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Austria has won the Eurovision song contest after JJ triumphed in Basel with their song Wasted Love, an operatic ballad with soaring vocals that mutates into a club anthem for the finale. It is the third time the country has won, with JJ following in the footsteps of Udo Jürgens in 1965 and Conchita Wurst in 2014.
Switzerland, which hosted the first ever Eurovision song contest in 1956, was the venue this year after Nemo won in Malmö last year with their song The Code. Austria will be expected to host in 2026, with Vienna having twice held the competition before.
Viennese-born JJ has a range from counter tenor to soprano, and studies classical music. He co-wrote the winning song with Teodora Spiric and Thomas Turner. JJ has previously appeared under his given name Johannes Pietsch on The Voice UK.
Israel finished second, with Estonia third and the pre-contest favourites from Sweden fourth.
It was another difficult night for the UK. In recent years, Sam Ryder’s Space Man has been the only song that has bucked the trend for poor results, finishing second in 2022. No other UK entry since 2012 has finished higher than 15th, and this year’s effort by Remember Monday continued that record.
The girl band’s song about the aftermath of a wild night out – What The Hell Just Happened? – was granted automatic entry to the final, as the UK is one of the largest net contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which organises the show. They finished 19th, having scored zero with the public vote. Sophie Ellis-Bextor presented the UK’s jury votes, after Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa dropped out of the role due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Over the course of the two semi-finals and final, guests on the show had included three-time Eurovision host Petra Mede and returning contestants, as well as a special video message from Céline Dion, who won the contest on behalf of Switzerland in 1988.
Thirty-seven countries entered the contest, and 26 made it to the final. The semi-finals, held on Tuesday and Thursday, threw up some surprises. Australia, which has competed in Eurovision since 2015, surprisingly failed to qualify with Go-Jo’s innuendo-laden Milkshake Man.
There were still plenty of risqué songs on offer, including Miriana Conte, who had to change the lyrics of her song Serving to remove a reference to the Maltese word for singing – “Kant” – due to the phrase “Serving kant” having an obvious resemblance to an English swear word.
In Finland’s entry, Ich Komme by Erika Vikman, her song repeatedly announced that she was coming, and she ended her performance hoisted up on a giant gold microphone spraying out fireworks.
Other outlandish props including Italy’s Lucio Corsi with an outsized piano, France’s Louane gradually being doused with falling sand, and Estonia’s Tommy Cash wearing a post-it note with “I love Eurovision” on it on his suit pocket, while dancing outside a set called the “Winners Café”. He did not win.
Israel’s continued participation in the contest again sparked protest, as it did last year, with about 200 people, many draped in Palestinian flags, joining a gathering in central Basel on Wednesday evening, and more protests on Saturday night.
Before the event, Irish broadcaster RTÉ had asked the EBU for talks after 72 former contestants called for a ban on Israel. Raphael, who is a survivor of attack on the Nova music festival by Hamas on 7 October 2023, had her dress rehearsal disrupted by protesters on Thursday.
The EBU stopped Russia competing in Eurovision in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which went on to win the competition that year.
