Eurovision Song Contest 2019


The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following Netta's win at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Toy". It was the third time Israel had hosted the contest, having previously done so in and. However, this was the first time Israel hosted the contest outside of Jerusalem. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, the contest was held at Expo Tel Aviv, and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May, and the final on 18 May 2019. The three live shows were hosted by Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub.
Forty-one countries took part in the contest; and were absent. Bulgaria did not enter because members of its delegation had been moved to other projects. Ukraine had originally planned to participate in the contest but withdrew because of the [|controversy] surrounding their national final.
The winner was the with the song "Arcade", performed by Duncan Laurence who also wrote it with Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy and Will Knox. This was the ' fifth victory in the contest, following their wins in,, and. In a similar way to 2016, the overall winner won neither the jury vote, which was won by North Macedonia, nor the televote, which was won by Norway, with the Netherlands placing third and second respectively.,, and rounded out the top five. Further down the table, and achieved their best results to date, finishing seventh and nineteenth, respectively. This was North Macedonia's first top 10 finish since joining the competition in. finished in 23rd place in the final, making it the fourth time since the host country ranked in the bottom five.
There was an error in the voting at the contest: a wrongful counting of the jury votes by the Belarusian delegation caused the televised results to be amended three days later. The discrepancy was not large enough to change the order of the originally announced top four in the final result, which combines the jury voting and televoting by the public, but this update saw North Macedonia as the new jury winner instead of Sweden as shown on TV; there were also minor changes in lower positions.
The EBU reported the contest had an audience of 182 million viewers in 40 European markets, a decrease of 4 million viewers from the previous edition. However, an increase of two percent in the 15–24 year old age range was reported.

Location

The 2019 contest took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 edition with the song "Toy", performed by Netta Barzilai. It was the third time Israel hosted the contest.

Venue

The contest took place at Expo Tel Aviv's 10,000 -seat congress and convention centre in "Bitan 2", which was inaugurated in January 2015.

Bidding phase

After Israel's victory in Lisbon, Portugal, in the 2018 contest, Netta Barzilai and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the 2019 contest would be held in Jerusalem, but this was yet to be confirmed by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation and the European Broadcasting Union. Israeli finance minister Moshe Kahlon also said in an interview the event would be held solely in Jerusalem and estimated its cost at 120 million Israeli shekels. The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, mentioned Jerusalem Arena and Teddy Stadium as possible venues to host the event. The municipality of Jerusalem had confirmed that because it lacked the seating capacity, the contest would not be held at the International Convention Centre, which had hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and 1999.
On 18 June 2018, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel had committed to remaining in compliance with EBU rules regarding the constitution of member broadcasters, so as not to affect its hosting of Eurovision. The IPBC's establishment included a condition that news programming would be delegated later to a second public broadcasting entity. This violates EBU rules requiring member broadcasters to have their own internal news departments.
The following day, Israel was officially confirmed as the host country, and on 24 June 2018, KAN formally opened the bidding process for cities interested in hosting the 2019 contest. Israeli minister Michael Oren, said that Jerusalem did not have the resources to host the contest on 28 July 2018, restating that Tel Aviv was the more likely host.
Soon afterwards, reports surfaced of the government not providing the €12 million downpayment requested by KAN to cover hosting expenses and security. Following a tense back-and-forth between KAN and the government, a compromise between the two parties was reached on 29 July 2018 that would see KAN paying the €12 million to the EBU and the Finance Ministry covering expenses should complications arise. The Mayor of Tel Aviv announced the city would be willing to pay for the Convention Center itself, should it be chosen as the host city.
In the week of 27 August 2018, executive supervisor/scrutineer Jon Ola Sand led a handful of EBU delegates around Israel to look at potential venues in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and to hear the bid from Eilat. On 30 August 2018, Sand said in an interview with KAN that Eilat was no longer in the running to host, leaving it between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He added there was no serious discussion among members of the EBU about boycotting the event.
On 13 September 2018, the EBU announced Tel Aviv as the host city, with Expo Tel Aviv as the chosen venue for the 2019 contest.
Key:
Host venue
Shortlisted venues
CityVenueNotes
EilatHangars on the portProposal intended to connect two hangars to a hall, in order to meet the EBU's capacity and venue requirements.
HaifaSammy Ofer StadiumCandidacy had been dependent on the construction of a roof.
JerusalemPais Arena ‡Indoor arena similar to the venues of recent contests. It was Jerusalem's preferred venue, in case they were chosen to be the host city.
JerusalemTeddy StadiumCandidacy had been dependent on the construction of a roof.
Tel AvivExpo Tel Aviv, Pavilion 2 †The IPBC expected Pavilion 2 to have room for up to 9,000 attendees, while an additional 1,500 fans will be able to gather in the greenroom.

