The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th annual edition and was held at the PalaOlimpico in Turin, Italy following Måneskin's victory in Rotterdam the year before. This was the first time since 1991 that Italy hosted the contest as well as the first since its return, and the first time for a Big Five nation since 2011.
The two semifinals were held on 10 May 2022 and 12 May 2022, with the grand final on 14 May 2022.
17 cities initially showed interest, with Bologna, Milan, Pesaro and Rimini making the shortlist alongside the host city.
40 countries participated, including 38 countries from 2021. Armenia and Montenegro both returned since their last participation in 2019, while Russia was disqualified (see "Incidents" below).
Armenia, Poland and Romania qualified for the final for the first time since 2017, while Cyprus and Israel's qualification streaks dating back to 2015, Bulgaria's dating back to 2016, and Albania's since 2018, came to an end.
Over 161 million viewers across Europe tuned into the three live shows, with a significant increase in online engagement. 42.3 million viewers across 232 countries and territories watched content on the official YouTube channel.
Ukraine achieved its third victory with the song Stefania by Kalush Orchestra. In a stunning turnaround from last year's nul points, the United Kingdom finished in second place, its 16th runner-up finish and its best since 1998, while Spain finished in 3rd place, its best result since 1995. Rounding out the top 5 were Sweden and Serbia, each recording their best results in recent years.
Format[]
Presenters[]
The presenters for the 2022 contest were officially revealed during the second night of the 72nd Sanremo Music Festival on 2 February 2022. RAI opted for a trio consisting of Italian singer Laura Pausini, TV personality Alessandro Cattelan and Lebanese-British singer-songwriter Mika, who has done extensive television work in Italy.
Theme[]
This year's theme is The Sound of Beauty. The theme art is based on the science of cymatics: turning sound waves into patterns. Harmonic sounds are changed into geometric patterns known as Chladni figures. It has been said that the theme art itself hint both towards the sun and a cosmic portal opening up to sound and its beautiful properties.
The stage design was known as "The Sun Within" which featured a broken kinetic sun that could form different patterns and an actual waterfall. The green room was turned into an Italian garden, with real plants and shrubbery.
Pre-Recorded Backing Vocals[]
Following the 2021 trial, pre-recorded backing vocal tracks were added to the rules of the 2022 contest. The lead and featured artists are still required to sing live. The EBU included this rule in order to provide more flexibility and provide songwriters the ability to present their work as close to the original studio track as possible.
Broadcasters would still have the option of using live backing vocalists if they so desired.
Live-On Tape Recordings[]
OGAE Greece revealed that live-on-tape backup recordings would remain in place for the 2022 contest if for any reason a delegation could not travel to Italy due to restrictions, which was then confirmed by Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl. Similar to the 2021 contest, it would also be believed that if a delegation had completed their rehearsals in the contest venue and something were to happen prior to the live shows, they could choose between their backup tape or the footage of their second rehearsal.
On 29 March 2022, the Deputy Director of Rai 1, Claudio Fasulo, announced that Ukraine would be exempt from filming a live-on-tape recording given the scope of the conflict in the country, and would instead use the performance footage from the Vidbir 2022 final as their backup in the event that Kalush Orchestra would not be able to make the trip to Turin.
Postcards[]
For the postcards, a drone named Leo took viewers through various locations across Italy. Images of each artist were superimposed on buildings and other sights, with the participants appearing via chromakey at the end.
Incidents[]
Ukraine[]
Alina Pash was selected to represent Ukraine with the song Tini zabutykh predkiv. However, just a short time after her win in the Ukrainian national final, it was revealed that she had visited Crimea in 2015 and that her team had forged her travel documents. The rules of Vidbir state that potential candidates for the selection cannot visit or perform in Russia, after what happened in 2019.
On 16 February 2022, Pash withdrew as the Ukrainian representative only 90 minutes after learning about the forged documents. On 22 February 2022, Suspilne officially confirmed the runner-up act Kalush Orchestra as her replacement.
Despite the ongoing Russian invasion of the country, it was confirmed during the Head of Delegation meetings on 14 March 2022 that Ukraine would be participating in the contest. The Ukrainian government issued the group an exit exemption, allowing them to leave the country to travel for promotional appearances and the contest.
