I’m bringing together all the information and links relating to each country’s progress towards selecting their artist and song for Eurovision 2017 on this page. Countries are listed in alphabetical order and I’ll be updating this page on a regular basis!
Update 18 March 2017: We now have all the songs! It’s a good mix I think, especially considering the hysterical whinging on social media early in the season that there were too many ballads. Actually, there is an almost equal balance of ballads, middle tempo songs and party bangers (my term for an uptempo Eurovision song!). There are also a handful that don’t fit into any of those categories.
It won’t be long till I start doing my daily countdown of all 43 songs, with the number 1 (based on several hundred YouTube top 43s which I am diligently working through) being revealed the day before the first semi-final on Tuesday 9 May.
Albania
The winner of Albania’s annual song festival, Festivali i Këngës, has once again provided Albania’s entry for Eurovision. 24 acts participated in two semi-finals, with 12 going to through a final on 23 December.
Winning artist: Lindita
Song: “World“
As predicted, the winning song has been changed from Albanian to English.
Armenia
Depi Evratesi, the Armenian national selection, began in October and concluded on Christmas Eve. The song premiered on 18 March, the final song of the 43 participating countries to be released.
Winning artist: Artsvik
Song: “Fly with Me”
Australia
Back at Eurovision for their third year, Australia have once again selected an artist internally, announced on 7 March.
Artist selected: Isaiah Firebrace
Song: “Don’t Come Easy”
Austria
Artist selected: Nathan Trent
Song: “Running On Air”
Austria’s first internal selection since Conchita in 2014 – Nathan shares a a characteristic with the Eurovision winner – he has a beard!
Azerbaijan
Artist selected: Dihaj
Song: “Skeletons”
An internal selection, Diana Hajiyeva was a backing vocalist for last year’s entry and previously was a contestant in their national final in 2011.
Belarus
The Belarusian national final took place on 20 January 2017 with 13 finalists. The winner of the televote ended up getting no votes from the jury (it was 50/50 split) so the act that came 5th in the televote came first overall and will be the first entry from Belarus ever to be performed in their native Belarusian.
Winning artist: Navi Band
Song: “Historyja majho zyccia”
Belgium
Artist selected: Blanche
Song: “City Lights”
Internal selection, former contestant on Belgium’s version of The Voice. Song was premiered on 8 March.
Bulgaria
Another internal selection for Bulgaria, like last year, their always entertaining Twitter account kept teasing us before finally releasing artist and song on 13 March (the last country to reveal their artist). Barely 17 years old, he is the youngest artist this year and the first ever Eurovision contestant to be born since the year 2000!
Artist selected: Kristian Kostov
Song: “Beautiful Mess”
Croatia
Artist selected: Jacques Houdek
Song: “My Friend”
An internal selection, Jacques has tried to represent Croatia in the past, but finally gets his chance this year. His song, “My Friend” premiered on 2 March.
Cyprus
Artist selected: Hovig
Song: “Gravity”
An internal selection, Hovig Demirjian, a Cypriot of Armenian descent, has twice been a contestant to represent Cyprus in the contest, and is a previous contestant of The X Factor Greece.
Czech Republic
The Czechs have gone for another internal selection, the jazz singer Martina Bárta.
Selected artist: Martina Bárta
Song: “My Turn”
Denmark
The Danish national final, Melodi Grand Prix 2017, took place on 25 February. 10 artists competed in the show.
Winning artist: Anja Nissen
Song: “Where I Am”
Estonia
Always one of my favourites of the national selections, Eesti Laul, saw 20 acts enter two semi-finals. The final was held on 4 March with 10 contestants. The winners are no strangers to Eurovision – Koit Toome represented Estonia in 1998 (finishing 12th) and Laura, who was at Eurovision in 2005 as part of the girl group Suntribe (though Estonia didn’t qualify from the semi-finals that year).
Winning artist: Koit Toome & Laura
Song: “Verona”
Finland
Ten hopefuls battled it out in the Finnish national final, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, on 28 January 2017. The winner was not the pre-show favourite, but Norma John was a convincing winner with both the Finnish public vote and the international journeys.