Other sites

The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Charles Clore Park in Tel Aviv, it was open from 12 to 18 May 2019.
The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv Port.
The "Orange Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv on 12 May 2019 at 19:00 IDT, followed by the Opening Ceremony at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium.

Format

Visual design

The contest's slogan, "Dare to Dream", was unveiled on 28 October 2018. The official logo and branding was revealed on 8 January 2019; designed by Awesome Tel Aviv and Studio Adam Feinberg, it consists of layered triangles designed to resemble a star, reflecting "the stars of the future" coming to Tel Aviv.

Postcards

Filmed between March and April 2019, and directed by Toy's music video director Keren Hochma, the postcards involved the act travelling to a location in Israel that resembles that of their own country. An imaginary play button circled above the act's head, and, when the act pressed it, they performed a themed dance and threw the play button towards the screen, afterwards, it "flies over" to the stage where the ceiling lit up with their country's flag. The dances in each postcard were wide-ranging and included Parkour, Ballet and Street dance, among other styles. The following locations were used:
On 25 January 2019, KAN announced that four presenters would host the three shows: TV hosts Erez Tal and Assi Azar, who work for the Israeli Channel 12, supermodel Bar Refaeli, and KAN host Lucy Ayoub, who was also the Israeli jury spokesperson at the 2018 contest. Tal and Refaeli were the main hosts, while Azar and Ayoub hosted the green room.

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 28 January 2019 at 17:00 CET, at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The thirty-six semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helped to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined the semi-final the six automatic finalist countries would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by contest presenters Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub and included the passing of a Eurovision insignia from Lisbon to Tel Aviv.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5Pot 6

    • Voting

    On 30 March 2019, the EBU announced the presentation of the televoting results during the grand final would change for the first time since the current vote presentation system was introduced in 2016. The jury results' presentation remained the same with a live spokesperson in each participating country revealing the top song from their national jury that earned 12 points. In a change from previous years, the televoting result was revealed in the order of jury ranking, from the lowest to the highest.

    Opening and interval acts

    On 8 April 2019, it was confirmed that Madonna would perform three songs during the final. The EBU later revealed they would be "Future" featuring Quavo and "Like a Prayer" and a yet-to-be released song, "Dark Ballet". On 15 April 2019, the EBU released further information about the opening and interval acts.
    The first semi-final was opened by Netta Barzilai, performing a new version of her winning song "Toy", and also featured Dana International with "Just the Way You Are". The second semi-final included Shalva Band with the song "A Million Dreams" and mentalist Lior Suchard.
    The Grand Final included performances from six former Eurovision participants. In the "Switch Song" interval act, Conchita Wurst performed "Heroes", Måns Zelmerlöw performed "Fuego", Eleni Foureira performed "Dancing Lasha Tumbai", Verka Serduchka performed "Toy", and Gali Atari, together with the four above-mentioned artists, performed her winning song "Hallelujah". Netta Barzilai later performed her new single "Nana Banana". The opening of the show featured Netta Barzilai, Dana International with "Diva" and "Tel Aviv", Nadav Guedj with "Golden Boy" and Ilanit with "Ey Sham". Idan Raichel performed the song "Bo’ee – Come to Me" together with The Idan Raichel Project, while actress Gal Gadot also appeared in a short video skit.

    Participating countries

    The EBU initially announced on 7 November 2018 that forty-two countries would participate in the contest, with opting not to participate for financial reasons.
    announced its withdrawal from the contest on 27 February 2019 reducing the number of participating countries to 41.
    On 6 March 2019, the EBU confirmed would take part for the first time under its new name, instead of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which had been used since the country first participated in 1998.

