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The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 30 April 1994 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. It was the last time the contest was held in April. The presenters were Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan.

The pair hosted the evening in French, English and Irish. Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan from Ireland were the winners of this Eurovision with a song written by Brendan Graham, Rock 'n' Roll Kids.

With broadcast technology continuing to improve, the 1994 contest was the first to use satellite links during the voting sequence in which each spokesperson could be seen on screen announcing their results directly from their home countries.

Due to the fact that so many countries wished to participate in the 1994 contest, the European Broadcasting Union decided to adopt a relegation system, meaning the bottom 7 countries in 1993 would be barred from participating in 1994 to make room for the debuting countries. Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia made their debut. This initially meant that Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Turkey were to be relegated. However, Italy and Luxembourg both withdrew voluntarily, allowing Cyprus to participate.[1] Luxembourg would eventually make its return in 2024.

This was a record sixth victory for Ireland, giving it the outright record number of victories at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was also the first time and the only time so far, that the contest had been won by the same country in three consecutive years. This was broken in the next year, when Secret Garden won for Norway.

The biggest success story to come out of the 1994 contest was the interval act Riverdance, which would go on to become a worldwide phenomenon as a full-length stage show. The biggest commercial success of the 1994 contest was not one of the songs, but the interval act.

Voting[]

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs. With advances in technology, this was the first contest in which the spokesperson for each national jury appeared on-screen, live from their own countries. In the early stages of the voting it looked as if Hungary was surging to victory in its first-ever Eurovision appearance, winning the maximum twelve points from the first three juries. However, this turned out to be completely deceptive, as from that point on it was virtually one-way traffic for Ireland, which became the first country to win the contest for a third year in succession.

Participants[]

Countries relegated in 1995 are highlighted in pink/red.