Winning artist: Norma John
Song: “Blackbird”
France
Just a couple of hours before Germany’s national final, France announced their artist and song – the only internal selection from the big 5.
Artist selected: Alma
Song: “Requiem”
Georgia
The Georgian national final took place on 20 January with a staggering 25 finalists! The results was determined 50/50 by jury and public vote. The winner came first with the jury and second in the public vote and was a clear winner.
Winning artist: Tamara Gachechiladze
Song: “Keep the Faith”
Germany
Five participants have been chosen from 2,500 applications. They competed in the German national final, Unser Song 2017, on 9 February, performing songs written specifically for Eurovision.
Winning artist: Levina
Song: “Perfect Life”
Greece
Artist selected: Demy
Song: “This Is Love”
After an awful lot of speculation and rumour, Greece announced an internal selection for their entry this year. Fans got a chance to vote on 3 songs performed by Demy at a national final on 6 March.
Hungary
A winner finally emerged from the 30 candidates that were announced for the Hungarian national selection, A Dal 2017. After three heats, two semi-finals and a two-stage final, it’s Joci Pápai going to Kyiv. Anders Kállay Saunders with his Kállay Saunders Band missed out once again!
Winning artist: Joci Pápai
Song: “Origo”
Iceland
Söngvakeppnin 2017 consisted of two semi-finals on 25 February and 4 March, with the final on 11 March. The final had six entries.
Winning artist: “Svala”
Song: “Paper”
Ireland
Artist selected: Brendan Murray
Song: “Dying To Try”
Ireland have once again going with an internal selection (selected by Louis Walsh this year), Brendan Murray is a 20 year old, former boyband member.
Israel
The reality singing competition, HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star), has again been used to select the artist to represent Israel at Eurovision this year. The final took place on 13 February.
Winning artist: Imri Ziv
Song: “I Feel Alive”
Italy
The long running San Remo Music Festival often provides the Italian entry – the winner of that contest is offered a place at Eurovision (although they do not always take the offer). This year’s winner of the grand final on 11 February, confirmed almost immediately he would be going to Eurovision with his winning San Remo song. And possibly taking a man in a gorilla suit with him as well…
Winning artist: Francesco Gabbani
Song: Occidentali’s Karma
Latvia
Latvia’s selection, Supernova 2017, has now taken place. After two heats and a semi-final, 4 artists battled it out in the final on 26 February.
Winning artist: Triana Park
Song: “Line”
Lithuania
A marathon rather than a sprint, Lithuania’s national selection process involved no less than 8 heats and a single semi-final before we got to the final on 11 March.
Winning artist: Fusedmarc
Song: “Rain of Revolution”
Macedonia
Artist selected: Jana Burčeska
Song: “Dance Alone”
An internal selection, Jana was a previous contestant (3 times) in Skopje Fest, a Macedonia music festival regularly used to select the Macedonian Eurovision entry.
Malta
16 songs competed in a single national final, the Malta Eurovision Song Contest on 18 February. For the first time, the decision was made by 100 per cent public vote.
Winning artist: Claudia Faniello
Song: “Breathlessly”
Moldova
The national selection final, O melodie pentru Europa 2017, took place on 25 February. Winners after a tie-break, SunStroke Project make a return to Eurovision, having represented Moldova in 2010.
Winning artist: SunStroke Project
Song: “Hey Mamma”
Montenegro
Artist selected: Slavko Kalezić
Song: “Space”
An internal selection, Slavko may prove to be one of the more flamboyant characters in this year’s Eurovision – and plenty of both arty photos and eye candy on his Instagram account!
Update: The music video is now released and you’ll be pleased to see we get to see plenty of Slavko in that as well…
The Netherlands
Artist selected: O’G3NE
Song: “Lights and Shadows”
An internal selection, this girl group represented the Netherlands in the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The song premiered on 3 March.
Norway
Melodi Grand Prix 2017, the 55th edition of the Norwegian national final, took place on 11 March with 10 entries:
Winning artist: “JOWST feat. Aleksander Walmann”
Song: “Grab the Moment”
Poland
Poland’s national final took place on 18 February, with ten acts competing.
