The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the 1972 contest with the song "Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Grand Théâtre on 7 April 1973 and was hosted by German television presenter Helga Guitton.
Seventeen countries took part in the contest this year, with Austria and Malta deciding not to participate, and Israel competing for the first time.
In a back-to-back victory, Luxembourg won the contest again with the song "Tu te reconnaîtras" by Anne-Marie David. The voting was a very close one, with Spain with "Eres tú" by Mocedades finishing only 4 points behind and the United Kingdom with "Power to All Our Friends" by Cliff Richard (who had come second in 1968 just behind Spain) another 2 points further back. The winning song scored the highest score ever achieved in Eurovision under any voting format until 1975, recording 129 points out of a possible 160, which represented almost 81% of the possible maximum. This was partly due to a scoring system which guaranteed all countries at least two points from each country.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Luxembourg | CLT | Anne-Marie David | "Tu te reconnaîtras" | Pierre Cao | 129 |
| 02 | Spain | TVE | Mocedades | "Eres tú"" | Juan Carlos Calderón | 125 |
| 03 | United Kingdom | BBC | Cliff Richard | "Power to All Our Friends" | David Mackay | 123 |
| 04 | Israel | IBA | Ilanit | "Ey Sham" (אי שם) | Nurit Hirsh | 97 |
| 05 | Sweden | SR | The Nova | "You're Summer" | Monica Dominique | 94 |
| 06 | Finland | YLE | Marion Rung | "Tom Tom Tom" | Ossi Runne | 93 |
| 07 | Norway | NRK | Bendik Singers | "It's Just a Game" | Carsten Klouman | 89 |
| 08 | Germany | ARD/HR | Gitte | "Junger Tag" | Günther-Eric Thöner | 85 |
| Monaco | TMC | Marie | "Un train qui part" | Jean-Claude Vannier | 85 | |
| 10 | Portugal | RTP | Fernando Tordo | "Tourada" | Jorge Costa Pinto | 80 |
| Ireland | RTÉ | Maxi | "Do I Dream" | Colman Pearce | 80 | |
| 12 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Patrick Juvet | "Je vais me marier, Marie" | Hervé Roy | 79 |
| 13 | Italy | RAI | Massimo Raineri | "Chi sarà con te" | Enrico Polito | 74 |
| 14 | Netherlands | NOS | Ben Cramer | "De oude muzikant" | Harry van Hoof | 69 |
| 15 | Yugoslavia | JRT | Zdravko Čolić | "Gori vatra" (Гори ватра) | Esad Arnautalić | 65 |
| France | ORTF | Martine Clémenceau | "Sans toi" | Jean Claudric | 65 | |
| 17 | Belgium | BRT | Nicole and Hugo | "Baby Baby" | Francis Bay | 58 |
Broadcasts[]
The contest was reportedly broadcast in Austria, Greece, Iceland, Malta and Turkey, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Japan.
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium (Dutch) | BRT | Unknown |
| BRT 1 | Unknown | |
| Belgium (French) | RTB | Paule Herreman |
| Finland | TV1 | Unknown |
| Yleisohjelma | Erkki Melakoski | |
| Ruotsinkielinen ohjelma | Unknown | |
| France | Première Chaîne | Pierre Tchernia |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Unknown |
| Ireland | RTÉ | Mike Murphy |
| RTÉ Radio | Liam Devally | |
| Israel | Israeli Television | No commentator |
| Italy | Programma Nazionale | Renato Tagliani |
| Luxembourg | RTL Télé-Luxembourg | Unknown |
| RTL | Unknown | |
| Radio Luxembourg | Unknown | |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Unknown |
| Netherlands | Nederland 1 | Pim Jacobs |
| Norway | NRK Fjernsynet, NRK | John Andreassen |
| Portugal | I Programa | Artur Agostinho |
| Spain | TVE 1 | Julio Rico |
| Radio Nacional | Unknown | |
| Sweden | TV1 | Alicia Lundberg |
| SR P3 | Ursula Richter | |
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Theodor Haller |
| DRS 1 | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Georges Hardy |
| RSR 1 | Robert Burnier | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Unknown |
| RSI 1 | Unknown | |
| United Kingdom | BBC1 | Dave Lee Travis |
| BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 | Pete Murray | |
| BFBS Radio | Richard Astbury | |
| Yugoslavia | TV Beograd 1 | Unknown |
| TV Ljubljana 1 | Unknown | |
| TV Skopje | Unknown | |
| TV Zagreb 1 | Unknown |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | FS2 | Ernst Grissemann |
| Bulgaria | BNT | Unknown |
| Czechoslovakia | ČST2 | J. Šrámek |
| East Germany | DFF | Unknown |
| Greece | ERT | Mako Georgiadou |
| Hungary | MTV | Unknown |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið | Jón O. Edwald |
| Japan | Unknown | Unknown |
| Malta | MTS, National Network | Victor Aquilina |
| Netherlands Antilles | TeleCuraçao | Unknown |
| Poland | TVP | Unknown |
| Romania | TVR | Unknown |
| Soviet Union | CT USSR | Unknown |
| Turkey | TRT Televizyon | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Hungary - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis at 5 April, 21:15 CET.
- Iceland - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis at 29 April, 21:30 WET.
- Netherlands Antilles - The show was broadcast on TeleCuraçao on a delayed basis on 14 May 1973 at 22:30 ADT.
- Switzerland - The show was broadcast on DRS 1 on a delayed basis on 9 April 1973 at 22:30 CET.
- Yugoslavia - The show was broadcast on TV Skopje on a deferred basis at 23:00 CET (22:00 UTC).