Eurovision Song Contest 2016

The 61st Eurovision Song Contest took place from 10 to 14 May 2016 at the Globen Arena in the Swedish capital Stockholm. The city hosted the contest for the third time after 1975 and 2000. After Måns Zelmerlöw won the 2015 ESC in Vienna with the song Heroes on 23 May 2015, Swedish broadcaster SVT was tasked with hosting the upcoming event.

The competition was won for Ukraine by Jamala with the song 1944, which the singer wrote with Arthur Antonyan; second place went to Australia.

The winning title is a reference to the year when Josef Stalin had the Crimean Tatars deported to Central Asia. The song lyrics are in English, the chorus in Crimean Tatar. Ukraine took part again after a one-year absence, having renounced participation in 2015 for financial reasons and because of the political situation in the country.

The EBU had received numerous complaints against the song in advance, especially from Russia, as ESC entries are not allowed to contain political statements according to the rules. However, the EBU's committees decided that 1944 did not violate the rules of the competition. The song had been examined and officials concluded that "the title and lyrics do not contain a political message and that the song does not conflict with the rules of the competition." The song describes in detail the events of about 70 years ago; the annexation of Crimea by Russia is not directly addressed in it.

Bosnia-Herzegovina returned after a three-year hiatus, while Croatia and Bulgaria each returned after a two-year break. Portugal withdrew from the competition for the second time in four years after 2013. Romania had been disqualified due to unpaid debts. The Czech Republic made it to a Eurovision final for the first time, while Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina were eliminated at the semi-final stage for the first time in 2016. 2000 and 2016 are the only years since the turn of the millennium without a Greek entry in the final. 2016 was the third year in which all the Scandinavian countries taking part in the semi-finals were eliminated, but unlike previous years there were four of them, with host nation Sweden the only Scandinavian country represented in the final.

The last place in the final was taken by the entry from Germany, as in the previous year, while the previous year's second-to-last place Austria reached place 13. As in the previous year, Switzerland had already been eliminated in the second semi-final as last-place finisher.

A total of 204 million viewers watched the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, five million more than the previous year.

Venue

On 1 June 2015, Swedish Television presented a list of requirements for the potential host city:

• The arena hosting the event must be covered.
• Sufficient hotels and hotel rooms must be available in the vicinity of the venue for the duration of the event.
• The venue should provide space for possible annexes.
• A press centre should be located on the site.
• The venue should be ready for stage construction four to six weeks before the event.
• The host city should be located near a commercial airport.

The following arenas applied to host the event:

On 11 June 2015, Malmö Arena withdrew its bid as it was already booked for concerts for the period of the event. The city of Stockholm announced one day later that it would apply with the Globen City. The official closing date for an application to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was 13 June 2015, and a week later the host broadcaster SVT began sifting through the applications. On 8 July 2015, it was decided that the 2016 ESC would be held at Stockholm's Globen. This was the second time the hall had hosted the competition.

Additional venues in Stockholm were announced on January 8, 2016:

• The official opening ceremony with the reception of the mayor took place in the town hall of the city.
• The Euroclub, a nightclub where parties were given for the accredited, was a temporary venue on the waterfront in front of the Royal Palace.
• The Euro Village, the official area for fans, was located in the Royal Gardens.

Management and host

On the very night of his victory, Måns Zelmerlöw expressed his interest in taking on a role as presenter.

Furthermore, Christer Björkman said on 25 May 2015 that Petra Mede, Sanna Nielsen as well as Gina Dirawi and Dolph Lundgren could be possible hosts. Petra Mede had previously hosted the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest and co-hosted Eurovision Greatest Hits with Graham Norton. Sanna Nielsen competed for Sweden in 2014 and hosted the Swedish preliminary Melodifestivalen the following year. Gina Dirawi also hosted the Swedish preliminary in 2012, 2013 and 2016. On 14 December 2015, SVT announced that Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw would host the ESC.

On September 4, 2015, the core production team for the ESC was announced:

• Martin Österdahl and Johan Bernhagen - Executive Producer
• Tobias Åberg - Head of Production
• Christer Björkman - Contest Producer
• Sven Stojanović - Show Producer
• Lotta Loosme - Head of Communications
• Sofi Franzén - Head of Events, City and Partners
• Josephine Görander - Executive Assistant and Office Manager

Österdahl, Åberg and Björkman were already involved in the production of the competition in 2013, while Stojanović was a director in 2000 as well as 2003 to 2005 and 2008.