The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th Eurovision Song Contest since 1956. The contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following Loreen's win in the 2012 contest with the song Euphoria. It was the fifth time that Sweden had hosted the contest, the last time being in 2000 in the capital, Stockholm. Additionally, it was the second time Malmö hosted the contest, previously being the host city in 1992. The host for the contest was Petra Mede, who was the first solo presenter since Mary Kennedy in 1995. The 2013 Contest is the longest in Eurovision history, with the Grand Final lasting 3 hours and 30 minutes.
39 countries participated. Armenia returned after a year away, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal and Slovakia withdrew. Also withdrawing was Turkey, citing the unfairness of the Big Five rule and the 50:50 vote split. They have not returned to the contest since.
While Petra handled much of the main hosting duties, she was assisted in the Green Room by 2011 Swedish representative Eric Saade.
The winner for 2013 was Denmark with the song Only Teardrops sung by Emmelie de Forest, which scored 281 points, beating Farid Mammadov from Azerbaijan with a margin of 47 points. This makes it the second time that Denmark won on Swedish ground, the last time being in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers. But unlike 2000, Denmark had gone into the 2013 contest as the heavy favorite.
Ukraine finished in third place and Norway in fourth. Out of the countries with the Big Five status, only Italy managed to finish in the top ten, coming seventh. The Netherlands finished ninth in their first participation in a final since 2004. A reported 170 million people watched both the semifinals and final of the 2013 edition. For the first time since 1985, no country of former Yugoslavia participated in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
To this day, there has been no official breakdown of jury and televote points from the 2013 contest, the split vote contained only averages.
Format[]
Allocation draw change[]
Beginning in 2013, the allocation draw for the semifinals took on a new format. All of the countries participating in the semifinals were placed in several bowls representing their various pots according to past voting patterns. The first draw presenter then does several rounds of each of the pots: one round would go to semifinal 1, the next to semifinal 2 and so on until all the bowls are empty. The automatic qualifiers draw their semifinal allocations as usual.
When a country is drawn for a semifinal, the second draw presenter draws a slip from another bowl for that particular semifinal which then allocates that country to either the first half or the second half of the show. After all countries are allocated, the producers finalize the running order so all delegations know when to start traveling to the host city for rehearsals. In this way, songs of similar genres aren't placed close to each other and are given the ability to stand out.
For the Big Five, a separate draw is held during their second press conference to allocate their spots to the final, the host country has already been assigned its running order spot. Another draw takes place after each semifinal during the qualifiers' press conference to allocate the remaining 20 places in the final, and soon after that the final running order is completed by the producers some time between the end of the semifinal 2 press conference and the start of the grand final rehearsals.
Postcards[]
Compared to previous contests, rather than focusing on promoting its own country, Sweden chose to lay focus on the artists and their respective countries. The postcards presented before every song which have traditionally been used to show the host country's nature, culture and social life, were changed to show the typical everyday life of each individual artist in their home countries scattered around Europe, with their country's flag in the shape of a butterfly.
Returning Artists[]
| Artist | Previous Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Valentina Monetta | 2012 |
| Aliona Moon | 2012 (backing for Pasha Parfeny) |
| Elitsa and Stoyan | 2007 |
| Nevena Božović (Moje 3) | JESC 2007 |
| Bledar Sejko | 2011 (backing for Aurela Gaçe) |
| Gor Sujyan (Dorians) | 2010 (backing for Eva Rivas) |
Gallery[]
Results[]
Semi Final One[]
Italy, 
Sweden and the 
United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. It was held on 14 May 2013.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Austria
|
Natália Kelly | Shine | English | -- | 14 | 27 |
| 02 |  Estonia
|
Birgit Õigemeel | Et Uus Saaks Alguse | Estonian | So there can be a new beginning | 10 | 52 |
| 03 |  Slovenia
|
Hannah Mancini | Straight Into Love | English | -- | 16 | 8 |
| 04 |  Croatia
|
Klapa s Mora | Mižerja | Croatian | Misery | 13 | 38 |
| 05 |  Denmark
|
Emmelie de Forest | Only Teardrops | English | -- | 1 | 167 |
| 06 |  Russia
|
Dina Garipova | What If? | 2 | 156 | ||
| 07 |  Ukraine
|
Zlata Ognevich | Gravity | 3 | 140 | ||
| 08 |  The Netherlands
|
Anouk | Birds | 6 | 75 | ||
| 09 |  Montenegro
|
Who See | Igranka | Montenegrin | The party | 12 | 41 |
| 10 |  Lithuania
|
Andrius Pojavis | Something | English | -- | 9 | 53 |
| 11 |  Belarus
|
Alyona Lanskaya | Solayoh | 7 | 64 | ||
| 12 |  Moldova
|
Aliona Moon | O Mie | Romanian | A thousand | 4 | 95 |
| 13 |  Ireland
|
Ryan Dolan | Only Love Survives | English | -- | 8 | 54 |
| 14 |  Cyprus
|
Despina Olympiou | An me thimase | Greek | If you remember me | 15 | 11 |
| 15 |  Belgium
|
Roberto Bellarosa | Love Kills | English | -- | 5 | 75 |
| 16 |  Serbia
|
Moje 3 | Ljubav Je Svuda | Serbian | Love is everywhere | 11 | 46 |
Semi Final 2[]
Germany, 
France and 
Spain voted in this semi-final. It was held on 16 May 2013.
Grand Final[]
All countries voted. It was held on 18 May 2013.
Trivia[]
- This was the first contest to be featured as part of Eurovision Again.
- It was the first contest to feature a flag parade in the Grand Final, which has been a tradition ever since.
- "Hold Me" was the 1300th song performed at Eurovision.
- This contest featured the oldest participant ever, 95 year old Emil Ramsauer, the double bassist of the band Takasa.