pick the country's position for the final. They chose position 22 out of the 25 spots. Meyer-Landrut arrived one week before the show in Oslo, Norway, where she completed five rehearsals of "Satellite". Prior to the final, the song was considered as one of the favourites. Bookmakers regarded it second favourite behind Azerbaijan's "Drip Drop", while Google projected it would win based on search volume in the participating countries. According to Norway's Aftenposten, Meyer-Landrut received the most attention of all participants.
The final was held on 29 May 2010 at Oslo's Telenor Arena. Appearing fourth from last, Meyer-Landrut wore a simple black dress and performed on a bare stage with four backing singers. Her pared-back presentation reflected a trend that has had success at recent Eurovisions, as it did not feature any form of choreography, dancers or elaborate stage show. "Satellite" received a total of 246 points, giving Germany its first victory since 1982, and the first win as a unified country. It also became the first winning-song from a Big-Four country since Katrina and the Waves' victory for United Kingdom in 1997. The song won over Turkey's entry "We Could Be the Same" with a margin of 76 points, the second-biggest in Eurovision history, second only to Alexander Rybak's margin of 169 points in the 2009 contest. "Satellite" received the maximum 12 points nine times and received points from all but five countries.
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