    Returning artists

    The contest featured five representatives who had performed previously as lead vocalists for the same countries. Two of them participated in —Sergey Lazarev represented and won the semi-final, while Serhat represented in the semi-final. Joci Pápai represented in. Tamara Todevska represented in the semi-final, alongside Vrčak and Adrian, and backed in and for Toše Proeski and Tijana Dapčević, respectively. Nevena Božović represented in the semi-final of as part of Moje 3, and in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The contest also featured a former backing vocalist representing his country for the first time—Jurij Veklenko provided backup for Lithuania in and.
    On the other hand, previous representatives came back to provide supporting vocals for their own or another country. Mikheil Javakhishvili, in 2018 as part of Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao, backed Oto Nemsadze. Mikel Hennet, who represented in as part of D'Nash, backed Miki. Stig Rästa, in alongside Elina Born, backed Victor Crone. Mladen Lukić, who represented in as part of Balkanika, backed Nevena Božović. Sahlene, who represented in, and provided backing for her native country in, for in and for in, backed for the this time. Jacques Houdek, who represented in, backed Roko.
    Émilie Satt, who represented in 2018 as part of Madame Monsieur, backed Bilal Hassani.
    Destiny Chukunyere, who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 for Malta, backed Michela.

    Semi-final 1

    The first semi-final took place on 14 May 2019 at 22:00 IDT. Seventeen countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus, and voted in this semi-final. was originally allocated to participate in the second half of the semi-final, but withdrew from the contest due to controversy over its national selection. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
    DrawCountryArtistSongLanguagePlacePoints
    01Tamta"Replay"English9149
    02D mol"Heaven"English1646
    03Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman"Look Away"English1723
    04Tulia"Fire of Love "Polish, English11120
    05Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl"Sebi"Slovene6167
    06Lake Malawi"Friend of a Friend"English2242
    07Joci Pápai"Az én apám"Hungarian1297
    08ZENA"Like It"English10122
    09Nevena Božović"Kruna" Serbian7156
    10Eliot"Wake Up"English1370
    11Oto Nemsadze"Keep on Going"Georgian1462
    12Kate Miller-Heidke"Zero Gravity"English1261
    13Hatari"Hatrið mun sigra"Icelandic3221
    14Victor Crone"Storm"English4198
    15Conan Osiris"Telemóveis"Portuguese1551
    16Katerine Duska"Better Love"English5185
    17Serhat"Say Na Na Na"English8150

    Semi-final 2

    The second semi-final took place on 16 May 2019 at 22:00 IDT. Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus,, and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. Switzerland was pre-drawn into this semi-final due to scheduling issues. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
    DrawCountryArtistSongLanguagePlacePoints
    01Srbuk"Walking Out"English1649
    02Sarah McTernan"22"English1816
    03Anna Odobescu"Stay"English1285
    04Luca Hänni"She Got Me"English4232
    05Carousel"That Night"English1550
    06Ester Peony"On a Sunday"English1371
    07Leonora"Love Is Forever"English, French1094
    08John Lundvik"Too Late for Love"English3238
    09PÆNDA"Limits"English1721
    10Roko"The Dream"English, Croatian1464
    11Michela"Chameleon"English8157
    12Jurij Veklenko"Run with the Lions"English1193
    13Sergey Lazarev"Scream"English6217
    14Jonida Maliqi"Ktheju tokës"Albanian996
    15KEiiNO"Spirit in the Sky"English7210
    16Duncan Laurence"Arcade"English1280
    17Tamara Todevska"Proud"English2239
    18Chingiz"Truth"English5224

    Final

    The final took place on 18 May 2019 at 22:00 IDT. Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all 41 participating countries eligible to vote.
    DrawCountryArtistSongLanguagePlacePoints
    01Michela"Chameleon"English14107
    02Jonida Maliqi"Ktheju tokës"Albanian1790
    03Lake Malawi"Friend of a Friend"English11157
    04S!sters"Sister"English2524
    05Sergey Lazarev"Scream"English3370
    06Leonora"Love Is Forever"English, French12120
    07Serhat"Say Na Na Na"English1977
    08Tamara Todevska"Proud"English7305
    09John Lundvik"Too Late for Love"English5334
    10Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl"Sebi"Slovene15105
    11Tamta"Replay"English13109
    12Duncan Laurence"Arcade"English1498
    13Katerine Duska"Better Love"English2174
    14Kobi Marimi"Home"English2335
    15KEiiNO"Spirit in the Sky"English6331
    16Michael Rice"Bigger than Us"English2611
    17Hatari"Hatrið mun sigra"Icelandic10232
    18Victor Crone"Storm"English2076
    19ZENA"Like It"English2431
    20Chingiz"Truth"English8302
    21Bilal Hassani"Roi"French, English16105
    22Mahmood"Soldi"Italian2472
    23Nevena Božović"Kruna" Serbian1889
    24Luca Hänni"She Got Me"English4364
    25Kate Miller-Heidke"Zero Gravity"English9284
    26Miki"La venda"Spanish2254

