Eurovision Song Contest 2024

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (SVT), the contest was held at the Malmö Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals, on 7 and 9 May, and a final on 11 May 2024. The three live shows were presented by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman, with Mede having previously taken on the role in and .

Broadcasters from thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, the same number as in 2023. opted not to participate, and competed for the first time since . The was disqualified from the contest between the second semi-final and the final, but the country retained its right to vote. The inclusion of among the participants in the context of the Gaza war was met with controversy, and additional security measures were put in place for the event.

The winner was with the song " The Code", performed by the Swiss singer Nemo and written by them with Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, and Linda Dale. Switzerland won the combined vote and jury vote, and placed fifth in the televote. won the televote and finished in second place, its best result to date as an independent country, having previously won the as a part of . , , and completed the top five.

The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 163 million viewers in 37 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition, with an additional 7.3 million viewers online on YouTube.

Location

,,,

The 2024 contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen. It was the seventh time Sweden had hosted the contest, having previously done so in , , , , , and . The venue for the contest was the 15,500-seat Malmö Arena, which had previously hosted the contest in 2013.

The Malmö Live event centre hosted several events related to the contest. It was the venue for the "Turquoise Carpet" event on 5 May 2024, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, and the opening and closing ceremonies. The venue also hosted screenings of the live shows, and was the location of the EuroClub, which hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.

A Eurovision Village was created in . It hosted performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public. A "Eurovision Street" was established on , stretching from Triangeln station to the Eurovision Village in . Planned street music performances were affected by the withdrawal of several artists due to Israel's participation in the contest and were ultimately transferred to the Eurovision Village for security reasons. The Euro Fan Café was located at .

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of ABBA's victory at the contest in with "Waterloo", which was also Sweden's first win, a special ''ABBA World'' exhibition was held at between 29 April and 12 May 2024.

Bidding phase

After Sweden's win in the 2023 contest, the municipalities of Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik, Partille and Sandviken expressed interest in hosting the 2024 edition. Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) set a deadline of 12 June 2023 for interested cities to formally apply. By 13 June, it had received bids from Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Örnsköldsvik. On 7 July, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik's bids were eliminated. Later that day, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city.

Key:

Host city
Shortlisted
Submitted a bid

Participants

Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all active members.

On 5 December 2023, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 37 countries would participate in the 2024 contest. returned to the contest 31 years after its last participation in . , which participated in the 2023 contest, was provisionally announced as not participating in 2024. This was confirmed on 25 January 2024.

The contest featured two returning artists: Natalia Barbu, who had represented , and Hera Björk, who had represented .

Other countries

Active EBU member broadcasters in , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. The n broadcaster, TVR, remained in talks with the EBU until 25 January 2024, but decided not to participate for financial reasons.

Production

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was produced by the Swedish national broadcaster (SVT). The core team consisted of Ebba Adielsson as executive producer, as deputy executive producer, Tobias Åberg as executive in charge of production, Johan Bernhagen as executive line producer, Christer Björkman as contest producer, and as TV producer. Additional production personnel included head of production David Wessén, head of legal Mats Lindgren, head of media Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, and executive assistant Linnea Lopez.

Edward af Sillén and wrote the script for the live shows' hosting segments and the opening and interval acts, while Robin Hofwander, and Fredrik Bäcklund served as multi-camera directors. Background music for the shows was composed by Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson. A majority of the production personnel for 2024 previously worked in the previous three editions of the contest held in Sweden: , 2013 and 2016.

Malmö Municipality initially contributed () to the budget of the contest. An additional () was later spent on security measures in the lead-up to and during the event. The total budget was (), with SVT's contribution approximated at ().

Slogan and visual design

On 14 November 2023, the EBU announced that "United by Music", the slogan of the 2023 contest, would be retained for 2024 and future editions. The accompanying theme art for 2024, named "The Eurovision Lights", was unveiled on 14 December. Designed by Stockholm-based agencies Uncut and Bold Scandinavia, it was based on simple, linear gradients inspired by vertical lines found on auroras and sound equalisers, and was built with adaptability across different formats taken into account.