Disqualification of Russia[]
In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, UA:PBC petitioned the EBU to have Russia's broadcasters C1R and VGTRK suspended which, if successful, would disqualify Russia from participating in the 2022 contest. Other broadcasters joined the appeal including NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark), LRT (Lithuania), RÚV (Iceland) and AVROTROS (Netherlands), citing that the Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political, peaceful event. The EBU released a statement saying that Russia and Ukraine were both welcome to participate, however they did state they would continue to monitor the situation. Finnish broadcaster YLE and Estonian broadcaster ERR both threatened their withdrawals from the 2022 contest if Russia was allowed to participate.
A day after the start of the invasion (25 February), the EBU released a new statement that Russia would be excluded from the 2022 contest, citing that the country's participation would throw the contest into disrepute. In response, C1R and VGTRK suspended their EBU memberships the following day (26 February) despite no formal confirmation. On 1 March 2022, the EBU issued further sanctions on the Russian broadcasters, suspending members from serving in positions of governance including the Executive Board and Statutory Committees for an indefinite period.
North Macedonian flag incident[]
During the opening ceremony, North Macedonian representative Andrea threw a small flag she was carrying to the ground as she posed for the media. Broadcaster MRT condemned this as a "desecration of a national symbol" punishable by federal law and threatened to pull Andrea from the contest as well as sanction members of the delegation that were deemed responsible for what happened.
Andrea issued an apology the following day, and MRT allowed her to continue on in the competition. They also added that upon the delegation's return from Turin, they would take disciplinary measures including possible withdrawal from the 2023 contest due to negative publicity.
Voting issues[]
It was revealed after the grand final that voting irregularities were discovered among 6 countries during the jury show of the second semifinal. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino's jury votes were replaced in the semifinal and the final by an aggregate result from the pots each country was allocated to. According to a report from Belgium's Flemish broadcaster VRT, the six countries in question had their votes thrown out because they agreed to vote for one another. On 19 May 2022, the EBU issued a statement essentially confirming the VRT report that those six countries had indeed exchanged votes with each other during the second semifinal, ruling them void and replaced with the aggregate results for both the semifinal and the final. The full results of the 2022 contest was officially confirmed by the EBU.[2]
During the final, there were problems getting in contact with the spokespersons for Azerbaijan, Romania and Georgia. As a result, Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl announced the jury results for each of those three countries.
Attempted cyber attacks[]
Prior to the second semifinal, the official Eurovision site was attacked by the Russian hacker group Killnet and associate group Legion, which also attacked several Italian government websites. According to Italian news service ANSA, a plan to disrupt the televote system during the grand final was unsuccessful.
Laura Pausini's disappearance[]
During the grand final jury voting results, Laura Pausini was noticeably absent, leaving Alessandro Cattelan and Mika to fill in for much of the procedure. Pausini re-appeared some time later, confirming after the contest on her Instagram account that she had low blood pressure and was told by doctors to take a break backstage.
Participants[]
The semi-final allocation draw was held on 25 January 2022 at Palazzo Madama, and hosted by Carolina di Domenico and Mario Acampa. The insignia handover ceremony took place before the draw began, officially beginning the countdown to the contest. Acampa had replaced intended co-presenter Gabriele Corsi, who tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the draw ceremony.
The pots are as follows, calculated by the EBU's voting providers Digame and based on voting patterns over the past 15 years:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 | Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Albania Croatia Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Slovenia
|
 Australia Denmark Finland Iceland Norway Sweden
|
 Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Israel Russia Ukraine
|
 Bulgaria Cyprus Greece Malta Portugal San Marino
|
 Estonia Latvia Lithuania Moldova Poland Romania
|
 Austria Belgium Czech Republic Ireland The Netherlands Switzerland
|
 France Germany Italy (Host) Spain United Kingdom |
Pre-Allocations[]
There were no pre-allocation requests for this year.
Returning Artists[]
| Artist(s) | Previous Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Stoyan Yankoulov (Intelligent Music Project) | 2007, 2013 (with Elitsa Todorova) |
| Zdob şi Zdub | 2005, 2011 |
| Mahmood | 2019 |
| Ihor Didenchuk (Kalush Orchestra) | 2021 (with Go_A) |
| Ihan Haydar (REDDI) | 2012 (backing for Soluna Samay) |
| Nika Kocharov (Circus Mircus) | 2016 (with Young Georgian Lolitaz) |
Languages[]
Trenuletul was the first Moldovan entry to contain lyrics in Romanian since 2013.- De Diepte was the first entry from the Netherlands to be performed in Dutch since 2010. It was also the first Dutch language song to be performed in a Eurovision final since 1998.
