Introducing the musical sensations hoping to claim victory for their nations at the Eurovision Grand Final in Lisbon, Portugal, in May...
A former Eurovision winner, a Eurovision runner-up, a previously banned contestant and a Swedish reality TV star will all do musical battle with the aim of winning the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday 12th May.
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26 nations will perform in the Eurovision final, cut down from 43 over two semi-finals – but who will be singing on the night?
Check out all the acts in the gallery below, and find out the full final running order in the list below.
Ukraine’s Eurovision 2018 entry is Mélovin and his song is called Under The Ladder. He’ll be the opening act for Eurovision 2018: find out more about his performance here
Spain’s Eurovision entry is double act – and real-life boyfriend and girlfriend – Alfred and Amaia. Their song is called Tu Cancion (Your Song).
Slovenia’s Eurovision entry is singer Lea Sirk and her song is called Hvala, ne! Find out more about her performance – and that ‘fake’ technical glitch – right here
Lithuania’s Eurovision entry is singer Ieva Zasimauskaitė. Her song is called When We’re Old
Austria’s Eurovision entry is singer Cesar Sampson. His song is called Nobody But You.
Estonia’s Eurovision entry is singer Elina Nechayeva. Her song is called La Forza.
Norway’s Eurovision entry is former Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak. He won the song contest for Norway in 2009 and returns to represent the country again this year. Norway’s Eurovision song is called That’s How You Write A Song.
Portugal’s Eurovision entry is Cláudia Pascoal. Her song is called O jardim.
The United Kingdom’s entry is singer SuRie. Performing ninth in Eurovision 2018, we can expect to see her on stage before 9pm. SuRie won the chance to represent the UK in the BBC’s You Decide event on Wednesday 7th February. Her song is called Storm – find out more about SuRie and her performance here.
Serbia’s Eurovision entry is Sanja Ilić & Balkanika. The song is called Nova Deca. Find out more about their act here
Germany’s Eurovision entry is singer Michael Schulte and his song is called You Let Me Walk Alone.
Albania is sending singer Eugent Bushpepa to Eurovision. He will sing in Albanian and his song is called Mall – find out much more about him here.
France’s Eurovision entry is singing duo Madame Monsieur. Their song is called Mercy.
The Czech Republic’s Eurovision entry is Mikolas Josef. His song is called Lie to Me.
Denmark’s Eurovision entry is singer Rasmussen. His song is called Higher Ground.
Australia will send singer Jessica Mauboy, who previously served as the interval act during the semi-finals of the competition back in 2014. Her song is called We Got Love.
And if you’re wondering what happens if Australia wins Eurovision…
Finland’s Eurovision entry is singer (and former X Factor UK finalist) Saara Alto. Her song is called Monsters.
Bulgaria’s Eurovision entry is EQUINOX. The Bulgarian Eurovision song is called Bones.
Moldova’s Eurovision entry is DoReDos and their song is called My Lucky Day. Find out more about their act – and their quirky staging – here
Sweden’s Eurovision entry is singer and actor Benjamin Ingrosso. The Swedish reality TV star’s song is called Dance You Off.
Hungary’s Eurovision entry is metal band AWS and their song is called Viszlát Nyár. Find out more about their act here
Israel’s Eurovision entry is singer Netta Barzilai. Her song for the contest is called TOY.
Holland’s entry is singer Waylon, who previously represented his country and finished in second place in 2014 as part of The Common Linnets. His song is called Outlaw in ‘Em.
Ireland’s Eurovision entry is former Britain’s Got Talent finalist Ryan O’Shaughnessy. His song is a ballad called Together.
Cyprus’s Eurovision entry is singer Eleni Foureira. Her song is called Fuego.
Italy’s Eurovision entry is singing duo Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro. Their song is called ‘Non mi avete fatto niente’ which, roughly translated, means ‘you did not do anything to me’.
Eurovision 2018: who didn’t make the final?
The countries who failed to qualify during the semi-final stages are:
From where it's on to who's representing the UK, here's everything you need to know about TV's favourite singing extravaganza
Love it or loathe it you have to concede that the Eurovision Song Contest is the greatest all-singing all-dancing all douze point-ing extravaganza on our TV screens, so it’s little wonder viewers tune in in their millions to watch year after year.
