Turning Back Time: 2016 in review

26 December 2016 at 10:30 CET
The Globe Arena is ready for the most exciting day of the year: the Grand Final! EBU / Andres Putting
2016 was a tumultuous year in many ways. Whilst it was the year of political earthquakes and sudden celebrity deaths, it was also the year that Europe came together in Stockholm for the Eurovision Song Contest. SVT's production this year set the bar high for future host broadcasters and won several television awards. Today we won't be looking forward but will be looking back one last time at the Eurovision year of 2016.

42 countries participated in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest including a number of familiar faces. Ira Losco (Malta 2002), Greta Salome (Iceland 2012), Dean (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2004), Kaliopi (FYR Macedonia 2012), Donny Montell (Lithuania 2012) and Poli Genova (Bulgaria 2011) all returned to the contest in Stockholm this year.

Many of the acts went on promotional tours prior to the competition before arriving in Sweden for the start of rehearsals. During the week many got to know each other and became firm friends. However, there can only be one winner and that was Jamala from Ukraine.  

2016 also saw the biggest change to the voting presentation since 1975. After viewers had cast their votes by telephone, SMS or using the official app, each national spokesperson from the 43 participating countries were called in to present the points of their professional jury.

After the presentation of the scores from the juries, the televoting points from all participating countries were combined, providing one score for each song. These televoting results were then be announced by the host, starting with the country receiving the fewest points from the public and ending with the country that received the highest number of points. The new format saw Ukraine triumph against the favourite in the betting odds, Russia, in one of the most thrilling voting sequences in the Eurovision Song Contest for years.