- Sentimentai was the first entry fully performed in Lithuanian since 1994.
- Fulenn was the first French entry to be performed in Breton since 1996.
- In Corpore Sano featured lyrics in Latin, a first for the contest.
- Ela was the first Cypriot entry to have lyrics in Greek since 2013.
Gallery[]
Semi Final One[]
France and Italy voted in this semi. It took place on 10 May 2022.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Albania
|
Ronela Hajati | Sekret | Albanian, English | Secret | 12 | 58 |
| 02 | Latvia
|
Citi Zēni | Eat Your Salad | English | -- | 14 | 55 |
| 03 | Lithuania
|
Monika Liu | Sentimentai | Lithuanian | Sentiments | 7 | 159 |
| 04 | Switzerland
|
Marius Bear | Boys Do Cry | English | -- | 9 | 118 |
| 05 | Slovenia
|
LPS | Disko | Slovene | Disco | 17 | 15 |
| 06 | Ukraine
|
Kalush Orchestra | Stefania | Ukrainian | -- | 1 | 337 |
| 07 | Bulgaria
|
Intelligent Music Project | Intention | English | 16 | 29 | |
| 08 | The Netherlands
|
S10 | De Diepte | Dutch | The depths | 2 | 221 |
| 09 | Moldova
|
Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers | Trenulețul | Romanian, English | Train | 8 | 154 |
| 10 | Portugal
|
Maro | Saudade, Saudade | Portuguese, English | Longing, Longing | 4 | 208 |
| 11 | Croatia
|
Mia Dimšić | Guilty Pleasure | English | -- | 11 | 75 |
| 12 | Denmark
|
REDDI | The Show | 13 | 55 | ||
| 13 | Austria
|
LUM!X ft. Pia Maria | Halo | 15 | 42 | ||
| 14 | Iceland
|
Systur | Með Hækkandi Sól | Icelandic | With the rising sun | 10 | 103 |
| 15 | Greece
|
Amanda Tenfjord | Die Together | English | -- | 3 | 211 |
| 16 | Norway
|
Subwoolfer | Give That Wolf a Banana | 6 | 177 | ||
| 17 | Armenia
|
Rosa Linn | Snap | 5 | 187 |
Semi Final Two[]
Germany, Spain and United Kingdom voted in this semi. It took place on 12 May 2022.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Finland
|
The Rasmus | Jezebel | English | -- | 7 | 162 |
| 02 | Israel
|
Michael Ben David | I.M | 13 | 61 | ||
| 03 | Serbia
|
Konstrakta | In Corpore Sano | Serbian, Latin | In a healthy body | 3 | 237 |
| 04 | Azerbaijan
|
Nadir Rüstemli | Fade to Black | English | -- | 10 | 96 |
| 05 | Georgia
|
Circus Mircus | Lock Me In | 18 | 22 | ||
| 06 | Malta
|
Emma Muscat | I Am What I Am | 16 | 47 | ||
| 07 | San Marino
|
Achille Lauro | Stripper | Italian, English | 14 | 50 | |
| 08 | Australia
|
Sheldon Riley | Not The Same | English | 2 | 243 | |
| 09 | Cyprus
|
Andromache | Ela | English, Greek | Come on | 12 | 63 |
| 10 | Ireland
|
Brooke | That's Rich | English | -- | 15 | 47 |
| 11 | North Macedonia
|
Andrea | Circles | 11 | 76 | ||
| 12 | Estonia
|
Stefan | Hope | 5 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Romania
|
WRS | Llámame | English, Spanish | Call me | 9 | 118 |
| 14 | Poland
|
Ochman | River | English | -- | 6 | 198 |
| 15 | Montenegro
|
Vladana | Breathe | 17 | 33 | ||
| 16 | Belgium
|
Jérémie Makiese | Miss You | 8 | 151 | ||
| 17 | Sweden
|
Cornelia Jakobs | Hold Me Closer | 1 | 396 | ||
| 18 | Czech Republic
|
We Are Domi | Lights Off | 4 | 227 |
Grand Final[]
All countries voted. The final took place on 14 May 2022. Italy's place in the running order was decided during the Head of Delegations meetings in March 2022.
