Eurovision Song Contest Trivia
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49 free Eurovision Song Contest trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Eurovision Song Contest trivia quiz covers seventy years of the world's longest-running televised music competition, from Lys Assia winning the first contest in Lugano in 1956 to the recent wins for Loreen, Nemo and JJ. It goes far beyond naming winners: expect questions on how the contest was invented, the Sanremo Festival that inspired it, the Charpentier fanfare that opens every broadcast, the year four countries tied for first, why the Big Five skip the semi-finals, which countries have scored nul points most often, and how Australia ended up taking part. There are questions on the acts who went global — ABBA, Céline Dion, Måneskin, Duncan Laurence — the novelty and drama moments (Bucks Fizz's skirts, Lordi's monster masks, Conchita Wurst, Dana International), the records set by Alexander Rybak, Salvador Sobral and Johnny Logan, and the interval act that became Riverdance. No lyrics are quoted, so it is safe for a pub quiz round. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and each question carries a citation to the page it came from.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which organisation has run the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956?
The European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union created the contest partly to test how far live television could be relayed across borders.
Q 02Eurovision was modelled on an Italian song competition held since 1951 in which town?
Sanremo
Eurovision was modelled on the Sanremo Music Festival, held in the Ligurian town of Sanremo since 1951; RAI manager Sergio Pugliese proposed a Europe-wide version.
Q 03In which Swiss city was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in 1956?
Lugano
Lugano; Luxembourg's jurors could not get there, so Swiss nationals cast Luxembourg's votes, and Switzerland won.
Q 04Who won the very first Eurovision in 1956, singing 'Refrain' for the host country?
Lys Assia
Lys Assia sang both of Switzerland's songs, and since the jury's scores were never published, nobody knows how her other one placed.
Q 05Which country competed at the first Eurovision in 1956?
Belgium
Belgium; Denmark and Austria reportedly missed the entry deadline, so they made their debuts a year later.
Q 06Which two countries were tied on a record seven Eurovision wins each at the end of 2025?
Ireland and Sweden
Ireland and Sweden; Ireland's 1990s run was so strong that it hosted three contests in a row, in Millstreet in 1993 and Dublin in 1994 and 1995.
Q 07Which country has competed in Eurovision more times than any other, missing only one edition?
Germany
Germany has taken part in every contest except 1996, when it was eliminated in an audio pre-qualifying round; it has won twice, with Nicole in 1982 and Lena in 2010.
Q 08The fanfare played before Eurovision broadcasts is the prelude to which piece?
Charpentier's Te Deum
Charpentier's Te Deum; the piece had lain forgotten until its rediscovery in 1953, and a year later it became the Eurovision network's theme.
Q 09Which country was disqualified from Eurovision 2021 after its song was ruled too political?
Belarus
Belarus; its replacement entry was also ruled ineligible, so the country was thrown out of the contest.
Q 10Which score does a country give its favourite song in each set of Eurovision votes?
12
12, the famous 'douze points'; since 2016 each country gives one set from its jury and one from its public, so a song can collect 24 from one country.
Q 11Which city was due to host Eurovision 2020 before COVID-19 cancelled the contest?
Rotterdam
Rotterdam; the Dutch broadcasters kept the hosting rights, so the 2021 contest went ahead in the same Rotterdam arena.
Q 12Which five top funders go straight to Eurovision's final?
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK; despite its guaranteed place, Spain boycotted the 2026 contest because Israel was allowed to take part.
Q 13Which singer won Eurovision 2016 for Ukraine with '1944', a song about Stalin's deportation of the Crimean Tatars?
Jamala
Q 21Which Eurovision entry won Record of the Year at the very first Grammy Awards?
Volare
'Volare', Domenico Modugno's 'Nel blu, dipinto di blu', lost Eurovision 1958 to France, yet won Record and Song of the Year at the first Grammys.
Q 22Who was the first performer to win Eurovision twice, in 1980 and 1987?
Johnny Logan
Johnny Logan won for Ireland with 'What's Another Year' in 1980 and 'Hold Me Now' in 1987, then wrote Linda Martin's 1992 winner 'Why Me?', giving him three wins in all.
Q 23With which two songs did Sweden's Loreen win Eurovision in 2012 and 2023?
'Euphoria' and 'Tattoo'
'Euphoria' and 'Tattoo'; in 2023 Finland's Käärijä won the public vote, but Loreen won the jury vote, which carried 'Tattoo' to victory.
Jamala based the song on her great-grandmother, who was among the Crimean Tatars forced onto crowded trains to Central Asia.
Q 14Which city hosted the first Eurovision to include a semi-final, in 2004?
Istanbul
Istanbul, after Sertab Erener's 2003 win for Turkey; the new semi-final made room for a then-record 36 countries.
Q 15Which city hosted the 1969 Eurovision, where four countries tied for first place?
Madrid
Madrid, because Massiel's 'La, la, la' had won for Spain in 1968, and the tie meant Spain won again.
Q 16Which act shared first place when four countries tied at Eurovision 1969?
Lulu with 'Boom Bang-a-Bang'
Lulu with 'Boom Bang-a-Bang'; there were not enough medals for four winning teams, so only the four singers received theirs on stage.
Q 17ABBA won Eurovision for Sweden in 1974 in which English seaside town?
Brighton
Brighton; at that same contest Portugal's entry, 'E depois do adeus', went on to play a part in launching the Carnation Revolution.
Q 18Which singer won Eurovision 1988 for Switzerland, beating the UK's entry by a single point?
Céline Dion
Céline Dion trailed until the last jury, Yugoslavia's, gave her six points and the UK's Scott Fitzgerald none.
Q 19Which future superstar came fourth for Spain in 1970?
Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias took up singing after a 1963 car crash ended his days as a youth-team goalkeeper, and a nurse gave him a guitar.
Q 20Which song won Eurovision 1976 for the UK after being performed first on the night?
'Save Your Kisses for Me'
'Save Your Kisses for Me' sounds like a love song until its last line reveals the man is leaving his three-year-old daughter.
Q 24Which country had finished last a record 12 times by the end of Eurovision 2025?
Norway
Norway; Jahn Teigen received nul points for it in 1978, yet used the notoriety to become one of Norway's most successful artists.
Q 25Which UK singer finished second at Eurovision 2022 with 'Space Man'?
Sam Ryder
Sam Ryder won the jury vote before a huge public vote swept Ukraine ahead, and still gave the UK its best result since 1998.
Q 26Which Will Ferrell film follows two Icelandic singers chasing Eurovision glory?
Fire Saga
Fire Saga; Ferrell got the idea in 1998, when his future wife, Viveca Paulin, introduced him to the contest.
Q 27Which Irish dance show began as the interval act at Eurovision 1994 in Dublin?
Riverdance
Riverdance; its star Michael Flatley split from the show in a 1995 dispute over creative control and went on to create Lord of the Dance.
Q 28Which country won Eurovision 2007 on its debut as an independent nation?
Serbia
Serbia; Marija Šerifović's 'Molitva' won on that debut, so Belgrade hosted the contest the following year.
Q 29Which singer won Portugal's first Eurovision, in 2017, at the country's 49th attempt?
Salvador Sobral
Salvador Sobral, who had a serious heart condition during the contest, received a heart transplant that December.
Q 30What record did Alexander Rybak's 'Fairytale' set when it won Eurovision 2009?
Highest winning score
Highest winning score: 'Fairytale' took 387 points in Moscow, then the most in the contest's history, and brought the 2010 contest to Oslo.