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The 2018 Song Contest will be no different so whether you’re eager to get your plans for a Eurovision party in motion or are quite simply just curious about the who, what, when, where and why of this year’s competition, we’ve put together a handy guide detailing everything you need to know…
When is the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on TV?
The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Grand Final takes place on Saturday, May 12th. You’ll be able to watch the show live on BBC1 from 8pm with Graham Norton on the night, or you can tune in on BBC Radio 2 with Ken Bruce from 8pm.
There were also two semi-finals, on May 8th and 10th, to decide who would join the Big Five (Spain, France, Germany, Italy and The UK) and hosts Portugal in the Grand Final.
Here are all the acts who are currently through to the Grand Final. Click the links to find out more about each act.
Who qualified from the first Eurovision 2018 semi-final?
The ten countries who qualified in the first Eurovision 2018 semi-final are:
Who qualified from the second Eurovision 2018 semi-final?
The acts who qualified from the second semi-final are:
What’s the running order for the Eurovision Grand Final?
The running order for the Eurovision 2018 Grand Final is as follows:
What time will The UK perform at during Eurovision 2018?
SuRie will be the ninth act to perform on the night so she should take to the stage within the first hour of the competition.
It’s likely that we’ll see her perform before 9pm BST.
Who is competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018?
You can meet all of the confirmed acts for Eurovision 2018 here.
Who is the favourite to win Eurovision 2018?
The current favourite to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira. Her song is called Fuego, which means fire.
The second favourite to win the contest is Israel’s Netta Barzilai. Her song is called TOY and was originally tipped to take top honours.
France’s Madame Monsieur are currently third favourite to win in Lisbon.
Former Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak is constantly rising up and down in the odds. He’s performing Norway’s entry, That’s How You Write A Song.
Who has been eliminated from Eurovision 2018?
The countries who failed to qualify during the semi-final stages are:
Who won Eurovision 2017?
Portugal’s Salvador Sobral secured victory with his song Amar Pelos Dois in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2017. His win marked the first ever Portugese Eurovision victory.
Where is the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 being held?
As is traditional, last year’s winner will host the event, with the Portuguese capital of Lisbon chosen for the country’s first ever Grand Final, which will take place at the Altice Arena.
Who are the Eurovision 2018 hosts?
Portugal has chosen four female hosts for this year’s Song Contest – TV presenter and 2017 Portuguese Jury spokesperson Filomena Cautela, the country’s Strictly Come Dancing, Masterchef, Top Chef and Portugal’s Got Talent host Sílvia Alberto, NCIS: Los Angeles star Daniela Ruah (who grew up in Portugal) and TV presenter and actress Catarina Furtado.
Who is representing the UK at Eurovision 2018?
The United Kingdom will be represented by Eurovision: You Decide winner SuRie. She’ll sing Storm at the Grand Final in Lisbon.
Will Russia compete at Eurovision 2018?
In 2017 Russia withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest following a dispute wth Ukraine over their singer’s eligibility to take part. The country returned to Eurovision in 2018, with Yulia Samoylova (last year’s entrant) selected again to perform for her country – but she failed to make it through the semi-finals, meaning Russia will be absent from the live final for the second year in a row.
How does the Eurovision Song Contest voting work?
Eurovision was originally judged by juries before being opened to the public for a tele vote but when people started getting worked up about political Bloc Voting (the idea that countries in Eastern Europe were all just voting for their friends and neighbours) they introduced a new dual system.
The juries from each country award 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points to their favourite songs, and reveal those jury scores through their national spokesperson in the usual time-consuming yet exciting way.
Viewers from each country also vote via phone or SMS, awarding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points to their favourite songs. Then, all the results from each country’s public votes are combined to give one overall Eurovision viewer score per song.
Spokespersons from each country read out the jury results – those all important douze points – during the live show.
Then the Eurovision presenters read out the results of the European televote – or public vote – in ascending order, beginning with the country that received the lowest number of televotes – public votes – and finishing with the country that received the highest.
Viewers in all the competing countries – including those who were knocked out in the semi-finals – can vote up to 20 times for the songs of their choice, but they can’t vote for their own country.
The country with the highest number of votes wins the competition and gets to host it the next year.
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Be sure to keep watching this space for all the latest on the Eurovision Song Contest 2018…
Image copyright Andres Putting Image caption Russia's Julia Samoylova performing I Won't Break
Russia has suffered a shock elimination from Eurovision in Thursday's second semi-final.