Stage design

The stage design for the 2024 contest, revealed in December 2023, was devised by German production designer Florian Wieder, who had previously designed the sets of six previous conteststhe most recent being in . Lighting and screen content was designed by Swedish designer Fredrik Stormby. The stage featured five movable LED cubes, floors and a backdrop screen along with other lighting, video and stagecraft technology, all set around a cross-shaped centre, with the aim of "creating a unique 360-degree experience" for viewers. The green room was placed behind the backdrop screen, in a similar fashion to the stages for the and contests. Construction of the stage began on 2 April and concluded on 25 April.

Postcards

The "postcards" are short video introductions shown on television while the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between February and May 2024, the postcards were composed of footage shot by the participating artists through "selfie-mode", introducing the artists themselves and the country they represent. Archival footage of two of each country's previous entries was also used in each postcard, which ends with a slow-motion shot of each artist.

Presenters

Swedish comedian and television host Petra Mede and Swedish-American actress Malin Åkerman were announced as the presenters of the 2024 contest on 5 February 2024. Mede had previously hosted both the 2013 and 2016 editions (solo and with Måns Zelmerlöw, respectively), as well as the 2015 special anniversary programme ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' alongside Graham Norton. The "Turquoise Carpet" and opening ceremony events were hosted by Elecktra and Tia Kofi, while Jovan Radomir moderated the contest's press conferences.

Security

In November 2023, the production team at SVT stated its intention to increase security measures and to keep in contact with Malmö's police authority during the contest, citing a tense climate of protest amid Israel's participation. This included police reinforcement from Denmark and Norway, tightened cybersecurity, and a no-fly zone to prevent drone attacks, as well as adjustments to the number of locations set to host side events. A total of was spent on the 1,500 police officers present for the competition, which was the largest police operation in the history of Sweden; the Swedish Police Authority covered the costs for the Danish and Norwegian reinforcements. Israeli broadcaster Kan also expressed concerns over the safety of Israelis in Malmö, after the country's National Security Council listed the city as a "dangerous destination" for Israeli citizens in its official travel recommendations. Additional measures were taken to protect the Israeli delegation, with the country's representative Eden Golan being escorted by agents in addition to local police officers following death threats directed at her via social media. also sent a delegation to Malmö, headed by its director Ronen Bar, to prevent potential threats against them. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Malmö to protest against Israel's participation in the competition.

SVT's decision was made in the context of a high terroristic threat level in Sweden, with the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) having raised the level from 3 to 4 out of 5 in August 2023, primarily in response to the 2023 Quran burnings in the country and prior to the Gaza war. Concerns about the risk of terrorist attacks resurged in the wake of the Crocus City Hall attack outside Moscow on 22 March 2024. In the event of an emergency, Malmö Municipality would provide accommodations in local schools and sports facilities as well as psychological support.

Format

Voting system and contest structure

After the outcome of the 2023 contest, which saw win despite 's lead in the televoting, sparked controversy among the audience, Norwegian broadcaster NRK began discussions with the EBU regarding a potential revision of the jury voting procedure. It was noted that Norwegian entries in recent years had been penalised by the juries, particularly in and , when Norway finished in sixth and fifth place overall, respectively, despite coming first in 2019 and third in 2023 with the televote. In an interview, the Norwegian head of delegation discussed the idea of reducing the jury's weight on the final score, from the current 49.4%, to 40% or 30%. No changes to the voting system were ultimately implemented in this regard.

For 2024, the "Rest of the World" voting window was open for 24 hours before each show, as well as during each show. For participating countries, it was open after the last song is performedas in previous yearsin the semi-finals. In the final, it was opened just before the first performance and closed 25 minutes after the last performance. The automatic qualifiersthe host country and the " Big Five"performed their entries in full during the semi-finals, in between the competing acts. Following #Disqualification of the Netherlands from the final, an incident which ultimately led to the disqualification of the Dutch representative, the opening of the "Rest of the World" voting window for the final was delayed until eight hours before the show.