    Scoreboard

    Belarusian jury dismissal and incorrect aggregated vote

    The Belarusian jury was dismissed following the revelation of their votes in the first Semi-Final, which is contrary to the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. To comply with the contest's voting regulations, the EBU worked with its voting partner, Digame, to create a substitute aggregated result, which was approved by voting monitor Ernst & Young, to determine the Belarusian jury votes for the Grand Final. In these results, Israel, which did not receive points from any other jury during the Grand Final, received 12 points from Belarus.
    However, Twitter user @euro_bruno noted on May 19 that it appeared an incorrect substitute Belarusian result was announced during the broadcast of the Grand Final four days earlier. The mistake was confirmed in a statement issued by the EBU three days later, on 22 May 2019. According to the statement, the EBU "discovered that due to a human error an incorrect aggregated result was used. This had no impact on the calculation of points derived from televoting across the 41 participating countries and the overall winner and Top 4 songs of the Contest remain unchanged. To respect both the artists and EBU Members which took part, to correct the final results in accordance with the rules."
    The error, a reversal of the Belarusian aggregated votes, led to the bottom ten countries receiving points instead of the top ten. Malta, which had been incorrectly ranked last, would receive Belarus' 12 jury points, and Israel would end up with no jury points. The corrected point totals also changed some rankings: Sweden finished fifth overall instead of Norway, Belarus finished 24th overall instead of Germany, San Marino ended 19th despite losing four points, and North Macedonia won the jury vote instead of Sweden.
    The mistake made by the EBU and their voting partner was widely panned by the press. Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad said the EBU had to present the new vote totals "blushing with shame", calling the situation "chaos". British newspaper Metro thought the EBU had "screwed up", while the Daily Mirror named the accidental reversal of the aggregated vote total a "scandalous blunder".
    The corrected results have been used in all following scoreboards.

    Semi-final 1

    12 points

    Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points to the specified entrant.
    Jury
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury in the first semi-final:
    Televoting
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the first semi-final:

    Semi-final 2

    12 points

    Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points to the specified entrant.
    Jury
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury in the second semi-final:
    N.ContestantNation giving 12 points
    7Armenia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway
    4Albania, Croatia, Germany, United Kingdom
    3Lithuania, Malta, Switzerland
    2Moldova, Russia
    1North Macedonia
    1Italy
    1Romania
    1Azerbaijan
    1Sweden
    Televoting
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:
    N.ContestantNation giving 12 points
    4Albania, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden
    3Italy, North Macedonia, Switzerland
    3Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom
    3Armenia, Azerbaijan, Latvia
    3Austria, Germany, Malta
    1Russia
    1Lithuania
    1Romania
    1Croatia
    1Moldova

    Final

    12 points

    Countries in bold gave the maximum 24 points to the specified entrant.
    Jury
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury in the final:
    N.ContestantNation giving 12 points
    10Armenia, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain
    6France, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden
    6Albania, Austria, Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland, United Kingdom
    6Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Malta, North Macedonia, San Marino
    4Georgia, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia
    2Poland, Romania
    1Russia
    1Greece
    1Italy
    1Cyprus
    1Belarus
    1Azerbaijan
    1Montenegro
    Televoting
    Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the final:
    N.ContestantNation giving 12 points
    11Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, San Marino
    8Australia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom
    4Croatia, Malta, Spain, Switzerland
    3Finland, Hungary, Poland
    2Italy, North Macedonia
    2Greece, Georgia
    2Belgium, Romania
    2Serbia, Slovenia
    1Russia
    1Cyprus
    1France
    1Montenegro
    1Portugal
    1Norway
    1Austria

    Other countries

    Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all fifty-six of its active members. The Israeli Minister of Communications Ayoob Kara also invited countries from the Middle Eastern and North African region. With some Israel largely had tense relationships and others no diplomatic relations at all. Kara pointed out Tunisia and the Gulf states Saudi Arabia as well as Dubai and Abu Dhabi as part of the United Arab Emirates were invited. Tunisia is eligible to participate but has not due to rules banning the promotion of Israeli content, while the Gulf states do not have national broadcasters with EBU membership.