Draw Country Artist Song Language Translation Place Points
01 Flag of Sweden Sweden Marie Bergman & Roger Pontare Stjärnorna Swedish The stars 13 48
02 Flag of Finland Finland CatCat Bye Bye Baby Finnish -- 22 11
03 Flag of Ireland Ireland Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan Rock 'n' Roll Kids English 1 226
04 Flag of Cyprus Cyprus Evridiki Íme ánthropos ki egó Greek I'm human too 11 51
05 Flag of Iceland Iceland Sigga Nætur Icelandic Nights 12 49
06 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Frances Ruffelle Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free) English -- 10 63
07 Flag of Croatia Croatia Tony Cetinski Nek' ti bude ljubav sva Croatian You may have all the love 16 27
08 Flag of Portugal Portugal Sara Tavares Chamar a música Portuguese Calling the music 8 73
09 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Duilio Sto pregando Italian I'm praying 19 15
10 Flag of Estonia Estonia Silvi Vrait Nagu merelaine Estonian Like a sea wave 24 2
11 Flag of Romania Romania Dan Bittman Dincolo de nori Romanian Beyond the clouds 21 14
12 Flag of Malta Malta Chris and Moira More than Love English -- 5 97
13 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Willeke Alberti Waar is de zon? Dutch Where is the sun? 23 4
14 Flag of Germany Germany Mekado Wir geben 'ne Party German We're giving a party 3 128
15 IconSlovakia Slovakia Tublatanka Nekonečná pieseň Slovak Neverending song 19 15
16 Flag of Lithuania Lithuania Ovidijus Vyšniauskas Lopšinė mylimai Lithuanian Lullaby for my beloved 25 0
17 Flag of Norway Norway Elisabeth Andreassen & Jan Werner Danielsen Duett Norwegian Duet 6 76
18 Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Alma Čardžić & Dejan Lazarević Ostani kraj mene Bosnian Stay beside me 15 39
19 Flag of Greece Greece Kostas Bigalis & The Sea Lovers To trehandiri Greek The trehandiri 14 44
20 Flag of Austria Austria Petra Frey Für den Frieden der Welt German For the peace of the world 17 19
21 Flag of Spain Spain Alejandro Abad Ella no es ella Spanish She's not her 18 17
22 Flag of Hungary Hungary Friderika Bayer Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? Hungarian Whom can I tell my sins? 4 122
23 Flag of Russia Russia Youddiph Vječnij stranjik Russian Eternal wanderer 9 70
24 Flag of Poland Poland Edyta Górniak To nie ja Polish That's not me 2 166
25 Flag of France France Nina Morato Je suis un vrai garçon French I'm a real boy 7 74
Eurovision Song Contest
Editions
195619571958195919601961196219631964196519661967196819691970197119721973197419751976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
Countries
AlbaniaAndorraArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBelarusBelgiumBosnia and HerzegovinaBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzechiaDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGeorgiaGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandIsraelItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaMoldovaMonacoMontenegroMoroccoThe NetherlandsNorth MacedoniaNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSerbiaSerbia and MontenegroSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTurkeyUnited KingdomUkraineYugoslavia
Winning Songs
RefrainNet Als ToenDors, mon amourEen beetjeTom PillibiNous les amoureuxUn premier amourDanseviseNon ho l'etàPoupée de Cire, Poupée de SonMerci, ChériePuppet on a StringLa, La, LaBoom Bang-a-BangVivo CantandoUn jour, un enfantDe TroubadourAll Kinds of EverythingUn banc, un arbre, une rueAprès ToiTu Te ReconnaîtrasWaterlooDing-a-DongSave Your Kisses For MeL'Oiseau et l'enfantA-Ba-Ni-BiHallelujahWhat's Another YearMaking Your Mind UpEin bißchen FriedenSi la vie est cadeauDiggiloo DiggileyLa Det SwingeJ'aime La VieHold Me NowNe Partez Pas Sans MoiRock MeInsieme: 1992Fångad av en stormvindWhy Me?In Your EyesRock 'n' Roll KidsNocturneThe VoiceLove Shine a LightDivaTake Me To Your HeavenFly on the Wings of LoveEverybodyI WannaEveryway That I CanWild DancesMy Number OneHard Rock HallelujahMolitvaBelieveFairytaleSatelliteRunning ScaredEuphoriaOnly TeardropsRise Like a PhoenixHeroes1944Amar pelos doisToyArcadeZitti e buoniStefaniaTattoo
Specials
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision's Greatest HitsEurope Shine a Light
Aspects of Eurovision
CommentatorEuroClubEurovision VillageExecutive SupervisorFlag ParadeGrand PrixGreen RoomHead of DelegationInterval ActNational FinalNational JuryOfficial RulesOpening CeremonyPre-PartiesPre-Song PostcardsReference GroupRest of the World VoteRunning Order DrawSemi-FinalsScoreboardSpokespersonTelevotingVoting Systems
Miscellaneous
Big FiveCurse of 43Curse of Number TwoCurse of GreenDouze Points!ESCRadio AwardsESC Top 250Eurovision AgainEurovision National BroadcastersEurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaFounding SevenLGBT visibilityLynda WoodruffMarcel Bezençon AwardsNul PointsOGAERecordsStand-insThe Reorder BoardTie SituationTop Scoring SongsVoting DiasporaWinner's CurseWithdrawn SongsYou're a Vision Award

Trivia[]

  • Ireland's entry became the first winner to score over 200 points.
  • This was the first time a winning nation staged the contest in consecutive years.
  • Co-presenter Gerry Ryan passed away on 30 April 2010, 16 years to the day he hosted the contest.
  • Moya Doherty was the 1994 contest's producer. She would go on to produce the Riverdance stage show with her husband John McColgan.
  • Because of relegation rules, this was the first year where Belgium didn't participate in Eurovision.
  • Because of the country's four-year absence afterwards, this was the only time the Lithuanian entry would have an orchestral arrangement.
  • To nie ja was the 700th song performed at Eurovision.

References[]

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