13 of the 25 open positions in the running order of the final were subject to a "producer's choice" draw option, alongside six positions available each, for the first half and second half of the show. For the countries which drew the "producer's choice" category, the contest producers were able to place that country anywhere in the running order. The runtime of the final was initially planned to be reduced by approximately an hour. This was ultimately not a priority, with the final planned to be shortened by a maximum of five minutes.

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 30 January 2024 at 19:00 Central European Time, CET, at the . The thirty-one semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns, with the purpose of reducing the chance of Block voting, bloc voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiershost country and "Big Five" countries (, , , and the )would vote in and be required to broadcast. The ceremony was hosted by Pernilla Månsson Colt and Farah Abadi, and included the passing of the List of Eurovision Song Contest host cities#Host city insignia, host city insignia from Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool City Region and representative of previous host city Liverpool, to Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, the mayor of Malmö Municipality.

With the approval from the contest's reference group, Israel was allocated to the second semi-final following a request from Israeli broadcaster Kan, as the rehearsal date for the first semi-final coincided with .

Contest overview

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 7 May 2024 at 21:00 Central European Summer Time, CEST and featured fifteen competing countries. Those countries, plus , and the , as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, voted in this semi-final. The running order (R/O) was determined by the contest producers and was announced publicly on 26 March. In addition to the competing entries, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden performed their entries during the show, appearing on stage after the entries from Ireland, Iceland and Moldova, respectively. Croatia was awarded the most points in the semi-final, and qualified for the final alongside, in order of points total, Ukraine, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Serbia. The countries that failed to reach the final were Australia, Poland, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Iceland.

This semi-final was opened by former participants Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel Terrero, Chanel, who performed their respective competing songs"" (), "Popular (Eric Saade song), Popular" () and "SloMo (Chanel song), SloMo" (). The interval acts included and winner for , Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, performing the "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria", and Benjamin Ingrosso performing a medley of his songs "Look Who's Laughing Now", "Kite (Benjamin Ingrosso song), Kite" and "Honey Boy (Purple Disco Machine and Benjamin Ingrosso song), Honey Boy".

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 9 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and features sixteen competing countries. Those countries plus , and , as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, voted in this semi-final. The running order (R/O) was determined by the contest producers and was announced publicly on 26 March. In addition to the competing entries, France, Spain and Italy performed their entries during the show, appearing on stage after the entries from Czechia, Latvia and Estonia, respectively. Israel was awarded the most points in the semi-final, and qualified for the final alongside, in order of points total, the Netherlands, Armenia, Switzerland, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Austria, and Norway. The countries that failed to reach the final were Czechia, Denmark, Belgium, San Marino, Albania, and Malta.

This semi-final was opened by a pre-recorded segment, in which presenters Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman performed the 2023 winning song "Tattoo" with minor lyrical changes. The interval acts included Helena Paparizou, Charlotte Perrelli and Sertab Erener performing their respective winning songs"My Number One" (), "Take Me to Your Heaven (song), Take Me to Your Heaven" () and "Everyway That I Can" ()with the audience taking part in a sing-along; and "We Just Love Eurovision Too Much", a musical number performed by Mede that satirised various aspects of the contest and Sweden's success in the event, with appearances by Perrelli, Sarah Dawn Finer reprising her role as Lynda Woodruff, and Käärijä performing an excerpt of his competing song "Cha Cha Cha (Käärijä song), Cha Cha Cha". , Herreys, performed their winning song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" after the qualifiers were announced.