    Active EBU members

    • – Despite being absent for 10 years, local media reported that Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra was still interested in returning to the contest, but the principality's failure to make the final along with the cost was discouraging the broadcaster from participating. For a return to take place, RTVA would need funding from the Andorran Government. On 19 May 2018, Andorra confirmed they would not return in 2019.
    • – On 25 May 2018, the Bosnian broadcaster, Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated the country would not be allowed to return to the contest in 2019 until debt-related sanctions placed on them by the EBU are lifted. Bosnia and Herzegovina last took part in.
    • – Despite confirming their preliminary participation in the 2019 contest, Bulgarian National Television announced on 13 October 2018 that many members of the delegation were moving onto other projects, and on 15 October 2018, BNT announced that they were not entering into the 2019 contest because of financial difficulties.
    • – On 21 July 2018, the Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg announced they would not return to the contest in 2019. Luxembourg last took part in.
    • – On 17 August 2018, the Monégasque broadcaster Télé Monte Carlo announced they would not return to the contest in 2019. Monaco last took part in.
    • – On 31 May 2018, the Slovak broadcaster Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska announced the country would not return to the contest in 2019 due to financial difficulties. Slovakia last took part in.
    • – Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in an interview that Turkey had no plans to return to the contest. On 4 August 2018 İbrahim Eren, general manager of Türkiye Radyo Televizyon Kurumu, said that at the moment the broadcaster was not considering returning to the contest for various reasons, including Conchita Wurst's victory for in. Turkey last took part in.
    • – On 27 February 2019 announced the withdrawal of the country from the contest, because of the controversy surrounding their national selection. Despite this, the channel still broadcast the show.

      Associate EBU members

    • – On 22 December 2017, the Ministry of Culture and Sport claimed that Channel 31 had finalised negotiations with the EBU, allowing Kazakhstan to debut in 2019; however, on 23 December 2017, the EBU told Esctoday that "Channel 31 Kazakhstan has indeed expressed interest in becoming a member of the EBU and hence participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, since Channel 31 is outside the European Broadcasting Area and is also not a member of the Council of Europe, it is not eligible to become an active member of the EBU." On 25 July 2018, it was announced that Kazakhstan will participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018, thus making a debut in 2019 possible. On 30 July 2018, the EBU stated that the decision to invite Kazakhstan was made solely by the Junior Eurovision reference group, and there were no current plans to invite associate members other than Australia. On 22 November 2018, Jon Ola Sand said in a press conference that "we need to discuss if we can invite our associate member Kazakhstan to take part in adult ESC in the future, but this is part of a broader discussion in the EBU and I hope we can get back to you on this issue later." However, he later clarified that Kazakhstan would not have an entry in the 2019 edition.

      Non-EBU members

    • – In June 2018, RTK general director Mentor Shala said that they were pushing for full membership to still be able to take part in the 2019 contest. However, in December 2018, RTK's membership vote was delayed until June 2019.
    • – On 4 November 2017, 1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television, the national broadcaster of the Principality of Liechtenstein, confirmed that the country were planning a debut in the 2019 contest, and that they were applying for EBU membership and are "in process of complying all requirements". They also reiterated their intention to select the participant through a national selection process in the form of Liechtenstein Music Contest "open to any form of music". However, on 20 July 2018, the European Broadcasting Union stated that 1 FL TV had not applied for EBU membership. On 26 July 2018, 1 FL TV confirmed that Liechtenstein would not debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 due to the sudden death of the broadcaster's director, Peter Kölbel.

      Broadcasters, commentators and spokespersons

    The European Broadcasting Union provided international live streams of both semi-finals and the grand final through their official YouTube channel with no commentary. The live streams were geo-blocked to viewers in Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, United States and Venezuela due to "rights limitations." After the live broadcast, all three shows became available for every country listed above, except the United States and Canada.

