The 61st Eurovision Song Contest introduced a new dual voting system and drew a record 204 million television viewers worldwide.
Key Facts
- Edition
- 61st Eurovision Song Contest
- Participating countries
- 42
- Winner
- Ukraine – '1944' by Jamala
- Total viewers
- 204 million (record)
- Venue
- Ericsson Globe, Stockholm
- Final date
- 14 May 2016
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw won the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Heroes', obligating Swedish broadcaster SVT to host the following year's contest. SVT selected the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm as the venue and appointed Petra Mede and Zelmerlöw as presenters for the 2016 edition.
The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm across two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and a grand final on 14 May. Ukraine's Jamala won with '1944', a song incorporating Crimean Tatar lyrics, becoming the first winner of neither the jury vote nor the televote outright, as Australia took the jury vote and Russia took the televote.
Ukraine's victory brought widespread attention to the Crimean Tatar theme of '1944'. The newly introduced split voting format, separating professional jury scores from aggregated national televotes announced in reverse order, became a defining procedural change. The contest also achieved a record viewership of 204 million and marked the first live US broadcast of the event.
Work
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
The contest introduced a landmark dual voting reform separating jury and televote results, set a viewership record of 204 million, and brought global attention to Crimean Tatar culture through Ukraine's winning entry '1944'.