Final

The final took place on 11 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and featured 25 competing countries. All 37 participating countries with jury and televote, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" online vote, voted in the final. The running order (R/O) of the host nation was determined by a random draw on 11 March during the annual meeting of heads of the participating delegations. The running order for the remaining finalists was determined by the contest producers following the second semi-final. Despite qualifying for the final, where it was set to perform in position 5, the Netherlands was disqualified due to a backstage incident between its entrant Joost Klein and a member of the production team. It retained the right to vote in the final, and all countries that were set to perform after the Netherlands retained their running order numbers.

Switzerland won the contest with the song " The Code", performed by Nemo and written by them along with Benjamin Alasu, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, and Linda Dale. Switzerland won with 591 points, also winning the jury vote. It was the country's third win in the contest, following victories in the inaugural edition in and in . Croatia came second with 547 points and won the televote, with Ukraine, France, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Armenia, Sweden, and Portugal completing the top ten. Georgia, Spain, Slovenia, Austria, and Norway occupied the bottom five positions.

The final was opened by Björn Skifs performing "Hooked on a Feeling (song), Hooked on a Feeling", followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-five finalists, set to a medley of well-known Swedish hits. In a pre-recorded segment during a break between the competing performances, Sarah Dawn Finer as Lynda Woodruff performed a song about the contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl, "You're Good to Go", which was later released as a single. The interval acts included Alcazar (group), Alcazar performing "Crying at the Discoteque"; a tribute performance of the "Waterloo" by three past winnersCarola Häggkvist, Carola (), Charlotte Perrelli () and Conchita Wurst ()preceded by a pre-recorded segment from the ABBA Voyage concert residency in London in which the song's original performers, ABBA, as their virtual avatar selves in the concert, discussed their Eurovision experience on the occasion of its 50th anniversary; and Loreen performing her new single "Forever (Loreen song), Forever" and her 2023 winning song "Tattoo". Presenter Petra Mede also parodied the postcards in a short video skit, with archival footage from her previous hostings in 2013 and 2016 being featured. Following a reprise of their winning song, Nemo broke the trophy, although its design had been strengthened after the one presented to Alexander Rybak in met a similar fate.

Spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

# Jamala
# Joanna Lumley
# Désirée Nosbusch
# Aysel Teymurzadeh
# San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024#Semi-finals, Kida
# Matt Blxck
# Ivan Dorian Molnar
# Andri Xhahu
#
#
# Voyager (Australian band), Danny Estrin
#
# Soraya Arnelas
# Ingvild Helljesen
# Ina Müller
# Brunette (singer), Brunette
# Lorella Flego
# Sopho Khalvashi
# Jennifer Bosshard
# Doina Stimpovschi
# Helena Paparizou
# Birgit Sarrap, Birgit
# ''None''
# Philipp Hansa
# Natasha St-Pier
#
#
# Mimicat
# Livia Dushkoff
# Friðrik Ómar, Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson
# Sudden Lights, Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis
# Paul Harrington (musician), Paul Harrington
# Viki Gabor
# Loukas Hamatsos
# Monika LinkytÄ—
# Konstrakta
# Frans Jeppsson Wall, Frans

Detailed voting results

Semi-final 1

The ten qualifiers from the first semi-final were determined solely by televoting. All fifteen countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results were published after the final was held.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the first semi-final. Croatia received the maximum score of 12 points from eight countries, while Ukraine received five sets of 12 points. Both Lithuania and Cyprus received two sets of 12 points, while Portugal and Serbia received one each.

Semi-final 2

The ten qualifiers from the second semi-final were determined solely by televoting, with the exception of San Marino which was unable to provide a valid televote result and thus used the votes of its backup jury. All sixteen countries competing in the second semi-final voted, alongside France, Italy, Spain, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted were published after the final was held.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the second semi-final. Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from ten countries, followed by the Netherlands which received four sets of 12 points. Armenia received two sets of 12 points, and Switzerland, Greece and Latvia were each awarded one set of 12 points.