    Spokespersons

    The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:
    1. – Inês Lopes Gonçalves
    2. – Faig Agayev
    3. – Ben Camille
    4. – Nikola Trajkovski
    5. – Monica Fabbri
    6. – Emma Wortelboer
    7. – Ajda Šufta
    8. – Kelly Sildaru
    9. – Mateusz Szymkowiak
    10. – Alexander Rybak
    11. – Nieves Álvarez
    12. – Philipp Hansa
    13. – Rylan Clark-Neal
    14. – Ema Stokholma
    15. – Andri Xhahu
    16. – Bence Forró
    17. – Doina Stimpovschi
    18. – Sinéad Kennedy
    19. – Maria Vasilevich
    20. – Aram MP3
    21. – Ilinca
    22. – Hovig
    23. – Electric Fields
    24. – Ivan Bessonov
    25. – Barbara Schöneberger
    26. – David Jeanmotte
    27. – Eric Saade
    28. – Monika Lelas Halambek
    29. – :lt:Giedrius Masalskis|Giedrius Masalkis
    30. – Dragana Kosjerina
    31. – Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson
    32. – Gaga Abashidze
    33. – Gus G
    34. — Laura Rizzotto
    35. – :cs:Radka Rosická|Radka Rosická
    36. – Rasmussen
    37. – Julia Molkhou
    38. – Christoffer Strandberg
    39. – Sinplus
    40. – Lea Sirk
    41. – Izhar Cohen

      Broadcasters and commentators

    Countries may add commentary from commentators working on-location or remotely at the broadcaster. Commentators can add insight to the participating entries and the provision of voting information.

    Incidents

    Religious requests

    On 14 May 2018, Yaakov Litzman, leader of the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism and Israel's former Minister of Health, drafted a letter to the Ministers of Tourism, Communications, and Culture and Sports, in which he requested the event not violate religious laws: "In the name of hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens from all the populations and communities for whom Shabbat observance is close to their hearts, I appeal to you, already at this early stage, before production and all the other details of the event has begun, to be strict that this matter does not harm the holiness of Shabbat and to work in every way to prevent the desecration of Shabbat, God forbid, as the law and the status quo requires". According to Jewish religious law, Shabbat is observed from just before sunset on Friday evening until Saturday night. The Saturday evening broadcast of the show, which were to start at 22:00 local time, would not conflict with this. However, the Friday evening jury show and Saturday afternoon rehearsals would. Similar protests arose in the lead-up to the 1999 Israeli-held competition, but then there were fewer competing teams allowing for certain adjustments to be made to accommodate the issue. The Chairman of the EBU's Eurovision committee, Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling, noted that he was well aware of the tension, and had plans to address it in his communications with the Israeli broadcaster. Shalva Band, who performed as the interval act during the second semi-final, withdrew from Israel's national final citing similar concerns on possibly performing during Shabbat in the rehearsals for the final, should they have won.

    Calls for boycott

    The possibility of Jerusalem being the venue for an Israeli-hosted final led many proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to call on their national broadcasters to boycott the competition because of Israel's policies towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. This included members of the Australian Greens party, Sinn Féin, the Irish Alternative, Sweden's Left Party and many entertainers including 1994 contest winner Charlie McGettigan. Icelandic broadcaster RÚV met to discuss a boycott in response to a petition of 23,000 signatures, but ultimately neither RÚV nor any other broadcaster withdrew from the contest in response to boycott calls. In the event, viewing figures for the contest dropped to the joint lowest level since 2013.
    Several national selections were disrupted by BDS supporters calling for a boycott in the lead-up to the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. This included the second-semi final of France's Destination Eurovision, which was invaded by stage intruders who held up signs advocating a boycott; and selection events in Spain, Germany, and Denmark were all targeted by protesters outside the venues calling for a boycott. The EBU later sent a special letter to all participating broadcasters advising precautions they could take to prevent similar disruptions. An opinion piece in Sweden's largest newspaper Aftonbladet, calling for a boycott of the contest and other cultural exchanges with Israel, was signed by 171 Swedish professionals in the cultural sector.
    In March 2019, LGBT activist groups Al Qaws and Pinkwatching Israel called for a boycott of the song contest in opposition to Israeli "pinkwashing". In late April 2019, over 100 celebrities including Stephen Fry and Sharon Osbourne signed a joint statement against boycotting Eurovision in Israel.