It will be the first time the country has not qualified since 1998, going back to before the semi-final stage of the competition was introduced.
Australia, Denmark and Hungary are among the countries to have gone through to Saturday's grand final.
The event was held in Lisbon and also saw Norway's Alexander Rybak - who won the competition in 2009 - qualify.
One country which won't see Saturday's final is China, after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) barred one of the country's most popular TV channels from broadcasting it after Mango TV censored LGBT elements of the first semi-final on Tuesday.
Image copyright PA Image caption Alexander Rybak is going for glory a second time round
Russia's act, Julia Samoylova, was supposed to take part in 2017 but was unable to do so after Russia did not participate, when the event was held in Ukraine. She appeared instead this year, but was unable to progress beyond the semi-final.
Image copyright EPA
No mercy for Russian singer in Ukraine after Eurovision flop by BBC Monitoring
Ukrainians have been gloating on social media after Russia's elimination in the second semi-final.
The target of the mockery was Julia Samoylova, who could not take part in the contest in Kiev in 2017 because of a visit she had made to annexed Crimea.
Anti-Kremlin blogger Oleh Leusenko published several pictures "in memory" of Samoylova, one of which contained the text: "Russia wasn't at the Olympics. Russia wasn't at the Paralympics. Russia will not be at Eurovision. We will see a day when Russia will be nowhere."
Russia's failure to qualify was also widely discussed by Russians on Twitter, with many users criticising Samoylova's vocal abilities.
Few users who spoke in her defence took shots at the contest itself, with one saying: "We should have abandoned this abominable circus long ago."
Meanwhile, Ukraine's contestant made it to the final, which prompted even more joy in Ukraine.
Image copyright EPA
Poland was also eliminated - despite their song Light Me Up being well-liked and well-received in Lisbon's Altice Arena.
The UK automatically qualifies for Saturday's grand final.
Underdogs Slovenia were also among those selected to compete in the final, where singer Lea Sirk will be hoping to better her country's 2001 placing of seventh.
The pop star helping Cyprus become Eurovision favourite
First 10 Eurovision finalists chosen
What these UK Eurovision acts know now
Rybak opened the proceedings to raptures from the stadium - clearly still enjoying a large fan base following his Fairytale win nine years ago.
Another favourite of the night, Rasmussen, came not long after with their rousing Viking anthem, which saw the crowd singing along followed by a huge send-off at the end.
Image copyright PA Image caption We got sequins and we got love - Australia's Jess Mauboy
But the best reception of the night went to Australia's Jessica Mauboy, who gave an impassioned performance of her song We Got Love. The audience almost took the roof off for the Darwin singer, who looked truly overwhelmed by the response, after she finished.
It seems that the performance carried over to the audience at home as well, with Twitter users commenting on Jessica's energy and "presence".
Other notable acts to go through from the second semi-final include metal act AWS from Hungary and Sweden's Benjamin Ingrosso - cousin of Swedish House Mafia's Sebastian Ingrosso.
There were 18 countries taking part in the second semi-final, with eight being eliminated. The 10 that qualified will join the first 10 countries put through from Tuesday's first leg.
Image copyright Andres Putting Image caption Sweden's Benjamin Ingrosso will take part in the final
The second semi-final saw the following countries selected through a combination of jury and public vote: Norway, Serbia, Denmark, Moldova, The Netherlands, Australia, Hungary, Sweden, Slovenia and Ukraine
In addition, the Big Five - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, plus host country Portugal - get put through automatically. This is on account of these countries making the largest financial contribution to the event.
Those who did not go through are Romania, San Marino, Russia, Georgia, Poland, Malta, Latvia and Montenegro.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Netta Barzilai, whose song TOY has racked up millions of views on YouTube, is representing Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
The successful countries join the likes of bookies' favourite Cyprus - represented by pop star Eleni Foureira - and Israel's Netta in the final.
Israel and Norway are now neck and neck as the second favourites to win the competition.
The UK's entrant, SuRie, has the weight of British hopes resting on her shoulders. The 29-year-old will perform her anthemic track, Storm, which she says is intended to inspire hope.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Will SuRie weather the Storm in Saturday's final?
The 26 countries to make it through to Saturday's final are:
Albania
Austria
Australia
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Lithuania
Moldova
The Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Ukraine
United Kingdom
You can watch the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on Saturday 12 May on BBC One from 20:00 (BST).
Image copyright EPA
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