Final

The results of the final were determined by televoting and jury voting in all thirty-seven participating countries, plus the Rest of the World aggregate public vote. The announcement of the jury points was conducted by each country individually, with the country's spokesperson announcing their jury's favorite entry that received 12 points, with the remaining points shown on screen. Following the completion of the jury points announcement, the public points were announced as an aggregate by the contest hosts in ascending order starting from the country which received the fewest points from the jury.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the final. In the jury vote, Switzerland received the maximum score from twenty-two countries, followed by France and Portugal with four and three sets of 12 points, respectively. Croatia and Ukraine received two sets of 12 points, and Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden were each awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from fourteen countries and the Rest of the World vote, followed by Croatia with nine sets of 12 points, and Ukraine with seven. Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Serbia, and Switzerland were each awarded one set of 12 points.

Broadcasts

All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. Although they are required to show the final and semi-final in which their country votes, most broadcasters cover all three shows. Some non-participating broadcasters also air the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel provides international live streams with no commentary of all shows. According to the EBU, in total 163 million people watched at least a minute of the television broadcasts, and 7.3 million people watched the YouTube broadcasts. Votes were received from 156 countries, including the 37 competing countries.

Other awards

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the You're a Vision Award were contested during the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. The OGAE (General Organisation of Eurovision Fans) voting poll also took place before the contest. Eurovision Awards, an end-of-year poll conducted by the contest's official site, returned for a fourth year with the results determined across 12 categories.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-head of delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and winner of the 1984 contest Herreys, Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: the Artistic Award, the Composers Award, and the Press Award. The winners were revealed shortly before the Eurovision final on 11 May.

OGAE

OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2024 poll was Croatia's "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" performed by Baby Lasagna; the top five results are shown below.

You're a Vision Award

The You're a Vision Award (a word play of "Eurovision"), established in 2022 by the fansite ''Songfestival.be'' following the cancellation of the Barbara Dex Award due to its associated negative connotations, aims to "celebrate the creativity and diversity that embody the Eurovision spirit", with the winner being the one with the most notable outfit. Croatia's Baby Lasagna won the 2024 award, with Ireland's Bambie Thug and the Netherlands' Joost Klein completing the top three.

Incidents and controversies

The 2024 contest was described by some publications as one of the most controversial editions in the contest's history, with Scottish newspaper ''The National (Scotland), The National'' writing, "it is very clear that, in the words of winner Nemo themself after their win, 'maybe Eurovision needs a little bit of fixing'."

Israeli participation

The participation of in the contest became controversial due to the Gaza war. There were Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024#Calls for exclusion, calls for Israel to be excluded, and, when the EBU rejected this, various campaigns for participants and viewers to Boycotts of Israel, boycott the contest. The Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024#Controversy, Israeli national selection was also controversial, with its chosen entry for the contest ultimately rewritten, as the lyrics of the original version of the song, titled "October Rain", were seen as referencing the October 7 attacks, 7 October attacks, a breach of political neutrality rules; it was subsequently retitled "Hurricane (Eden Golan song), Hurricane". Other acts dismissed the idea of boycotting but called for peace in the region. Israel ultimately placed second in the televote and fifth overall in the final, with the former result being partially attributed to a campaign run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to boost public votes.

Onstage display of pro-Palestinian gestures

Before the first semi-final, 's entrant Bambie Thug was asked to replace Ogham-script text written on their body that read 'ceasefire' and 'freedom for Palestine'; they were subsequently changed to 'crown the witch'. During the opening act of the first semi-final, Eric Saade, whose father is Palestinian, performed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, keffiyeh. The EBU stated that his keffiyeh was a political symbol and that it regretted Saade's choice to "compromise the non-political nature of the event".

During the final, the entrant Iolanda (singer), Iolanda wore nail art featuring Palestinian symbols, and said "peace will prevail" at the end of her performance. The Portuguese delegation later claimed that the EBU did not upload Iolanda's performance in the final to its platforms, opting to use the semi-final performance instead, due to this. The Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, RTP issued a complaint to the EBU, and Iolanda's performance in the final was uploaded later during the show. The EBU stated that technical difficulties were the reason for the semi-final performance being initially uploaded instead of the final performance.