    Late Ukrainian withdrawal

    During the final of the on 23 February 2019, it was announced that the had reserved the right to change the decision made by the jury and the Ukrainian public. Following Maruv's win, it was reported the broadcaster had sent a contract to her management, requiring her to cancel all upcoming appearances and performances in Russia to represent Ukraine. She was also given 48 hours to sign the contract or be replaced.
    On 24 February 2019, Maruv revealed the contract sent to her by UA:PBC had also banned her from improvising on stage and communicating with any journalist without the permission of the broadcaster, and required her to fully comply with any requests from the broadcaster. Later, the broadcaster published a statement explaining every entry of the contract. If she failed to follow any of these clauses, she would be fined ₴2 million. Maruv also said the broadcaster would not give her any financial compensation for the competition and would not pay for her trip to Tel Aviv.
    On 25 February 2019, both Maruv and UA:PBC confirmed she would not represent Ukraine in Israel due to disputes over the contract, and that another act would be chosen. National final runner-up Freedom Jazz announced on 26 February 2019 they had also rejected the broadcaster's offer to represent Ukraine as did third-place finisher Kazka the following day. The incident garnered media coverage from major international outlets such as: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Billboard, The Telegraph, The Independent, SBS News, The Irish Independent, Le Figaro, Cosmopolitan, and ABC. On 27 February 2019, UA:PBC announced Ukraine had withdrawn from the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.

    Ticket sales controversy

    The ticket prices for the year's event sparked criticism, both in Israel and abroad, with The Times of Israel calling them "likely the most expensive ever for Eurovision". Explanations for the high prices included the high cost of living in Israel and the fact that the Israeli government was not subsidising the Eurovision production. Although the venue could hold up to 10,000 people, only 7,300 seats were available because of the size of the stage, the technical equipment and the security features. Of those 7,300 seats, 3,000 had been reserved for the EBU, leaving only 4,300 for fans so that demand exceeded supply.
    On 3 March 2019, ticket sales were frozen because of irregularities noticed by the Oversight Committee of Israeli broadcaster KAN. Hebrew-language Israeli media reported tickets being illegally resold for more than twice their original price. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan ordered an investigation into the situation.
    On 14 March 2019, tickets sales resumed. According to KAN, 220 improperly-purchased tickets to the Final live show were revoked and were sold again in the second round of ticket sales.

    Multiple technical issues

    Cyber attack during semi-final 1

    KAN suffered a cyber attack by a group of hackers that affected the broadcaster's accessibility livestreams of the first semi-final. The hackers were able to briefly show anti-Israeli statements on the streams such as "Israel is not safe, you will see" and "Risk of missile attack, please take shelter". The incident was investigated by both the broadcaster and the EBU. KAN released a statement regarding the incident saying: "The problem was fixed quickly, and it seems that during the first semi-finals a site was hacked here for a few minutes, and we believe that the messages were not seen by many people."

    Semi-final 1 technical issues

    Multiple broadcasters around Europe reported various issues during the live broadcast of the first semi-final. Viewers reported a loss of commentary from Tel Aviv in the Netherlands and North Macedonia. The Polish public broadcaster, TVP, had to replace their regular commentator Artur Orzech who was based in Tel Aviv with another person who was based in Warsaw because viewers were unable to hear Orzech. Germany and the United Kingdom lost a portion of the show. In the United Kingdom the programme cut out as the recap of the qualifiers of the first semi-final began to play. It was replaced by the message "We are sorry for the break in this programme and are trying to correct the fault," while in France the broadcaster France Televisions had experienced audio issues during the Portuguese and Belgian performances. Similar technical issues happened during the 2011 contest.

    Keiino's final jury performance

    During Norway's jury performance, two technical issues occurred in a short time. The screen became black while Keiino performed "Spirit In The Sky". When the picture returned the camera operator was seen in the picture. NRK complained to EBU and requested a new run through, but the EBU rejected the complaints.