Winning artist: Kasia Moś
Song: “Flashlight”
Portugal
Festival da Canção 2017 determined the Portuguese entry on their return to Eurovision. Two semi-finals culminated in a final on 5 March.
Winning artist: Salvador Sobral
Song: “Amar pelos dois”
Romania
Romania’s selection began with a shortlist of 15 entries. A semi-final on 26 February saw a jury reduce that number to 10 to go to a grand final on 5 March where the winner was decided by public vote.
Winning artist: Ilinca feat. Alex Florea
Song: “Yodel It!”
Russia
They kept us guessing on whether they would withdraw but a surprise release of artist and song came on 12 March. Controversy still remains – their chosen artist performed in Crimea after the Russian annexation so watch this space as the fallout of the occupation and the ongoing conflict in Donbass cast their shadow on Eurovision.
Selected artist: Julia Samoylova
Song: “Flame Is Burning”
San Marino
She’s back!
Artist selected: Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson
Song: “Spirit of the Night”
Serbia
The Serbian broadcaster, RTS, once again went with an internal selection.
Artist selected: Tijana Bogićević
Song: “In Too Deep”
Slovenia
16 acts were announced and competed in two semi-finals. The successful 8 went through to the Slovenian final, EMA (Evrovizijska Melodija) on 24 February. Among the finalists was Omar Naber, Slovenia’s 2005 entry (held in Kyiv), who also once performed at a Eurofest night at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (I was there!). Omar was successful this time, after a couple of previous attempts to return to Eurovision, and will be “on his way” once more to Kyiv.
Winning artist: Omar Naber
Song: “On My Way”
Spain
In for the long haul, 392 public entries received were reduced to 30 for the “Eurocasting” stage of Objetivo Eurovisión – an online vote determined the 10 to go through to the next stage. A special jury cut those ten down to a lucky 3:
- LeKlein– Ouch!
- Fruela– Live it up
- Javian– No somos heroe
The Eurocasting final took place on 12 January and LeKlein emerged triumphant. She joined 5 internally selected entries to compete in the grand final in February. The full line up was as follows:
- Mirela- Contigo
- Maika Barbero- Momento crítico
- Mario Jefferson- Spin My Head
- Manel Navarro- Do It For Your Lover
- Paula Rojo- Lo que nunca fue
- LeKlein- Ouch!!
This being Spain, there was #eurodrama galore – the favourite, Mirela, trailed in 3rd after the jury votes with Manel taking the lead. The roles were reversed in the public vote, with Manel coming third and Mirela winning the public vote. With the two tied on points, the deciding votes went back to the three member jury (unlike last time there was tie and the public vote became the deciding factor) who stuck to their voting earlier and awarded the place in Kyiv to Manel by two votes to one. Cue explosion of Spanish eurofan rage and argument that rumbles on still….
Winning artist: Manel Navarro
Song: “Do It for Your Lover”
Sweden
Once again, the Swedish entry was determined by the outcome of Melodifestivalen, the Swedish music competition now in its 57th year – longer than Sweden have been in Eurovision. 4 semi-finals, a second chance round and then the biggest national final of them all on 11 March.
Winning artist: Robin Bengtsson
Song: “I Can’t Go On”
Switzerland
The shortlisted acts were whittled down to 6 for the national final, the Entscheidungsshow which took place on 5 February.
Winning artist: Timebelle
Song: “Apollo”
Ukraine
Following three earlier semi-finals and then the national final on 25 February, the host country now have their representatives to fly the flag at home. The final saw a points tie following jury and televote, but unlike Spain (see above), no #eurodrama this time, as the win was awarded to the artist finishing higher in the televote.
Winning artist: O.Torvald
Song: “Time”
United Kingdom
Eurovision: You Decide came back for a second year! It was a little earlier this year, taking place on Friday 27 January, at a bigger venue (the Hammersmith Apollo, also the venue for Eurovision’s 60th anniversary show last year), and on a bigger TV channel (BBC Two rather than BBC Four). 6 finalists took part in a live show, and winner was decided by public vote and a professional jury. I was there and you can see some photos and vids me and my friends took.
Winning artist: Lucie Jones
Song: “Never Give Up on You”
It’s beginning to look a lot like Eurovision (season)….