Misconduct allegations

Shortly after the first semi-final, an official complaint was lodged with the EBU regarding claims that members of Israeli fan clubs, two of which were officially associated with the EBU, "[harassed] the Irish delegation at the EuroClub nightclub." Unverified videos and claims were posted online purporting to show "Israeli delegates and journalists harassing other media and delegations", and a Spanish reporter was allegedly harassed by Israeli media after shouting a pro-Palestinian slogan, prompting the Spanish broadcaster RTVE to request the EBU to "ensure freedom of press and opinion." The artists representing Ireland (Bambie Thug), Switzerland ( Nemo), and Greece (Marina Satti) were all absent from the flag parade of the third dress rehearsal for the final, held the afternoon before the live show. Bambie Thug stated that they were absent due to "a situation [...] which [they] felt needed urgent attention from the EBU". The Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS issued two complaints to the EBU regarding an "unsafe environment in the arena". No action was taken on the complaints during the contest. According to a report by Norwegian newspaper ''Verdens Gang, VG'', Greece, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom all considered withdrawing from the final, before reaching an agreement with the EBU 25 minutes prior to the start of the show; Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, ERT, head of the Swiss delegation Yves Schifferle, and Iolanda's management agency denied that the delegations were considering withdrawal, with Schifferle confirming that Nemo themself led the talks with the EBU on behalf of the artists concerned. Magnus Børmark, guitarist for the Norwegian representatives Gåte, also confirmed that there were withdrawal talks.

Following the contest, delegations from Serbia and Slovenia stated that they would prepare complaints to the EBU regarding the behaviour of the Israeli delegation. The Portuguese delegation asked for clarification from the EBU regarding incidents that occurred during the final, supported by delegations from Croatia, France, Norway, and Spain. The Israeli delegation accused other delegations and artists of "immense pressure and an unprecedented display of hatred". The EBU commissioned an independent investigation into the complaints regarding the working atmosphere during the event, and on 1 July 2024, it announced a number of organisational changes. Among these are the creation of a "ESC director" role to oversee the work of executive supervisor Martin Österdahl and the head of brand and commercial, and recommendations for the appointment of a welfare producer and a crisis management team.

Claims of audience audio changes

Before, during, and after Israel's performances, booing from the audience in the venue was reported. There were claims by fans that the volume of the booing in the broadcasts was lowered by Active noise control, anti-booing technology, and that pre-recorded applauses were played. RTP's director, Nicolau Santos, as well as AVROTROS, supported these claims, and criticised the EBU's usage of the technology. The Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija, RTVSLO also addressed claims of audio distortion. A video posted to social media showed audio of the applause track cutting out and replaying during the announcement of the Dutch jury points. The EBU and SVT denied the allegations of audio censorship, stating that they "do not censor sound from the arena audience. The same principle applies to all competing performances and opening and interval acts." Eden Golan, Israel's representative, claimed in a post-contest interview that anti-booing technology was in place, and that the boos for her were being silenced and turned into cheers. Anti-booing technology was previously used in the .

Televoting results

At the end of the broadcast of the second semi-final, in which Italy voted, Italian broadcaster RAI displayed what appeared to be the televoting percentages recorded in the country. This contravened the rules of the contest, according to which the detailed results from all shows can only be published after the final. It was later clarified by RAI that the results shown were not complete, but were in fact partial results of the vote. The results from Italy published after the contest were different to the ones aired. Following the contest, RTVSLO called the televoting results into question, citing its doubts in the validity of the Slovenian vote, as well as questioning the introduction of the Rest of the World vote.