    Jury vote issues

    Following the reveal of the detailed jury voting, it emerged that three jurors appeared to have voted backwards in their semi-finals. In the first semi-final, Czech juror Jitka Zelenková ranked Portugal as her favourite entry, Slovenia as her least-favourite entry, and ranked Estonia as fourteenth on her list; this was directly opposite to the other Czech jurors, who all ranked Slovenia first and two who ranked Portugal last. In the final, Zelenková's rankings changed dramatically; she listed Estonia as her fourth favourite and Slovenia as her sixth favourite. Neither Zelenková, the Czech broadcaster Česká televize, nor the EBU have confirmed that her semi-final votes were reversed, but if this were true Poland would have qualified to the final instead of Belarus.
    Swedish juror Lina Hedlund also appeared to have voted backwards in the second semi-final. She ranked the Netherlands and Switzerland as her favourite entries in the final, but ranked them as her two least-favourite entries in the semi-final. Additionally, Hedlund ranked Austria her favourite entry in the semi-final, which led Austria to receive eight points from Sweden. Neither Hedlund, the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television, nor the EBU have commented on the incident.
    The second semi-final also seemed to have Russian juror Igor Gulyaev casting his votes in reverse order. In the semi-final, Gulyaev ranked Denmark first and Azerbaijan last, although he reversed this placement in the final. He also ranked Albania as his second least favourite entry in the semi-final, but as his second favourite in the final. If his and Hedlund's votes were reversed, it would have had no impact on the result other than minor differences in the number of points received by each country.
    This was the second year in which a juror accidentally submitted their votes backwards. In the 2016 contest, Danish juror Hilda Heick ranked the entries backwards, resulting in Ukraine receiving 12 points from Denmark instead of Australia.

    Political demonstrations during the grand final

    The organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel faced protests due to the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and not exclusively outside the venue.
    During Madonna's interval performance in the grand final where she sang "Like a Prayer" and "Future", the singer directed a monologue to backup dancers wearing gas masks between the two songs, alluding to the " inside of us", saying "they think we are not aware of their crimes. We know, but we're just not ready to act". This was interpreted as a reference to the conflict. During "Future" two dancers—one wearing an Israeli the second a Palestine flag on the back of their costumes— were seen holding each other when guest vocalist Quavo sang the lyrics: "Not everyone is coming to the future, not everyone is learning from the past". Madonna said the use of Israeli and Palestinian flags was not a pro-Palestine demonstration, but a call for unity and peace.
    While receiving their points from the televotes, members of the Icelandic entry Hatari were seen showing banners that included the Palestinian flag. There had previously been concerns that the self-described anti-capitalist group would use their performance to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the band had previously received warnings from the EBU about statements they had made prior to the contest. After the contest, the EBU said that "the consequences of this action will be discussed by the Reference Group after the Contest". Hatari subsequently announced a collaboration with Palestinian artist Bashar Murad for their next single.

    Other awards

    In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE ) voting poll also took place before the contest.

    Marcel Bezençon Awards

    The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories: Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award. The winners are revealed shortly before the Eurovision final.
    CategoryCountrySongPerformerComposer
    Artistic Award"Zero Gravity"Kate Miller-HeidkeKate Miller-Heidke, Keir Nuttall, Julian Hamilton
    Composer Award"Soldi"MahmoodMahmood, Dario "Dardust" Faini, Charlie Charles
    Press Award"Arcade"Duncan LaurenceDuncan Laurence, Joel Sjoo, Wouter Hardy

    OGAE

    OGAE is an international organisation founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. It consists of a network of over 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll took place before the main Eurovision Song Contest allowing members from over 40 clubs to vote for their favourite songs in the contest. The top five overall results, after all of the votes had been cast are shown below.
    CountryPerformerSongOGAE result
    Mahmood"Soldi"411
    Luca Hänni"She Got Me"406
    Duncan Laurence"Arcade"401
    KEiiNO"Spirit in the Sky"224
    Tamta"Replay"218

    Barbara Dex Award

    The Barbara Dex Award is a fan award originally awarded by House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016, and since 2017 by songfestival.be. This is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist in the contest each year. It was named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the, in which she wore her own self-designed dress.
    PlaceCountryPerformer
    1Conan Osíris
    2Tamta
    3ZENA
    4Eliot
    5Tamara Todevska

    Official album

    Eurovision Song Contest: Tel Aviv 2019 is the official compilation album of the contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group digitally on 12 April 2019 and physically on 26 April 2019. The album features all 41 entries including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify for the final.

    Charts

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