Eurovision has officially commenced!
This year’s edition of the international song competition convened 37 countries from all over Europe, Asia, and Australia. Each country is represented by an artist of their choice, who will perform an original song. After the original voting, 31 countries proceeded to the semi-finals. There are six automatic qualifiers for the finals, which include Sweden (who won last year’s Eurovision) and the “Big Five” — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — who are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union. The European Broadcasting Union is the owner of the Eurovision franchise.
We compiled a list of what you need to know about Eurovision 2024 — from who are proceeding to the finals this May 11 to where to livestream the shows.
Who are the participating in Eurovision 2024?
The participating countries for 2024 are Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
2024 marks the first year that Luxembourg returned to the competition after 31 years. Israel’s participation in the competition was met with criticism given the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Where is it taking place?
This year’s competition is taking place in Malmö, Sweden. Following Sweden’s win at the 2023 edition of Sweden, the country opened a bidding phase for cities that wanted to host the competition. Malmö was officially announced as the host for the competition on July 7, 2023.
Who are the semi-finalists?
The semi-finalists for Eurovision 2024 are as follows:
FIRST SEMI-FINAL ROUND (May 7)
- Cyprus (Silia Kapsis — “Liar”)
- Serbia (Teya Dora — “Ramonda”)
- Lithuania (Silvester Belt — “Luktelk”)
- Ireland (Bambie Thug — “Doomsday Blue”)
- Ukraine (Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil — “Teresa & Maria”)
- Poland (Luna — “The Tower”)
- Croatia (Baby Lasagna — “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”)
- Iceland (Hera Björk — “Scared of Heights”)
- Slovenia (Raiven — “Veronika”)
- Finland (Windows95man — “No Rules!”)
- Moldova (Natalia Barbu — “In the Middle”)
- Azerbaijan (Fahree ft. Ilkin Dovlatov — “Özünlə apar”)
- Australia (Electric Fields — “One Milkali (One Blood)”)
- Portugal (Iolanda — “Grito”)
- Luxembourg (Tali — “Fighter”)
Qualifiers for the finals are in bold.
SECOND SEMI-FINAL ROUND (May 9)
- Malta (Sarah Bonnici — “Loop”)
- Albania (Besa — “Titan”)
- Greece (Marina Satti — “Zari”)
- Switzerland (Nemo — “The Code”)
- Czechia (Aiko — “Pedestal”)
- Austria (Kaleen — “We Will Rave”)
- Denmark (Saba — “Sand”)
- Armenia (Ladaniva — “Jako”)
- Latvia (Dons — “Hollow”)
- San Marino (Megara — “11:11”)
- Georgia (Nutsa Buzaladze — “Firefighter”)
- Belgium (Mustii — “Before the Party’s Over”)
- Estonia (5miinust and Puuluup — “(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi”)
- Israel (Eden Golan — “Hurricane”)
- Norway (Gåte — “Ulveham”)
- Netherlands (Joost Klein — “Europapa”)
When do the finals happen?
The finals will happen on May 11 (May 12, 3 AM). The 20 semifinalists, Sweden, and the Big Five will compete during this event. The order of performances will be determined after the second batch of semi-finalists are identified.
Where can I watch it?
Eurovision 2024 is currently being livestreamed on Eurovision’s official YouTube channel.
Rewatch the first semi-finals below.