Disqualification of the Netherlands from the final

During the first dress rehearsal for the final, held on 10 May, the representative Joost Klein did not appear for his performance despite being present during the flag parade. An EBU press release said it was "investigating an incident reported to involving the Dutch artist", as well as that "he not be rehearsing until further notice". He was also not present for the jury show later that evening, and a recording of his performance from the second semi-final was used there instead.

The incident occurred backstage shortly after Klein's performance in the second semi-final, and involved a female camera operator, who filed a complaint against Klein to the Swedish Police Authority. Klein was claimed to have made a threatening gesture toward the operator, following the female camera operator's recording of Klein on his way to the green room; AVROTROS claimed it was agreed he would not be filmed there. Further details of the altercation were unclear at that time, however, the Swedish Police Authority stated that no assault had occurred. AVROTROS and its parent broadcasting organisation Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organisation), NPO held discussions with the EBU, ultimately leading the EBU to disqualify the Dutch entry from the final. This was the first time in the contest's history that an entrant was disqualified during the event. AVROTROS called the penalty "very heavy and disproportionate".

The Swedish Police Authority launched an investigation into the incident on the day it was reported, and the case was handed to the Swedish Prosecution Authority following the contest. The investigation was closed on 12 August 2024 due to a lack of evidence to prove that Klein "was capable of causing serious fear or that had any such intention". AVROTROS subsequently offered Klein the opportunity to represent the Netherlands again in the , which he declined.

Enforcement of flag policy

Swiss winner Nemo claimed in a press conference after their win that the non-binary flag had been banned by the EBU from the venue, accusing the organisers of "double standards" regarding the alleged forcing of fans to dispose of their flags before entering the venue. The singer, who identifies as Non-binary gender, non-binary and was the first openly non-binary performer to win the contest, admitted to violating this by bringing a non-binary flag in, which they displayed in the green room. The European Commission's Vice-President of the European Commission, vice president, Margaritis Schinas, also claimed on 13 May that the Flag of Europe, flag of the European Union (EU) was among those not permitted; he later filed a formal complaint to the EBU, after calling it a "gift" for the "enemies of Europe", a month ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election. There were also reports of Dutch flags being confiscated at the final after Joost Klein's disqualification. The EBU responded by stating that "SVT's policy was to allow the flags of the participating countries and the rainbow flags," that there had not been an express ban on the EU flag in the written policy, and that "due to heightened geopolitical tensions, the flag policy was more rigorously enforced by security at this year's event." It also stated that it would review the flag policy with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), which would host the 2025 contest following Nemo's win.

Reception

Following the 2024 contest, four entries entered the Billboard Global 200, ''Billboard'' Global 200 chart dated 25 May 2024: the Netherlands' "" at number 51, Switzerland's winning entry " The Code" at number 52, Croatia's "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" at number 139, and France's "" at number 144. On the Billboard Global 200#Billboard Global Excl. US, ''Billboard'' Global Excl. US chart also dated 25 May 2024, the four aforementioned entries entered at numbers 24, 21, 64, and 61, respectively, followed by Italy's "" at number 129 and Ukraine's "Teresa & Maria" at number 130. "" had previously peaked at number 51 on the Global Excl. US chart and at number 110 on the Global 200 chart following its win at the Sanremo Music Festival 2024, which also doubled as the Italian national final.

In a November 2024 press release, Malmö Municipality revealed that the contest generated from 159,680 visitors, including from ticket sales. In addition, over 90% of city decor for the event were recycled.

Official album

FIle:ESC 2024 Malmö album cover.png, Cover art of the official album
''Eurovision Song Contest: Malmö 2024'' is the official compilation album of the contest, featuring all 37 entries. It was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group digitally on 12 April 2024, in CD format on 19 April 2024, and in vinyl format on 24 May 2024.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Notes

References

External links

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Eurovision Song Contest 2024,
2020s in Malmö
2024 in Swedish television
2024 song contests
Eurovision Song Contest by year, 2024
Events in Malmö
May 2024 in Sweden
Music competitions in Sweden