Eurovision Song Contest History

The Eurovision Song Contest was launched by the European Broadcasting Union in 1956, when the first edition took place in Lugano, Switzerland, on 24 May 1956. Seven countries competed, and ten national broadcasters carried the show live to home audiences. Eurovision itself grew out of the EBU’s early effort to share programmes across borders, with Marcel Bezençon among the key figures behind that development.

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Switzerland won the first Contest with Lys Assia’s “Refrain.” In the earliest years, the format was still being refined: the 1957 edition helped establish the juries-and-scoreboard system that became part of the Contest’s identity, and a three-minute song limit followed an unusually long Italian entry that year.

As the decades passed, more countries joined, the production became more ambitious, and the Contest moved from a primarily radio-era broadcast into a modern live television event. The BBC produced and broadcast the 1968 Contest in colour, and the EBU says the Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956 except during the 2020 global pandemic.

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In 2026, Eurovision celebrates its 70th anniversary in Vienna, while the franchise opens a new chapter in Asia: Eurovision Song Contest Asia will debut in Bangkok on 14 November 2026 as the first multinational expansion of the brand. According to the EBU, the new project is built on Eurovision’s 70-year legacy and its “United by Music” ethos.

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This makes the Contest’s history more than a timeline of winners and host cities. It is also the story of how a European broadcasting idea became a global live music phenomenon that still evolves with new audiences and new regions.

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