As the host country is also a Big Five country, the final featured 25 participants instead of the usual 26.
Withdrawing/Uncertain[]
- Andorra - RTVA confirmed on 19 June 2021 that Andorra would not return for 2022.
- Belarus - The EBU suspended BTRC indefinitely on 28 May 2021 as a result of the unrest in the country, the government's stance against freedom of expression, the snubbing of its planned 2020 act and the disqualification of its planned 2021 entry on political grounds. As of 1 July 2021, BTRC was expelled from the EBU.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina - BHRT confirmed on 25 June 2021 that Bosnia and Herzegovina is still unable to participate at Eurovision due to unpaid debts to the EBU. The broadcaster has been under sanctions since 2017.
- Hungary - Hungary did not return for 2022.
- Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan did not debut in 2022. Khabar Agency announced that they would not air the 2022 contest citing poor ratings and high fees for broadcast rights.
- Kosovo - Kosovo did not debut in 2022 as RTK is not a EBU member station, nor is the country a part of the International Telecommunications Union (which is required under EBU rules to apply for membership). However, they did broadcast the 2022 contest.
- Liechtenstein - 1FLTV confirmed on 20 August 2021 that Liechtenstein would not debut in 2022.
- Luxembourg - RTL confirmed on 18 August 2021 that Luxembourg would not return for 2022.
- Monaco - TMC confirmed on 30 August 2021 that Monaco would not return for 2022.
- Slovakia - RTVS announced on 18 June 2021 that Slovakia would not return for 2022. The contest was broadcast on Rádio FM.
- Türkiye - Despite reports of possible talks between TRT and the EBU, Turkey did not return for 2022.
Other Countries[]
- The contest aired in Brazil via the official YouTube live streams.
- Omni Television lost the Canadian broadcasting rights for Eurovision, therefore the 2022 contest was not aired on TV. Canadian fans were able to watch the shows via the live streams on the official Eurovision YouTube channel, however.
- Along with the normal commentary on France 2 and Culturebox, the contest also aired on France 3 Bretagne with commentary in the Breton language by Goulwena an Henaff, Yann-Herle, Thelo Mell and Mael Gwenneg.
- As per a deal reached with the EBU and in conjunction with the American Song Contest, NBC's streaming platform Peacock broadcast the 2022 contest in the United States with commentary by Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir.
Trivia[]
- This contest marked the first time...
- none of the competing entries were performed fully or partially in French.
- It almost happened in 2011, but Lithuania's entry that year contained phrases in French.
- both Romania and the Czech Republic qualified to the final together.
- the Czech Republic and Australia were in the final without Cyprus.
- Malta failed to qualify at finishing outside the top ten in the jury votes.
- none of the competing entries were performed fully or partially in French.
- Eight different languages were featured in the top 10 of the Grand Final (Ukrainian, English, Spanish, Serbian, Latin, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese).
- In semi-final one, six out of the ten songs which qualified were sung at least in another language, the highest rate in the semi-final era.
- Because of the exit restrictions for male citizens in Ukraine, commentator Timur Miroshnychenko could not join the delegation in Turin. He did all the commentary for UA:PBC from inside a bomb shelter in Lviv.
- For the third contest in a row, Germany finished in the bottom 2 in the final, receiving 0 points from one side of the split vote (in the case of this year, 0 points from the jury. Their previous 2 entries scored 0 points from the televote).
- For the second consecutive contest...
- a country that had won a Marcel Bezençon Award for the first time won the jury vote and placed in the top 3 overall.
- the country that finished 4th in the jury vote won the televote and went on to win the contest (Italy in 2021, Ukraine in 2022).
- Additionally, the countries that finished 2nd and 3rd each got 8 sets of 12-point scores from the juries (Switzerland and France in 2021, UK and Spain in 2022).
- The voting issues likely caused the return to 100% televote for semi-finals in the 2023 contest. This is not the first time that jury issues caused a return to 100% televote. Another jury scandal in 2002 (also involving Romania) caused full televote to become compulsory again in 2003.[3]