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Andy Abraham singing for the UK in 2008. He performed second in the final and finished last (prompting longtime BBC commentator Sir Terry Wogan to resign)

The "Curse of Number Two" is one of the most famous phenomenons to occur at the Eurovision Song Contest. It is called that because no country that has performed out of the second spot in the running order of the final has ever won the contest at all. In fact, those performing second over the years have ended up last nine times (three of those times with the ever-dreaded Nul Points). This leaves many fans, media people, and artists to believe that this particular spot is "cursed".

It is also interesting to note that the 16th position in the running order is similarly "cursed", no country has won performing from that position either. It should be noted, however, that a number of countries have won their semi-final performing out of the 16th spot, most recently the Netherlands in 2019, Switzerland in 2021 and Australia in 2023.

Qualifying from the semifinals when performing out of the second spot in the running order is also a very rare occurrence. For example, in 2014 and 2022, neither country which performed second in the semifinals (Latvia in semifinal 1 and Israel in semifinal 2) advanced to the final, whereas in 2012, both countries which performed second in the semifinals (Iceland in semifinal 1 and Macedonia in semifinal 2) advanced to the final.

The 1957 winner Corry Brokken was the first victim of this phenomenon when she performed second in the 1958 contest on home ground in Hilversum and finished last. The only times a second-spot performer has done well was second in 1965 and equal third in 1997, 2002 and 2024.

Victims of the Curse of Number Two[]

In the Grand Final[]

Year Country Artist Song Place Points
1958 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Corry Brokken Heel De Wereld 9 1
1960 Flag of Sweden Sweden Siw Malmkvist Alla andra får varann 10 4
1961 Flag of Monaco Monaco Colette Deréal Allons, allons les enfants 10 6
1962 Flag of Belgium Belgium Fud Leclerc Ton nom 13 0
1963 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Annie Palmen Een speeldoos 13 0
1964 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Anneke Grönloh Jij bent mijn leven 12 2
1966 Flag of Denmark Denmark Ulla Pia Stop - mens legen er go' 14 4
1968 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Ronnie Tober Morgen 16 1
1969 Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg Romuald Catherine 11 7
1971 Flag of Malta Malta Joe Grech Marija l-Maltija 18 52
1972 Flag of France France Betty Mars Comé-comédie 11 81
1973 Flag of Belgium Belgium Nicole & Hugo Baby, Baby 17 58
1978 Flag of Norway Norway Jahn Teigen Mil Etter Mil 20 0
1979 Flag of Italy Italy Matia Bazar Raggio di luna 15 27
1980 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Ajda Pekkan Petr'Oil 15 23
1981 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Modern Folk Trio & Ayşegül Aldinç Dönme Dolap 18 9
1986 Flag of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Doris Dragović Željo Moja 11 49
1988 Flag of Sweden Sweden Tommy Körberg Stad i ljus 12 52
1989 Flag of Israel Israel Gili Natanel & Galit Burg Derech Hamelech 12 50
1990 Flag of Greece Greece Christos Callow & Wave Horis Skopo 19 11
1992 Flag of Belgium Belgium Morgane Nous, on veut des violons 20 11
1993 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Burak Aydos Esmer Yarim 21 10
1994 Flag of Finland Finland CatCat Bye Bye Baby 22 11
1998 Flag of Greece Greece Thalassa Mia krifi evesthisia 20 12
2001 Flag of Iceland Iceland Two Tricky Angel 23 3
2004 Flag of Austria Austria Tie Break Du Bist 21 9
2005 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Javine Touch My Fire 22 18
2006 Flag of Moldova Moldova Arsenium ft. Connect-R & Natalia Gordienko Loca 20 22
2007 Flag of Spain Spain D'NASH I Love You Mi Vida 20 43
2008 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Andy Abraham Even If 25 14
2012 Flag of Hungary Hungary Compact Disco Sound of Our Hearts 24 19
2013 Flag of Lithuania Lithuania Andrius Pojavis Something 22 17
2015 Flag of France France Lisa Angell N'oubliez pas 25 4
2016 Flag of Czech Republic Czechia Gabriela Gunčíková I Stand 25 41
2017 Flag of Poland Poland Kasia Moś Flashlight 22 64
2018 Flag of Spain Spain Alfred & Amaia Tu canción 23 61
2021 Flag of Albania Albania Anxhela Peristeri Karma 21 57
2023 Flag of Portugal Portugal Mimicat Ai Coração 23 59

In the Semi-Finals[]

Year Semi-final no. Country Artist Song Place Points
2004 SF Flag of Belarus Belarus Aleksandra and Konstantin My Galileo 19 10
2005 SF Flag of Lithuania Lithuania Laura and The Lovers Little by little 25 17
2006 SF Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria Mariana Popova Let Me Cry 17 36
2007 SF Flag of Israel Israel Teapacks Push the Button 24 17
2009 SF1 Flag of Czech Republic Czechia Gipsy.cz Aven Romale 18 0
SF2 Flag of Ireland Ireland Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy Et Cetera 11 52
2011 SF1 Flag of Norway Norway Stella Mwangi Haba Haba 17 30
2013 SF2 Flag of San Marino San Marino Valentina Monetta Crisalide (Vola) 11 47
2014 SF1 Flag of Latvia Latvia Aarzemnieki Cake to Bake 13 33
SF2 Flag of Israel Israel Mei Finegold Same Heart 14 19
2015 SF2 Flag of Ireland Ireland Molly Sterling Playing With Numbers 12 35
2016 SF1 Flag of Greece Greece Argo Utopian Land 16 44
2017 SF1 Flag of Georgia Georgia Tamara Gachechiladze Keep the Faith 11 99
2018 SF1 Flag of Iceland Iceland Ari Ólafsson Our Choice 19 5
SF2 Flag of Romania Romania The Humans Goodbye 11 107
2019 SF1 Flag of Montenegro Montenegro D-Moll Heaven 16 46
SF2 Flag of Ireland Ireland Sarah McTernan 22 18 16
2021 SF1 Flag of Slovenia Slovenia Ana Soklič Amen 13 44
SF2 Flag of Estonia Estonia Uku Suviste The Lucky One 13 58
2022 SF1 Flag of Latvia Latvia Citi Zēni Eat Your Salad 14 55
SF2 Flag of Israel Israel Michael Ben David I.M 13 61
2023 SF1 Flag of Malta Malta The Busker Dance (Our Own Party) 15 3
2024 SF2 Flag of Albania Albania Besa Titan 15 14
Eurovision Song Contest
Editions
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